Chapter 25: Q25-22RQ (page 1407)
What is outsourcing?
Short Answer
Answer
Outsourcing refers to the process of accomplishing the business tasks and activities by the third parties against afixed, predetermined consideration.
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Chapter 25: Q25-22RQ (page 1407)
What is outsourcing?
Answer
Outsourcing refers to the process of accomplishing the business tasks and activities by the third parties against afixed, predetermined consideration.
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Brinn, located in Port St. Lucie, Florida, produces two lines of electric toothbrushes: deluxe and standard. Because Brinn can sell all the toothbrushes it can produce, the owners are expanding the plant. They are deciding which product line to emphasize. To make this decision, they assemble the following data:
Per Unit
Deluxe Toothbrush Standard Toothbrush
Sales price \(86 \)56
Variable costs 20 18
Contribution margin \(66 \)38
Contribution margin ratio 76.7% 67.9%
After expansion, the factory will have a production capacity of 4,100 machine hours per month. The plant can manufacture either 50 standard electric toothbrushes or 35 deluxe electric toothbrushes per machine hour.
Requirements
1. Identify the constraining factor for Brinn.
2. Prepare an analysis to show which product line to emphasize.
When should special pricing orders be accepted?
Moore Company sells both designer and moderately priced fashion accessories. Top management is deciding which product line to emphasize. Accountants have provided the following data:
Per Item
Designer Moderately Priced
Average sales price \(185 \)87
Average variable costs 105 22
Average contribution margin 80 65
Average fixed costs (allocated) 20 10
Average operating income \(60 \)55
The Moore Company store in Grand Junction, Colorado, has 14,000 square feet of floor space. If Moore Company emphasizes moderately priced goods, it can display 840 items in the store. If Moore Company emphasizes designer wear, it can display only 560 designer items. These numbers are also the average monthly sales in units.
Prepare an analysis to show which product the company should emphasize.
What questions should managers answer when considering selling a product as is or processing further?
Mary Tan is the controller for Duck Associates, a property management company in Portland, Oregon. Each year, Tan and payroll clerk Toby Stock meet with the external auditors about payroll accounting. This year, the auditors suggest that Tan consider outsourcing Duck Associates’s payroll accounting to a company specializing in payroll processing services. This would allow Tan and her staff to focus on their primary responsibility: accounting for the properties under management. At present, payroll requires 1.5 employee positions—payroll clerk Toby Stock and a bookkeeper who spends half her time entering payroll data in the system.
Tan considers this suggestion, and she lists the following items relating to outsourcing payroll accounting:
The current payroll software that was purchased for \(4,000 three years ago would not be needed if payroll processing were outsourced.
Duck Associates’ bookkeeper would spend half her time preparing the weekly payroll input form that is given to the payroll processing service. She is paid \)450 per week.
Duck Associates would no longer need payroll clerk Toby Stock, whose annual salary is \(42,000.
The payroll processing service would charge \)2,000 per month.
Requirements
1. Would outsourcing the payroll function increase or decrease Duck Associates’ operating income?
2. Tan believes that outsourcing payroll would simplify her job, but she does not like the prospect of having to lay off Stock, who has become a close personal friend. She does not believe there is another position available for Stock at his current salary. Can you think of other factors that might support keeping Stock, rather than outsourcing payroll processing? How should each of the factors affect Tan’s decision if she wants to do what is best for Duck Associates and act ethically?
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