Question
Caiman Distribution Partners is the Brazilian distribution company of a U.S. consumer products firm. Inflation in Brazil has made bidding and budgeting difficult for marketing
Caiman Distribution Partners is the Brazilian distribution company of a U.S. consumer products firm. Inflation in Brazil has made bidding and budgeting difficult for marketing managers trying to penetrate some of the country's rural regions. The company expects to distribute 450,000 cases of products in Brazil next month. The controller has classified operating costs (excluding costs of the distributed product) as follows:
Account | Operating Cost | Behavior | ||||
Supplies | $ | 350,000 | All variable | |||
Supervision | 210,000 | $ | 140,000 | Fixed | ||
Truck expense | 1,200,000 | $ | 180,000 | Fixed | ||
Building leases | 845,000 | $ | 540,000 | Fixed | ||
Utilities | 210,000 | $ | 115,000 | Fixed | ||
Warehouse labor | 850,000 | $ | 140,000 | Fixed | ||
Equipment leases | 750,000 | $ | 600,000 | Fixed | ||
Data processing equipment | 955,000 | All fixed | ||||
Other | 860,000 | $ | 410,000 | Fixed | ||
Total | $ | 6,230,000 | ||||
Although overhead costs were related to revenues throughout the company, the experience in Brazil suggested to the managers that they should incorporate information from a published index of Brazilian prices in the distribution sector to forecast overhead in a manner more likely to capture the economics of the business.
Following instructions from the corporate offices, the controller's office in Brazil collected the following information for monthly operations from last year:
Month | Cases | Price Index | Operating Costs | |
1 | 352,000 | 117 | $5,769,139 | |
2 | 369,000 | 119 | 5,876,638 | |
3 | 365,000 | 120 | 5,919,905 | |
4 | 387,000 | 124 | 5,997,617 | |
5 | 381,000 | 126 | 6,009,135 | |
6 | 402,000 | 127 | 6,113,364 | |
7 | 374,000 | 130 | 5,988,495 | |
8 | 419,000 | 135 | 6,203,868 | |
9 | 405,000 | 135 | 6,196,130 | |
10 | 428,000 | 134 | 6,256,625 | |
11 | 424,000 | 138 | 6,278,799 | |
12 | 439,000 | 141 | 6,432,255 | |
These data are considered representative for both past and future operations in Brazil.
b. Use the high-low method to compute an estimate of operating costs assuming that 450,000 cases will be shipped next month. (Round variable cost per unit to 2 decimal places and other intermediate calculations to nearest whole number.)
c-1. Enter the regression coefficients. (Round "Cases" to 2 decimal places.)
c-2. Compute an estimate of operating costs assuming that 450,000 cases will be shipped next month by using the results of a simple regression of operating costs on cases shipped. (Round variable costs per unit to 2 decimal places. Do not round "Multiple R","R Square", Standard Error" values and other intermediate calculations to nearest whole number.)
d-1. Enter the regression coefficients. (Round "Cases" and "Price Index" to 2 decimal places.)
d-2. Compute an estimate of operating costs assuming that 450,000 cases will be shipped next month by using the results of a multiple regression of operating costs on cases shipped and the price level. Assume a price level of 141 for next month. (Round variable costs per unit to 2 decimal places. Do not round "Multiple R","R Square", Standard Error" values and other intermediate calculations to nearest whole number.)
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