Elmore CPA and Associates is a local accounting firm specializing in bookkeeping and tax services. The firm
Question:
Lillian Elmore, CPA and chief executive officer, is not sure that the two operations are equally profitable as the income statement indicates. First, she believes that most of the CPAs' time was spent instructing clerks in tax return preparation. The bookkeeping jobs appear to be routine, and most of the clerks can handle them with little supervision. After attending a recent professional development seminar on activity-based costing (ABC), Ms. Elmore believes that the allocation of indirect costs can be more closely traced to different types of services. To facilitate an activity-based analysis, she asked the CPAs to document their work hours on individual jobs for the last week. The results indicate that, on average, 25 percent of the CPAs' hours was spent supervising bookkeeping activities and the remaining 75 percent was spent supervising tax activities.
Required
a. Based on the preceding information, reconstruct the income statement for bookkeeping services, tax services, and the total, assuming that Elmore revises its allocation of indirect supervisory costs based on ABC.
b. Comment on the results and recommend a new business strategy.
Step by Step Answer:
Fundamental Managerial Accounting Concepts
ISBN: 978-1259569197
8th edition
Authors: Thomas Edmonds, Christopher Edmonds, Bor Yi Tsay, Philip Olds