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 class ified operating costs (excluding costs of the distributed product) as follows. Operating Cost $1,596,000 235,000 1,310,000 866,000 234,000 855,000 770,000 956,000 861,000 Behavior Account Supplies Supervision Truck expense Building leases Utilities Warehouse labor Equipment leases Data processing equipment All variable $145,000 Fixed $172,000 Fixed $552,000 Fixed $112,000 Fixed $121,000 Fixed $589,000 Fixed All fixed $356,000 Fixed Other $7,683,000 Total 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. Operating Costs $5,699,173 5,806,672 5,849,939 5,927,651 5,939,169 6,043,398 5,918,529 6,133,902 6,126,164 6,186,659 6,208,833 6,362,289 Price Index 116 Month Cases 1 255,000 339,000 256,000 435,000 112 2 109 129 3 4 343,000 380,000 460,000 483,000 341,000 113 6 124 124 123 143 10 11 418,000 408,000 484,000 134 133 12 143 monthly operations from last year. Cases Price Index Month Operating Costs $5,699,173 255,000 339,000 256,000 435,000 116 2 112 109 5,806,672 5,849,939 5,927,651 5,939,169 4 129 113 343,000 380, 00 460, 00 483,000 341,000 418,000 408,000 484,000 6,043,398 5,918,529 6 124 7 124 123 6,133,902 6,126,164 6,186,659 6,208,833 6,362,289 143 134 10 11 133 12 143 These data are considered representative for both past and future operations in Brazil. Required: a-1. Determine the variable cost per case assuming that 450,000 cases will be shipped next month based on the controller's analysis of accounts. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.) a-2. Prepare an estimate of operating costs. Answer is complete but not entirely correct. a- 1 Variable cost per case 1.67 a- 2 Estimate of operating cost s 6,128,185