During Heaton Companys first two years of operations, it reported absorption costing net operating income as follows:

	Year 1	Year 2
Sales (@ $60 per unit)	$ 900,000	$ 1,500,000
Cost of goods sold (@ $36 per unit)	540,000	900,000
Gross margin	360,000	600,000
Selling and administrative expenses*	294,000	324,000
Net operating income	$ 66,000	$ 276,000

* $3 per unit variable; $249,000 fixed each year.

The companys $36 unit product cost is computed as follows:

Direct materials	$ 9
Direct labor	9
Variable manufacturing overhead	4
Fixed manufacturing overhead ($280,000 20,000 units)	14
Absorption costing unit product cost	$ 36

Production and cost data for the first two years of operations are:

	Year 1	Year 2
Units produced	20,000	20,000
Units sold	15,000	25,000

Required:

1. Using variable costing, what is the unit product cost for both years?

2. What is the variable costing net operating income in Year 1 and in Year 2?

3. Reconcile the absorption costing and the variable costing net operating income figures for each year.