GMB Co. designs, produces and sells a number of products. Functions are recognized from design through to the distribution of products. Within each function, a number of activities may be distinguished and a principal driver identified for each activity.
Each sales order will normally comprise a number of batches of any one of a range of products. The company is active in promoting, where possible, a product focus for design, dedicated production lines and product marketing. It also recognizes that a considerable level of expenditure will relate to supporting the overall business operation.
It is known that many costs may initially be recognized at the unit, batch, product-sustaining (order) or business/facility- sustaining (overall) levels. A list of expense items relating to Order Number 377 of product Zeta is shown below. The methods of calculating the values for Order Number 377 shown below are given in brackets alongside each expense item. These methods also indicate whether the expense items should be regarded as product unit, batch, product-sustaining (order) or business/facility-sustaining (overall) level costs. The expense items are not listed in any particular sequence. Each expense item should be adjusted to reflect its total cost for Order Number 377. Order Number 377 comprises 5000 units of product Zeta. The order will be provided in batches of 1000 product units.

Order Number 377 ...................................................................................$
Production scheduling (rate per hour × hours per batch) ....................60 000
Direct material cost (per unit material specification) .................................180
Selling – batch expediting (at rate per batch) ......................................60 000
Engineering design and support (rate per hour × hours per order) ...350 000
Direct labour cost (rate per hour × hours per unit)................................... 150
Machine set-up (rate per set-up × number of set-ups per batch) ........34 000
Production line maintenance (rate per hour × hours per order) .....1 100 000
Business/facility sustaining cost (at 30% of all other costs) ...........1 500 000
Marketing (rate per visit to client × number of visits per order) .........200 000
Distribution (tonne miles × rate per tonne mile per batch) ..................12 000
Power cost (rate per kilowatt hour × kilowatts per unit) ...........................120
Design work (rate per hour × hours per batch) ....................................30 000
Administration – invoicing and accounting (at rate per batch) .............24 000

Required:
(a) Prepare a statement of total cost for Order Number 377, which analyses the expense items into sections for each of four levels, with sub-totals for each level where appropriate. The four levels are:
(i) Unit-based costs;
(ii) Batch-related costs;
(iii) Product-sustaining (order level) costs;
(iv) Business/facility-sustaining (overall level) costs.
(b) Identify and discuss the appropriateness of the cost driven of any TWO expense values in EACH of levels (i) to (iii) above and ONE value that relates to level (iv). In addition, suggest a likely cause of the cost driver for any ONE value in EACH of levels (i) to (iii), and comment on possible benefits from the identification of the cause of each cost driver.
(c) Discuss the practical problems that may be encountered in the implementation of an activity-based system of product cost management.