can someone help me with this

You work for Blackhawk Company, a lighting fixture manufacturer.

Upper management at Blackhawk is concerned with the traditional costing system it has relied on for the past few years. In particular, upper management is concerned about the accuracy of cost information and thus has ordered a "pilot" test of an activity-based costing approach.

You will receive an analysis prepared by your junior staff. Your task is to interpret the analysis, and communicate related implications and other considerations.

Note: Please read all of the provided information, including the required deliverables, before beginning the assignment.

Case Information

Use the information provided here to answer the questions.

Blackhawk Company manufactures and sells many different types of lighting fixtures.

Historically, indirect costs have been allocated to products based on direct labor dollars, via a traditional costing system. The overhead rate is pre-determined, based on budgeted volumes and budgeted direct labor.

For the upcoming year, Blackhawk compiled the following projected per-unit information for its deluxe model - one of many products that Blackhawk produces and sells.

Product Information (Traditional Costing System)

Selling price $900

Direct materials $250

Direct labor $120

Indirect costs $340

Profit per unit $190

The CFO has suggested that an activity-based costing system could be valuable to help facilitate strategic and operational decisions for the coming year. She ordered a pilot test of the activity-based costing system using the deluxe product.

Your staff obtained the following information to compute an activity-based version of the deluxe product's cost.

Note: These totals are company-wide (i.e., not just for the deluxe model).

Activity

Cost Driver

Cost

Total

Setups

# batches

$500,000

725 batches

Machine-related

# of machine-hours

$44,100,000

650,000 MHs

Packing

# of shipments

$5,000,000

250,000 shipments

In addition, the following information is known for the deluxe model.

Number of units per batch = 125

Number of machine hours per unit = 10

Number of units per shipment = 1

Analysis

A junior staff member provided the following analysis.

Activity Pool Rates

Setups: $500,000 / 725 batches = $689.66 per batch

Machine time: $44,100,000 / 650,000 machine hrs = $67.85 per machine hr

Packing: $5,000,000 / 250,000 shipments = $20 per shipment

Using the activity pool rates and the estimated usage of each activity by the deluxe model, the junior analyst provided the following cost estimate on aper unit basis:

Setups: $689.66 per batch / (125 units per batch) = $5.52 per unit

Machine time: $67.85 per machine hour x 10 machine hours per unit = $678.50 per unit

Packing: $20 per shipment / (1 unit per shipment) = $20 per unit

Total per unit cost = $5.52 + $678.50 + $20 = 704.02

The analyst also provided the revised profit per unit information:

Selling price = $900

Revised costs (rounded) (per activity-based costing) = $704

Profit per unit = $900 - 704 = $196

The analyst noted that the per-unit cost, as well as the profit per unit were approximately equivalent across the two systems (i.e., the original/traditional system and the activity-based costing system).

Given this small difference, the analyst concluded that the original system is reasonably accurate, and that activity-based costing may not be worthwhile for Blackhawk Company.