Assigning Costs to Activities, Resource Drivers

The Receiving Department has three activities: unloading, counting goods, and inspecting. Unloading uses a forklift that is leased for $16,000 per year. The forklift is used only for unloading. The fuel for the forklift is $5,800 per year. Other operating costs (maintenance) for the forklift total $3,000 per year. Inspection uses some special testing equipment that has depreciation of $4,000 per year and an operating cost of $1,750. Receiving has three employees who have an average salary of $50,000 per year. The work distribution matrix for the receiving personnel is as follows:

Activity	Percentage of Time on Each Activity
Unloading	40%
Counting	25%
Inspecting	35%

No other resources are used for these activities.

Required:

1. Calculate the cost of each activity.

Unloading	$
Counting	$
Inspecting	$

2. Explain the two methods used to assign costs to activities.

When the resource is used only by one activity, then direct tracing is possible. When the activities are shared, as in the case of labor, then must be used.