Segment Analysis for a Service Company

Charles Schwab Corporation is one of the more innovative brokerage and financial service companies in the United States. The company recently provided information about its major business segments as follows (in millions):

	Investor Services		Advisor Services
Revenues	$2,680		$1,393
Income from operations	1,022		172
Depreciation	101		69

a. The segment serves the retail customer, you and me. These include brokerage, Internet, and mutual fund services. The segment includes the same services provided for financial institutions, such as banks, mutual fund managers, insurance companies, and pension plan administrators.

b. Indicate whether the following costs are a Variable Cost or a Fixed Cost in the Investor Services.

1. Commissions to brokers 2. Fees paid to exchanges for executing trades 3. Depreciation on brokerage offices 4. Transaction fees incurred by Schwab mutual funds to purchase and sell shares 5. Property taxes on brokerage offices 6. Advertising 7. Depreciation on brokerage office equipment, such as computers and computer networks

c. Estimate the contribution margin for each segment, assuming that depreciation represents the majority of fixed costs.

	Investor Services (in millions)	Advisor Services (in millions)
Estimated contribution margin	$	$

d. If Schwab decided to sell its Advisor Services business to another company, estimate how much operating income would decline under the following assumptions.

Assume the fixed costs that serve the Advisor Services business would not be sold but would be used by the other sector: $ million Assume the fixed assets were sold: $ million