Worley Company buys surgical supplies from a variety of manufacturers and then resells and delivers these supplies to hundreds of hospitals. Worley sets its prices for all hospitals by marking up its cost of goods sold to those hospitals by 7%. For example, if a hospital buys supplies from Worley that cost Worley $100 to buy from manufacturers, Worley would charge the hospital $107 to purchase these supplies.

For years, Worley believed that the 7% markup covered its selling and administrative expenses and provided a reasonable profit. However, in the face of declining profits, Worley decided to implement an activity-based costing system to help improve its understanding of customer profitability. The company broke its selling and administrative expenses into five activities as shown: