The home furnishings division purchases some goods ready for resale and manufactures
certain product lines. Wooden tables and chairs are manufactured inhouse and are costed
using a joint and byproduct costing system. Logs are purchased from wholesalers and
typically added into the process to generate various sizes of wood that can be used in the
manufacturing of different products. At splitoff point, one log generates m of wood used in
the manufacture of tables and m of wood used in chairs. From each log of wood, a quantity of
saw dust and offcuts is produced. Bird farmers regularly purchase the saw dust and off cuts
and are willing to pay R for the saw dust and cut offs per log No further processing is needed
for these by products. Total joint costs to be allocated are R per log
logs were processed during the financial year. Further processing costs are incurred
after which the products are then sold. The following information is available:
Selling price per m
after further processing
Table wood R R
Chair wood R R
Another item produced inhouse are the bedside lamps. The bedside lamps are available in
different sizes and are produced using mostly the same production methods and equipment
Product Further processing
costs per m
for each size. The company uses the traditional costing method at present to cost the bedside
lamps. The following budgeted information is applicable for the sizes of bedside lamps for the
financial year ending December
Product
bedside lamps
Labor time per
unit
Machine time
per unit
Material cost
per unit R
Volume units
Large minutes minutes
Medium minutes minutes
Small minutes minutes
The direct labor cost is R per hour. Manufacturing overhead costs are allocated to the
products at present on the basis of machine hours. The allocation rate presently used is R
per machine hour. The divisions cost accountant, Josie Potter, has recently attended a short
course on costing methods and is considering implementing an activitybased costing system
ABC At a recent management meeting, on the topic of moving from the traditional costing
system to the activitybased costing system, Josie stated: Weve got to make better pricing
decisions and we can only do that using a more accurate method like ABC to allocate
overhead costs After some investigation, she has collected the following information:
Manufacturing overheads are driven by five activities, namely: Set up costs machinery
costs material handling costs inspection costs and maintenance costs
The following budgeted activity volumes are associated with the product line for the financial
year ending December :a Calculate the budgeted total cost per unit for the small
bedside lamps only, using both the traditional costing
system and the activitybased costing ABC system.
b Comment on whether you agree with Josie Potter's
statement at the management meeting. Refer to
your answers above.