Indianola Beef buys sides of beef to convert into three products: Steaks, roasts, and ground beef. In April 2013, Indianola bought multiple sides of beef for $20,000 that were converted into the following products at a cost of $6,400:

product #of pounds Sales volume at split-off

steaks 3,312 $4.25 per pound

roasts 6,210 $3.80 per pound

ground beef 4,278 $0.90 per pound

The remaining 1,200 pounds were lost as waste:

a. Allocate the joint cost to the three products using the physical units method.What problem do you see with that method?

b.Allocate the joint cost to the 3 products using the sales volume at split-off method(round proportions to the nearest whole percentage). Does this allocation eliminate the problem in (a)?

c.Assume that the ground beef could be processed into sausage that could be sold for $2.10 per pound to a distributor who wants a special label costing $0.15 per pound attached to the sausage. If Indianola beef uses the sales value at split-off method to allocate joint cost, what is the maximum separate cost of processing that the company could incur to still appear to earn 40.40 per pound upon the sale? If this separate cost were incurred, would you consider the $0.40 per pound a "real" profit amount?