List the four steps in short-term decision making. At which step are managerial accountants most involved?

Short Answer

Expert verified

The managerial accountants are involved during the time of collecting the appropriate information which are processed for thedecision-making purposes.

Step by step solution

01

Definition of Managerial Accounting

Managerial accounting is that branch of accounting that collects and communicates internal information with the managers for strategies, policy development, and decision-making.

02

Steps in making short-term decisions 

The following steps are involved in making short-term decisions:

  1. The initial step of the decision-making process is theassessment of business goals that are to be achieved by the business entity.
  2. After the identification of business goals, associated course of action and alternatives are ascertained by the administration that suits thebusiness operations.
  3. The collection of relevant information linked with the business goals’ accomplishment process, is another step ofshort-term decision making.
  4. In the end, the best usefulalternative is chosen by the managers andimplemented to accomplish the predetermined goals.

The involvement of managerial accountants is most in the third step, i.e., at the time of gathering the relevant data for drafting effective and efficient decisions.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

What makes information relevant to decision making?

McCollum Company manufactures two products. Both products have the same sales price, and the volume of sales is equivalent. However, due to the difference in production processes, Product A has higher variable costs and Product B has higher fixed costs. Management is considering dropping Product B because that product line has an operating loss.

MCCOLLUM COMPANY

Income Statement

Month Ended June 30, 2018

Total Product A Product B

Net Sales Revenue \(150,000 \)75,000 \(75,000

Variable Costs 90,000 55,000 35,000

Contribution Margin 60,000 20,000 40,000

Fixed Costs 50,000 5,000 45,000

Operating Income/(Loss) \)10,000 \(15,000 \)(5,000)

  1. If fixed costs cannot be avoided, should McCollum drop Product B? Why or why not?
  2. If 50% of Product B’s fixed costs are avoidable, should McCollum drop Product B? Why or why not?

Green Thumb operates a commercial plant nursery, where it propagates plants for garden centers throughout the region. Green Thumb has \(5,300,000 in assets. Its yearly fixed costs are \)625,000, and the variable costs for the potting soil, container, label, seedling, and labor for each gallon-size plant total \(1.70. Green Thumb’s volume is currently 490,000 units. Competitors offer the same plants, at the same quality, to garden centers for \)4.00 each. Garden centers then mark them up to sell to the public for \(9 to \)12, depending on the type of plant.

Requirements

1. Green Thumb’s owners want to earn an 10% return on the company’s assets. What is Green Thumb’s target full product cost?

2. Given Green Thumb’s current costs, will its owners be able to achieve their target profit?

3. Assume Green Thumb has identified ways to cut its variable costs to \(1.55 per unit. What is its new target fixed cost? Will this decrease in variable costs allow the company to achieve its target profit?

4. Green Thumb started an aggressive advertising campaign strategy to differentiate its plants from those grown by other nurseries. Green Thumb does not expect volume to be affected, but it hopes to gain more control over pricing. If Green Thumb has to spend \)135,000 this year to advertise and its variable costs continue to be $1.55 per unit, what will its cost-plus price be? Do you think Green Thumb will be able to sell its plants to garden centers at the cost-plus price? Why or why not?

StoreAll produces plastic storage bins for household storage needs. The company makes two sizes of bins: large (50 gallon) and regular (35 gallon). Demand for the products is so high that StoreAll can sell as many of each size as it can produce. The company uses the same machinery to produce both sizes. The machinery can be run for only 3,300 hours per period. StoreAll can produce 10 large bins every hour, whereas it can produce 17 regular bins in the same amount of time. Fixed costs amount to \(115,000 per period. Sales prices and variable costs are as follows:

Regular Large

Sales price per unit \)8.00 $10.40

Variable cost per unit 3.50 4.40

Requirements

1. Which product should StoreAll emphasize? Why?

2. To maximize profits, how many of each size bin should StoreAll produce?

3. Given this product mix, what will the company’s operating income be?

Elm Petroleum has spent \(204,000 to refine 61,000 gallons of petroleum distillate, which can be sold for \)6.30 per gallon. Alternatively, Elm can process the distillate further and produce 58,000 gallons of cleaner fluid. The additional processing will cost \(1.80 per gallon of distillate. The cleaner fluid can be sold for \)9.10 per gallon. To sell the cleaner fluid, Elm must pay a sales commission of \(0.10 per gallon and a transportation charge of \)0.16 per gallon.

Requirements

1. Diagram Elm’s decision alternatives, using Exhibit 25-18 as a guide.

2. Identify the sunk cost. Is the sunk cost relevant to Elm’s decision?

3. Should Elm sell the petroleum distillate or process it into cleaner fluid? Show the expected net revenue difference between the two alternatives.

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