Diversified Products, Inc., has recently acquired a small publishing company that offers three books for salea cookbook, a travel guide, and a handy speller. Each book sells for $11. The publishing company's most recent monthly income statement is shown below.

Product line

Total

CompanyCookbookTravel

GuideHandy

SpellerSales$305,000$92,000$152,000$61,000Expenses:Printing costs103,00028,00063,10011,900Advertising37,00013,60020,0003,400General sales18,3005,5209,1203,660Salaries34,00019,0009,1005,900Equipment depreciation6,0002,0002,0002,000Sales commissions30,5009,20015,2006,100General administration42,30014,10014,10014,100Warehouse rent12,2003,6806,0802,440Depreciationoffice facilities3,3001,1001,1001,100Total expenses286,60096,200139,80050,600Net operating income (loss)$18,400$(4,200)$12,200$10,400

The following additional information is available:

1. Only printing costs and sales commissions are variable; all other costs are fixed. The printing costs (which include materials, labor, and variable overhead) are traceable to the three product lines as shown in the income statement above. Sales commissions are 10% of sales.
2. The same equipment is used to produce all three books, so the equipment depreciation cost has been allocated equally among the three product lines. An analysis of the company's activities indicates that the equipment is used 20% of the time to produce cookbooks, 50% of the time to produce travel guides, and 30% of the time to produce handy spellers.
3. The warehouse is used to store finished units of product, so the rental cost has been allocated to the product lines on the basis of sales dollars. The warehouse rental cost is $3 per square foot per year. The warehouse contains 48,800 square feet of space, of which 7,400 square feet is used by the cookbook line, 24,200 square feet by the travel guide line, and 17,200 square feet by the handy speller line.
4. The general sales cost above includes the salary of the sales manager and other sales costs not traceable to any specific product line. This cost has been allocated to the product lines on the basis of sales dollars.
5. The general administration cost and depreciation of office facilities both relate to administration of the company as a whole. These costs have been allocated equally to the three product lines.
6. All other costs are traceable to the three product lines in the amounts shown on the income statement above.

The management of Diversified Products, Inc., is anxious to improve the publishing company's 4% return on sales.

Required:

1.Prepare new contribution format segmented income statement for the month. Adjust allocations of equipment depreciation and of warehouse rent as indicated by the additional information provided.

2.Based on the segmented income statements given in the problem, management plans to eliminate the cookbook because it is not returning a profit, and to focus all available resources on promoting the travel guide. However, based on the new contribution format segmented income statement that you prepared:

a.Do you agree with management's plan to eliminate the cookbook?

b-1.Compute the contribution margin ratio for each product.

b-2.Based on the statement you have prepared, do you agree with the decision to focus all available resources on promoting the travel guide?