You have just taken a job at a manufacturing company and have discovered that they do not use a predetermined overhead rate to apply overhead costs to products. They simply add actual overhead to the product costs in production as they are incurred.

Compose a short email - 5 to 7 sentences because the president it too busy to read anything longer than that - proposing a predetermined overhead rate for your company. You can use plantwide, departmental or activity based, but whatever you suggest, defend it.