Single Plantwide and Multiple Production Department Factory Overhead Rate Methods and Product Cost Distortion The management of Nova Industries Inc. manufactures gasoline and diesel engines through two production departments, Fabrication and Assembly. Management needs accurate product cost information in order to guide product strategy. Presently, the company use a single plantwide factory overhead rate for allocating factory overhead to the two products. However, management is considering the multiple production department factory overhead rate method. The following factory overhead was budgeted for Nova: Fabrication Department factory overhead $532,000 Assembly Department factory overhead Total Direct labor hours were estimated as follows: 228,000 $760,000 Fabrication Department Assembly Department Total 3,800 hours 3,800 7,600 hours In addition, the direct labor hours (dih) used to produce a unit of each product in each department were determined from engineering records, as follows: Production Departments Gasoline Engine Diesel Engine Fabrication Department 1.30 dlh Assembly Department 2.70 Direct labor hours per unit 4.00 dih 2.70 dlh 1.30 4.00 dih a. Determine the per-unit factory overhead allocated to the gasoline and diesel engines under the single plantwide factory overhead rate method, using direct labor hours as the activity base. Gasoline engine $ Diesel engine per unit per unit b. Determine the per-unit factory overhead allocated to the gasoline and diesel engines under the multiple production department factory overhead rate method, using direct labor hours as the activity base for each department. per unit per unit Gasoline engine s Diesel engine c. Recommend to management a product costing approach, based on your analyses in (a) and (b). Management should select the multiple department product uses the direct labor hours differently factory overhead rate method of allocating overhead costs. The single plantwide . Thus, the multiple department factory overhead rate method indicates that both products have the same factory overhead per unit. Each rate method avoids the cost distortions by accounting for the overhead in each production department separately Feedback