Question

Consider the following statements about the step-down method of service department cost allocation: I. Under the step-down method, all service department costs are eventually allocated to production departments. II. The order in which service department costs are allocated is important. III. After a service department's costs have been allocated to other departments, no costs are re-circulated back to that service department. Which of the above statements is (are) correct?
a. I, II, and III.
b. I only.
c. I and II.
d. II only.
e. I and III.

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct statements under the step-down method are:

a. I, II, and III.

Explanation:

The step-down method of allocating the costs of service departments is one of the three methods in use.  The others include the direct method and the reciprocal method.  With the direct method, service departments' costs are directly allocated to the production departments without any allocation to a service department.  The reciprocal method is much more involved, using formulas and calculations.  The step-down method allocates the service departments' costs to all the other service and production departments, except itself.  This step is eventually followed until all the service departments' costs have been allocated to the production departments.