Question
Kelly and Logan, an accounting firm, provides consulitng and tax planning services. For many years, the firm's total administrative cost (currently $250,000) has been allocated
Kelly and Logan, an accounting firm, provides consulitng and tax planning services. For many years, the firm's total administrative cost (currently $250,000) has been allocated to services on the basis of billable hours to clients. A recent analysis found that 65% of the firm's billable hours to clients resulted from tax planning services, while 35% resulted from consulting services.
The firm, contemplating a change to activity-based costing, has identified three components of administrative cost, as follows:
Staff Support | $180,000 |
In-house computing charges | $50,000 |
Miscellaneous office cost | $20,000 |
Total | $250,000 |
A recent analysis of staff support found a strong correlation between the number of staff personnel and the number of clients served (consulting, 20; tax planning, 60). In contrast, in-house computing and miscellaneous office cost varied directly with the number of computer hours logged and number of client transactions, respectively. Consulting consumer 30% of the firm's computer hours and had 20% of the total client transactions.
If Kelly and Logan switched from its current accounting method to an activity-based costing sytem, the amount of administrative cost chargeable to consulting services would:
A. decrease by $23,500
B. increase by $23,500
C. decrease by $32,500
D. change by an amount other than those listed
E. change, but the amount cannot be determined based on the information presented.
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