Required information

Skip to question

$[$The following information applies to the questions displayed below.$]$

Martha$$s Vineyard Marine Supply is a wholesaler for a large variety of boating and fishing equipment. The company$$s controller, Mathew Knight, has recently completed a cost study of the firm$$s material$-$handling department. Knight used work measurement to quantify the department$$s activity. The control factor unit used in the work$-$measurement study was hundreds of pounds of equipment unloaded or loaded at the company$$s loading dock. Knight compiled the following data.

Month Units of Activity $($hundreds of pounds of equipment loaded or unloaded$)$ Material$-$Handling Department Costs

January $3,000$ $ $12,900$

February $2,80012,500$

March $2,50011,850$

April $2,20011,400$

May $3,40012,300$

June $3,60014,350$

July $3,20013,200$

August $3,00012,600$

September $3,80013,560$

October $2,30011,650$

November $2,40012,550$

December $2,60012,550$

Required:

Construct an Excel spreadsheet and use the Excel commands to perform a least$-$squares regression. Estimate the variable$-$ and fixed$-$cost components in the company$$s material$-$handling department costs.

Note: Round the Variable$-$cost component to $2$ decimal places and the Fixed$-$cost component to the nearest whole dollar amount.