The personnel department at LastCall Enterprises handles many administrative tasks for the two divisions that make up
Question:
The cost allocation system at LastCall allocates all corporate costs to the divisions based on a variety of cost allocation bases. Personnel costs are allocated based on the average number of employees in the two divisions.
There are two basic activities in the personnel department. The first, which is called employee maintenance, manages employee records. Virtually all of this activity occurs when employees are hired or leave the company. The other activity is payroll, which is an ongoing activity and requires the same amount of work for each employee regardless of the employees salary.
Assorted data for LastCall for the last year follow:
The personnel department incurred the following costs during the year:
Employee maintenance . . . . . . . . . . $ 120,000
Payroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,500
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 137,500
Required
a. Under the current allocation system, what are the costs that will be allocated from personnel to LaidBack? To StressedOut?
b. Suppose the company implements an activity-based cost system for personnel with the two activities, employee maintenance and payroll. Use the number of employees hired/leaving as the cost driver for employee maintenance costs and the average number of employees for payroll costs. What are the costs that will be allocated from personnel to LaidBack? ToStressedOut?
Step by Step Answer:
Fundamentals of Cost Accounting
ISBN: 978-0077398194
3rd Edition
Authors: William Lanen, Shannon Anderson, Michael Maher