The times have changed and the national economy faces severe constraints in these pandemic times. Vaccine development is progressing at a furious pace with over 100 R&D projects across the world, as we unite resources to attempt to defeat this new threat. The danger to lives and global financial structures is very real.

One of the main economic drivers is income from universities. Whilst Australian student numbers had initially shown some resilience, the weakening economy means there are fewer jobs available for graduating students, who now face the possibility of abandoning all academic pursuits. Debt fears run rampant, both at a macro and micro-level.

On the international front, the news is not much better. It is not favorable in the short term, nor even the mid-term. Business development has been thwarted in this aspect by a swathe of unrelenting travel restrictions.

Online courses and delivery have dampened the economic blow or perhaps, simply delayed it. Universities find themselves in the unenviable position of having to further scrutinise their costs.

As a result, your university has decided to adopt an activity-based costing system to estimate the cost of the various courses that are currently being delivered here. However, there are questions about whether an activity-based costing system has any demonstrable merit over traditional "top-to-bottom" budgeting processes.

Required:

* All budgets need to be prepared in a table or inserted spreadsheet.

1) As a contrast,show a thorough budget for the total revenue/cost as per the Management Accounting subject you are now studying and for which you are completing this assignment. This can include a revenue line where your revenue can be assumed to be 20 percent higher than your costing.

Costing can be in terms of 10-15 different costs inspired by any annual report you deem comparable to an academic institution.

*Please use Excel, charts or any other graphical device (e.g. Power Points) you deem necessary for presenting your figures clearly.

Here's an example of how you can present the income statement:

Budget $$

Revenue xxx

Income stream A xxx

Income Stream B xxx

Operating Expenses

Cost A xx

Cost B xx

Cost C xx

(Use as many categories as you deem necessary)

Operating income x

Other income/Expenses

Cost d x

cost e x

Net Income x

2) Compare the above question briefly to an activity-based approach e.g. do you find the terms unit level, batch level, product level or facility level would have improved the example that you have constructed.