Question

McNulty, Inc., produces desks and chairs. A new CFO has just been hired and announces a new policy that if a product cannot earn a margin of at least 30 percent, it will be dropped. The margin is computed as product gross profit divided by reported product cost.Manufacturing overhead for year 1 totaled $799,000. Overhead is allocated to products based on direct labor cost. Data for year 1 show the following:
Chairs DesksSales revenue $1,240,000 $2,286,900Direct materials 587,000 830,000Direct labor 150,000 320,000Required:a-1. Based on the CFO's new policy, calculate the profit margin for both chairs and desks.Profit marginChairs ?%Desks ?%a-2. Which of the two products should be dropped?ChairsDesksb. Regardless of your answer in requirement (a), the CFO decides at the beginning of year 2 to drop the chair product. The company cost analyst estimates that overhead without the chair line will be $680,000. The revenue and costs for desks are expected to be the same as last year. What is the estimated margin for desks in year 2? (Do not round intermediate calculations. Enter your answer as a percentage rounded to 1 decimal place.)Estimated margin for desks- Year 2 ?%

Answer 1

Answer:

McNulty, Inc.

                                  Chairs        Desks

1. Margin on cost        25%            35%

2. Chairs should be dropped.

3. Margin for desks in Year 2 = 25%

Explanation:

a) Data and Calculations:

Expected margin = 30% = Gross profit/Product cost

Manufacturing overhead $799,000

                               Chairs        Desks

Sales revenue  $1,240,000  $2,286,900

Direct materials    587,000        830,000

Direct labor           150,000        320,000

Overhead             255,000        544,000

Product costs    $992,000    $1,694,000

Gross profit       $248,000      $592,900

Margin on cost        25%                35%

Expected margin     30%               30%

Expected Margin for desks in Year 2:

                               Desks

Sales revenue  $2,286,900

Direct materials     830,000

Direct labor            320,000

Overhead              680,000

Product costs    $1,830,000

Gross profit         $456,900

Margin on cost        25%

Expected margin    30%

McNulty's new CFO has made a bad decision.  Should the desks be eliminated also?  Decisions involving overhead costs should not be made lightly.   Detailed and precise information about the overhead costs should be obtained before a decision is taken on product elimination.  This case demonstrates the reason for not taking a hasty decision on an issue like this.