Sooke Sawmill Inc. (SSI) purchases logs from independent timber contractors and processes the logs into three types of lumber products:

• Studs for residential buildings (walls, ceilings).

• Decorative pieces (fireplace mantels, beams for cathedral ceilings).

• Posts used as support braces (mine support braces, braces for exterior fences on ranch properties).

These products are the result of a joint sawmill process that involves removal of bark from the logs, cutting the logs into a workable size, and then cutting the individual products from the logs. The joint process results in the following costs of products for a typical month:

Direct materials (rough timber logs) .................... $ 500,000

Debarking (labour and overhead) ........................... 50,000

Sizing (labour and overhead) .............................. 200,000

Product cutting (labour and overhead) ................... 250,000

Total joint costs .......................................... $1,000,000

Product yields and average sales values on a per-unit basis from the joint process are as follows:

Monthly Output ofFully Processed

Product Materials at Splitoff Point Selling Price

Studs ........................................ 75,000 units ............................ $ 8

Decorative pieces ........................... 5,000 units ........................... 100

Posts ......................................... 20,000 units ............................ 20

The studs are sold as rough-cut lumber after emerging from the sawmill operation without further processing by SSI. Also, the posts require no further processing beyond the splitoff point. The decorative pieces must be planed and further sized after emerging from the sawmill. This additional processing costs $100,000 per month and normally results in a loss of 10% of the units entering the process. Without this planning and sizing process, there is still an active intermediate market for the unfinished decorative pieces in which the selling price averages $60 per unit.

Required

1. Based on the information given for Sooke Sawmill, allocate the joint processing costs of $1,000,000 to the three products using:

a. Sales value at splitoff method

b. Physical measure method (volume in units)

c. NRV method

2. Prepare an analysis for Sooke Sawmill that compares processing the decorative pieces further, as they currently do, with selling them as a rough-cut product immediately at splitoff.

3. Assume Sooke Sawmill announced that in six months it will sell the unfinished decorative pieces at splitoff due to increasing competitive pressure. Identify at least three types of likely behaviour that will be demonstrated by the skilled labour in the planing-and-sizing process as a result of this announcement. Include in your discussion how this behaviour could be influenced by management.