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: AccountOperating Cost Behavior Supplies$370,000 All variable Supervision 200,000 $ 140,000 Fixed Truck expense 1,302,500 $190,000 Fixed Building leases 845,000 $540,000 Fixed Utilities 205,000 $120,000 Fixed Warehouse labor 855,000 $135,000 Fixed Equipment leases 770,000 $610,000 Fixed Data processing equipment 895,000 All fixed Other 850,000 $400,000 Fixed Total$6,292,500
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 | 351,000 | 118 | $ | 5,759,139 | |||||
2 | 368,000 | 120 | 5,866,638 | ||||||
3 | 364,000 | 121 | 5,909,905 | ||||||
4 | 386,000 | 125 | 5,987,617 | ||||||
5 | 380,000 | 127 | 5,999,135 | ||||||
6 | 401,000 | 128 | 6,103,364 | ||||||
7 | 373,000 | 131 | 5,978,495 | ||||||
8 | 418,000 | 136 | 6,193,868 | ||||||
9 | 404,000 | 136 | 6,186,130 | ||||||
10 | 427,000 | 135 | 6,246,625 | ||||||
11 | 423,000 | 139 | 6,268,799 | ||||||
12 | 438,000 | 142 | 6,422,255 | ||||||
These data are considered representative for both past and future operations in Brazil.
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