Red Line Railroad Inc. has three regional divisions organized as profit centers. The chief executive officer (CEO) evaluates divisional performance, using income from operations as a percent of revenues. The following quarterly income and expense accounts were provided from the trial balance as of December 31:

RevenuesEast	$1,400,000
RevenuesWest	2,000,000
RevenuesCentral	3,200,000
Operating ExpensesEast	800,000
Operating ExpensesWest	1,350,000
Operating ExpensesCentral	1,900,000
Corporate ExpensesShareholder Relations	300,000
Corporate ExpensesCustomer Support	320,000
Corporate ExpensesLegal	500,000
General Corporate Officers Salaries	1,200,000

The company operates three service departments: Shareholder Relations, Customer Support, and Legal. The Shareholder Relations Department conducts a variety of services for shareholders of the company. The Customer Support Department is the companys point of contact for new service, complaints, and requests for repair. The department believes that the number of customer contacts is an activity base for this work. The Legal Department provides legal services for division management. The department believes that the number of hours billed is an activity base for this work. The following additional information has been gathered:

	East	West	Central
Number of customer contacts	1,500	2,800	5,700
Number of hours billed	750	1,750	1,500

	Required:
1.	Prepare quarterly income statements showing income from operations for the three divisions. Use three column headings: East, West, and Central.
2.	Identify the most successful division according to the profit margin. Enter percentage as whole number (e.g. 0.16 equals 16%).
3.	What would you include in a recommendation to the CEO for a better method for evaluating the performance of the divisions? What is a major weakness of the present method?

X

Quarterly Income Statements

Shaded cells have feedback.

1. Prepare quarterly income statements showing income from operations for the three divisions. Use three column headings: East, West, and Central.

Score: 27/84

Red Line Railroad Inc.

Divisional Income Statements

For the Quarter Ended December 31

1

East

West

Central

2

Revenues

3

Operating expenses

4

Income from operations before service department charges

5

Service department charges:

6

Customer Support

7

Legal

8

Total service department charges

9

Income from operations

2. Compute the profit margin for each division. Enter percentage as whole number (e.g. .16 equals 16%).

Division	Profit Margin
East Division
West Division
Central Division

Points:

0 / 3

Now identify the most successful division according to the profit margin:

Points:

0 / 1

Feedback

Check My Work

Income from operations divided by revenues equals profit margin.

3. What would you include in a recommendation to the CEO for a better method for evaluating the performance of the divisions? What is a major weakness of the present method?

A major weakness of the present method is that

nonfinancial drivers are not identified.

a full years income is needed for assessment.

there is no weakness. The present method works well.

the service department charges are incorrectly allocated.

the assets invested in each division are not considered.

Points:

0 / 1

Which of the following methods would better evaluate divisional performance? Check all that apply.

Computing the rate of return on investment (income from operations divided by divisional assets).

Focusing on controllable revenues and expenses.

Including direct and indirect operating expenses for each division.

Considering residual income (income from operations less a minimal return on divisional assets).

Utilizing transfer pricing between divisions.

None of these. The present method works well.

Completing a balanced scorecard for each service department.