Question

Comprehensive CVP analysis "I’ll never understand this accounting stuff," Blake Dunn yelled, waving the income statement he had just received from his accountant in the morning mail. "Last month, we sold 2,000 stuffed State University mascots and earned $6,565 in operating income. This month, when we sold 3,000 I thought we’d make $9,848. But this income statement shows an operating income of $11,615! How can I ever make plans if I can’t predict my income? I’m going to give Janice one last chance to explain this to me," he declared as he picked up the phone to call Janice Miller, his accountant.

Answer 1

Answer:

The problem with Blake's reasoning is that he believes that all costs are variable, and that is not true. In order to predict future profits, he divided $6,565 by 2,000 stuffed mascots = $3.2825 profit per stuffed mascot sold. But when sales increased to 3,000 units, the profits increased much more.

This happens because some costs are variable and change directly with the number of units sold, while others are fixed and remain the same regardless of the number of units sold.

The question is incomplete, the accounts are missing, so I looked for them:

February March

Sales revenue $25,000 $37,500

Cost of goods sold 10,000 15,000

Gross profit 15,000 22,500

Rent expense 1,500 1,500

Wages expense 3,500 5,000

Shipping expense 1,100 1,650

Utilities expense 750 750

Advertising expense 1,000 1,400

Insurance expense 585 585

Operating income $6,565 $11,615

The income statement using the contribution margin format would be as follows:

Income Statement              Year 1                  Year 2

Sales revenue            $25,000         $37,500

Variable costs:

• Cost of goods sold   $10,000         $15,000
• Wages expense*     $3,000          $4,500
• Shipping expense       $1,100           $1,650
• Advertising expense*   $800           $1,200

Contribution margin           $10,100                $15,150

Period costs:

• Wages expense*        $500             $500
• Advertising expense*   $200             $200
• Rent expense              $1,500           $1,500
• Insurance expense       $585             $585
• Utilities expense        $750             $750

Net income                         $6,565                 $11,615

*high low cost method for wages expense and advertisement expense:

variable wages expense = ($5,000 - $3,500) / (3,000 - 2,000) = $1.50 per unit

fixed wages expense = $5,000 - (3,000 x $1.50) = $500

variable advertising expense = ($1,400 - $1,000) / (3,000 - 2,000) = $0.40 per unit

fixed advertising expense = $1,400 - (3,000 x $0.40) = $200