Perfect Fit operates a chain of 10 retail department stores. Each department
store makes its own purchasing deci sions. Carl Hart, assistant to the
president of Perfect Fitt, is interested in better understanding the drivers
of purchasing department costs. For many years, Perrect Fit has allocated
purchasing department costs to products on the basis of the dollar value of
merchandise purchased. A \(\$ 100\) item is allocated 10 times as many overnead
costs associated with the purchasing department as a s10 itemm.
Hart recently attended a seminar titled "Cost Drivers in the Retail Industry."
In a presentation at the seminar, Kaliko Fabrics, a leading competitor that
has implemented activity-based costing, reported num ber of purchase orders
and number of suppliers to be the two most important cost drivers of
purchasing department costs. The dollar value of merchandise purchased in each
purchase order was not found to be a significant cost driver. Hart interviewed
several members of the purchasing department at the Perfect fitt
Hart collects the following data for the most recent year for Perfect fit's 10
retail department stores:
Hart decides to use simple regression analysis to examine whether one or more
of three variables (the last three columns in the table) are cost drivers of
purchasing department costs. Summary results for these regressions are as
follows:
\\[\text { Regression } 1: \mathrm{PDC}=a+(b \times \mathrm{MPS})\\]
1\. Compare and evaluate the three simple regression models estimated by Hart.
Graph each one. Also, use the format employed in Exhibit \(10-18\) (page 406 )
to evaluate the information.
2\. Do the regression results support the Kaliko Fabrics' presentation about
the purchasing department's cost drivers? Which of these cost drivers would
you recommend in designing an ABC system?
3\. How might Hart gain additional evidence on drivers of purchasing
department costs at each of Perfect Fit's stores?