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Caiman Distribution Partners is the Brazilian distribution company of a U.S. consumer products firm. Inflation in Brazil has made bidding and budgeting difficult for marketing managers trying to penetrate some of the country's rural regions. The company expects to distribute 450,000 cases of products in Brazil next month. The controller has classified operating costs (excluding costs of the distributed product) as follows.

Account	Operating Cost			Behavior
Supplies	$	1,415,000		All variable
Supervision		204,000		$	160,000	Fixed
Truck expense		1,340,000		$	196,000	Fixed
Building leases		844,000		$	556,000	Fixed
Utilities		213,000		$	143,000	Fixed
Warehouse labor		847,000		$	144,000	Fixed
Equipment leases		761,000		$	581,000	Fixed
Data processing equipment		958,000		All fixed
Other		849,000		$	373,000	Fixed
Total	$	7,431,000

Although overhead costs were related to revenues throughout the company, the experience in Brazil suggested to the managers that they should incorporate information from a published index of Brazilian prices in the distribution sector to forecast overhead in a manner more likely to capture the economics of the business.

Following instructions from the corporate offices, the controller's office in Brazil collected the following information for monthly operations from last year.

Month	Cases	Price Index	Operating Costs
1	249,000	115	$5,699,165
2	346,000	115	5,806,664
3	250,000	122	5,849,931
4	406,000	128	5,927,643
5	335,000	117	5,939,161
6	362,000	124	6,043,390
7	395,000	129	5,918,521
8	456,000	127	6,133,894
9	385,000	136	6,126,156
10	432,000	135	6,186,651
11	398,000	130	6,208,825
12	457,000	143	6,362,281

These data are considered representative for both past and future operations in Brazil.

Required:

a-1. Determine the variable cost per case assuming that 450,000 cases will be shipped next month based on the controller's analysis of accounts. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)

a-2. Prepare an estimate of operating costs.

b. Use the high-low method to compute an estimate of operating costs assuming that 450,000 cases will be shipped next month. (Round variable cost to 5 decimal places. Round intermediate calculations and final answer to nearest whole dollar amount.)

c-1. Using Excel, calculate the simple regression of operating costs on cases shipped and enter the regression coefficients.

c-2. Compute the estimation of operating costs assuming that 450,000 cases will be shipped next month by using the results of a simple regression of operating costs on cases shipped.

d-1. Enter the regression coefficients.

d-2. Compute the estimation of operating costs assuming that 450,000 cases will be shipped next month by using the results of a multiple regression of operating costs on cases shipped and the price level. Assume a price level of 149 for next month

e. Select the most appropriate estimate for the given circumstances. (You may select more than one answer. Single click the box with the question mark to produce a check mark for a correct answer and double click the box with the question mark to empty the box for a wrong answer.)

• Simple regression
• Multiple regression
• Controller's analysis
• High-low method