What effect does an increase in sales price have on contribution margin? An increase in fixed costs? An increase in variable costs?

Short Answer

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Answer

There is an inverse relationship between variable cost and contribution margin.

Step by step solution

01

What effect does an increase in sales price have on contribution margin?

If sales price increase the contribution margin will also increase, that means there is a direct relationship between sales price and contribution margin.

02

What effect does an increase in fixed costs have on contribution margin?

Increase in fixed cost does not impact contribution margin in any manner because contribution is the difference of sales price and variable cost.

03

What effect does an increase in variable costs have on contribution margin?

There is an inverse relationship between variable cost and contribution margin. If variable costs increase contribution margin will decrease.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Before you begin this assignment, review the Tying It All Together feature in the chapter.

Best Buy Co., Inc. is a leading provider of technology products. Customers can shop at more than 1,700 stores or online. The company is also known for its Geek Squad for technology services. Suppose Best Buy is considering a particular HDTV for a major sales item for Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, known as one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Assume the HDTV has a regular sales price of \(900, a cost of \)500, and a Black Friday proposed discounted sales price of \(650. Best Buy’s 2015 Annual Report states that failure to manage costs could have a material adverse effect on its profitability and that certain elements in its cost structure are largely fixed in nature. Best Buy, like most companies, wishes to maintain price competitiveness while achieving acceptable levels of profitability. (Item 1A. Risk Factors.)

Requirements

1. Calculate the gross profit of the HDTV at the regular sales price and at the discounted sales price.

2. Assume that during the November/December holiday season last year, Best Buy sold an average of 150 of this particular HDTV per store. If the HDTVs are marked down to \)650, how many would each store have to sell this year to make the same total gross profit as last year?

3. Relative to Sales Revenue, what type of costs would Best Buy have that are fixed? What type of costs would be variable?

4. Because Best Buy stated that its cost structure is largely fixed in nature, what might be the impact on operating income if sales decreased? Does having a cost structure that is largely fixed in nature increase the financial risk to a company? Why or why not?

5. In the Tying It All Together feature in the chapter, we looked at the cost of advertising. Is advertising a fixed or variable cost? If the company has a small margin of safety, how would increasing advertising costs affect Best Buy’s operating income? What would be the effect of decreasing advertising costs?

Use the following information to complete Short Exercises S20-10 through S20-15.

Funday Park competes with Cool World by providing a variety of rides. Funday Park sells tickets at \(70 per person as a one-day entrance fee. Variable costs are \)42 per person, and fixed costs are $170,800 per month.

S20-15 Computing degree of operating leverage

Refer to the original information (ignoring the changes considered in Short Exercises S20-12 and S20-13). If Funday Park expects to sell 8,100 tickets, compute the degree of operating leverage (round to two decimal places). Estimate the operating income if sales increase by 15%.

Use the following information to complete Short Exercises S20-16 and S20-17.

Wild Waters Swim Park sells individual and family tickets. With a ticket, each person receives a meal, three beverages, and unlimited use of the swimming pools. Wild Waters has the following ticket prices and variable costs for 2018:

Individual Family Sales price per ticket \( 50 \) 150 Variable cost per ticket 35 140

Wild Waters expects to sell one individual ticket for every four family tickets. Wild Waters’s total fixed costs are $27,500.

S20-16 Calculating breakeven point for two products

Using the Wild Waters Swim Park information presented, do the following tasks.

Requirements

1. Compute the weighted-average contribution margin per ticket.

2. Calculate the total number of tickets Wild Waters must sell to break even.

3. Calculate the number of individual tickets and the number of family tickets the company must sell to break even.

How does a contribution margin income statement differ from a traditional income statement?

What effect does an increase in sales price have on contribution margin? An increase in fixed costs? An increase in variable costs?

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