Suppose you are having a conversation with Sandy, another student in this course. Sandy is confused about the differences and similarities between target costing and kaizen costing. Another student, Kevin, overhears your conversation with Sandy and insists that neither of these methods is beneficial. Kevin argues that some companies run into financial problems using these methods because their managers manipulated the cost estimates to appear however they wanted. If the managers wanted to launch a new product or keep an old one, they made sure their cost estimates supported their decision. Required (a) In your own words, explain how target costing and kaizen costing are the same and how they are different. (b) Compare the information needed to apply the target costing and kaizen costing methods: (i) List the types of relevant information needed for each method. (ii) List the uncertainties in the relevant information for each method. (c) Discuss ways in which managers might be able to create biased estimates under a target or kaizen costing system. (d) Kevin argues that the types of issues you described in part (C) mean that target and kaizen costing are not beneficial. Discuss the validity of this argument.
> For each of the following problems, use the eight-step approach to test the hypotheses. a) H0: p = .28 Ha: p > .28 n = 783 x = 230 α = .10 b) H0: p = .61 Ha: p ≠ .61 n = 401 p^ = .56 α = .05
> Use the information given and the eight-step approach to test the hypotheses. Let α = .05. Assume that the population is normally distributed. H0: μ = 7.82 Ha: μ < 7.82 n = 17 x̅ = 7.01 s = 1.69
> Use the information given and the eight-step approach to test the hypotheses. Let α = .01. H0: μ = 36 Ha: μ ≠ 36 n = 36 x̅ = 38.4 σ = 5.93
> A Harris poll was taken to determine which of 13 major industries are doing a good job of serving their customers. Among the industries rated most highly by Americans for serving their customers were computer hardware and software companies, car manufact
> The New York Stock Exchange recently reported that the average age of a female shareholder is 44 years. A broker in Chicago wants to know whether this figure is accurate for the female shareholders in Chicago. The broker secures a master list of sharehol
> If a random sample of 41 items produces x̅ = 128.4 and s = 20.6, what is the 98% confidence interval for μ? Assume x is normally distributed for the population. What is the point estimate?
> An alternative hypothesis is that p < .65. To test this hypothesis, a random sample of size 360 is taken. What is the probability of committing a Type II error if α = .05 and the alternative proportion is as follows? a) pa = .60 b) pa = .55 c) pa = .50
> Suppose a hypothesis states that the mean is exactly 50. If a random sample of 35 items is taken to test this hypothesis, what is the value of β if the population standard deviation is 7 and the alternative mean is 53? Use α = .01
> Use the data given to test the following hypotheses. Assume the data are normally distributed in the population. H0 : μ = 7.48 ……………… Ha : μ < 7.48 x̅ = 6.91, n = 24 ……… σ = 1.21, α = .01
> For Problem 9.38, use α = .05 and solve for the probability of committing a Type II error for the following possible true alternative means. a) μa = 98.5 b) μa = 98 c) μa = 97 d) μa = 96 e) What happens to the probability of committing a Type II error as
> Suppose a null hypothesis is that the population mean is greater than or equal to 100. Suppose further that a random sample of 48 items is taken and the population standard deviation is 14. For each of the following α values, compute the probability of c
> A company produces industrial wiring. One batch of wiring is specified to be 2.16 centimeters (cm) thick. A company inspects the wiring in seven locations and determines that, on the average, the wiring is about 2.16 cm thick. However, the measurements v
> A savings and loan averages about $100,000 in deposits per week. However, because of the way pay periods fall, seasonality, and erratic fluctuations in the local economy, deposits are subject to a wide variability. In the past, the variance for weekly de
> A manufacturing company produces bearings. One line of bearings is specified to be 1.64 centimeters (cm) in diameter. A major customer requires that the variance of the bearings be no more than .001 cm2. The producer is required to test the bearings befo
> Previous experience shows the variance of a given process to be 14. Business analysts are testing to determine whether this value has changed. They gather the following dozen measurements of the process. Use these data and α = .05 to test t
> Test each of the following hypotheses by using the given information. Assume the populations are normally distributed. a) H0: σ2 = 20 Ha: σ2 > 20 α = .05, n = 15, s2 = 32 b. H0: σ2 = 8.5 Ha: σ2 ≠ 8.5 α = .10, n = 22, s2 = 17 c) H0: σ2 = 45 Ha: σ2 < 45 α
> Assuming x is normally distributed, use the following information to compute a 90% confidence interval to estimate μ.
> A random sample of size 39 is taken from a population of 200 members. The sample mean is 66 and the population standard deviation is 11. Construct a 96% confidence interval to estimate the population mean. What is the point estimate of the population mea
> 1. A researcher wants to estimate the difference in the means of two populations. A random sample of 40 items from the first population results in a sample mean of 433 with a population standard deviation of 112. A random sample of 50 items from the seco
> 21. A researcher is testing a hypothesis of a single mean. The critical z value for ( = .05 and a two-tailed test is ± 1.96. The observed z value from sample data is -1.91. The decision made by the researcher based on this information is to _____________
> 11. Power is equal to _______________. 12. Whenever hypotheses are established such that the alternative hypothesis is directional, then the researcher is conducting a _______________-tailed test. 13. A _______________-tailed test is non-directional. 14.
> 1. The first step in testing a hypothesis is to establish a(n) _______________ hypothesis and a(n) _______________ hypothesis. 2. In testing hypotheses, the researcher initially assumes that the _______________ hypothesis is true. 3. The region of the di
> 41. The observed value of chi-square in problem 39 is ______________________. 42. The decision reached for problem 39 is _______________. 43. The null hypothesis for a test is H0: ( = 30. The population standard deviation is known to be 0.63. A one-taile
> 31. A political scientist want to statistically test the null hypothesis that her candidate for governor is currently carrying at least 57% of the vote in the state. She has her assistants randomly sample 550 eligible voters in the state by telephone and
> 23. Suppose we want to construct a confidence interval to estimate a population variance. A sample variance is computed from a sample of 14 items. To construct a 95% confidence interval, the chi-square table values are _______________ and _______________
> 11. The t test was developed by _______________. 12. In order to find values in the t distribution table, you must convert the sample size or sizes to _______________. 13. The table t value associated with 10 degrees of freedom and used to compute a 95%
> 13. In conducting multiple comparisons with unequal sample sizes with techniques presented in chapter 11 of the text, you would use which procedure? __________________ 14. Sup1pose the following data are taken as samples from three populations and that a
> 1. A plan for testing hypotheses in which the researcher either controls or manipulates one or more variables is called a(n) ______________________________________. 2. A variable that is either controlled or manipulated is called a(n) ___________________
> 33. The confidence interval computed for the problem in question 29 is _______________. 34. A researcher is interested in estimating the difference in two populations proportions. A sample of 1000 from each population results in sample proportions of .61
> 21. A researcher wants to conduct a before/after study on 13 subjects to determine if a treatment results in higher scores. The hypotheses are: Ho: D = 0 Ha: D Scores are obtained on the subjects both before and after the treatment. After subtracting th
> 11. Using the information from question 9, the observed value of z is _______________. 12. Using the results determined in question 10 and 11, the decision is to _______________ the null hypothesis. 13. A researcher is interested in testing to determine
> 1. When a statistic taken from the sample is used to estimate a population parameter, it is called a(n) _______________ estimate. 2. When a range of values is used to estimate a population parameter, it is called a(n) _______________ estimate. 3. The z v
> The furniture division of International Woodworking purchases timber and makes tables, chairs, and other wood furniture. Most of the timber is purchased from the Port Angeles Mill, also a division of International Woodworking. The furniture division and
> Prem International has two large subsidiaries, Oil and Chemical. Oil is an oil-refining entity, and its main product is petrol. Chemical produces and sells a variety of chemical products. Chemical owns a polystyrene processing plant next to Oilâ
> Avra Valley Services has two divisions, Computer Services and Management Advisory Services. Both divisions work for external customers and, in addition, work for each other. Fees earned by Computer Services from external customers were $400 000 in 2017.
> Automotive parts company Mopar implemented a new inventory management system costing $1.5 million. Mopar distributed parts from three central and 11 regional warehouses to hundreds of parts dealers. The entity filled orders for approximately 1 million li
> Budget Cupboards produces kitchen and bathroom cupboards that incorporate unusual functions, such as specialty drawers for knives and kitchen tools, and kitchen appliance holders that pop up from under the counter top. Competition in this industry has re
> Cairns Legal Services is part of a larger not-for-profit organisation (Capricorn Resource Centre) that provides free legal and job placement services and houses a food bank for qualified clients. Last year’s costs for 5000 visits to leg
> Suppose the Tasmanian government decided to preserve some beautiful caves in the southwestern part of the state. To defray the cost of preservation, the Tasmanian state tourism managers decided to open the caves to guided tours. To prepare the caves for
> The accountants at French Perfumery decided to increase the price of a scent called Breezy by 10%, from $6 per bottle to $6.60. French’s accountants expect the 10 per cent price increase to reduce unit sales by 20 per cent. Current sales are 200 000 bott
> Fancy Fleece developed a new outdoor wear fleece fabric that is both wind and water resistant, but retains a soft and fuzzy feel. The research and development process was more expensive than Fancy’s managers anticipated, and the materials in the fabric a
> Bainbridge University offers an MBA degree that is widely respected around the world. The tuition for the program has always covered the costs of the program until a recent recession increased the sensitivity of students to the cost of tuition. The busin
> If fixed costs are included in the marked up costs used in setting cost-based prices, a problem may occur when demand declines. Describe this problem.
> Hanson & Daughters produces a premium label apple juice to wholesalers at a current price of $7 per 5-litre container. Costs for a recent month, in which 100Â 000 5-litre containers were produced and sold, appear on following page: Hanso
> Transrapid is a new magnetically levitated train being developed to run between major cities in Germany at a speed of 500 kilometres per hour. Engineers developed a system with trains departing every 10 minutes. Suppose Transrapid asked you to research c
> Frosty Treats, a boutique ice cream shop, has asked your advice in setting pricing policies. Frosty Treats manager has collected information about prices and sales over the last four years. Required (a) Explain how you would use the prices and sales inf
> Suppose the owner of Haywood Ceramics needs to raise prices to stay in business, but is concerned that raising prices would result in a death spiral. To avoid a decline in sales, the owner is considering sending letters to her customers explaining why th
> Consider the Dublin Shirt Company in comprehensive example 1 and the additional material provided below. Two recent developments that may have an impact on the company should be Noted. First, in the present climate, The Dublin Shirt Company can only affo
> Burton Turner and Short Whittum live in a small town in northern Queensland. They both own petrol stations and provide fuel and engine repair services for the area. The town is somewhat isolated, and during the wet months it is sometimes difficult to tra
> Budget Cupboards produces kitchen and bathroom cupboards that incorporate unusual functions, such as specialty drawers for knives and kitchen tools, and kitchen appliance holders that pop up from under the counter top. Competition in this industry has re
> Tania Wells owns and operates Gym Gear R Us, a growing internet business that specialises in the sale of gymwear for men, women and children. Tania designs her products but has them manufactured offshore. Since starting the business three years ago, she
> John Gold has owned and operated Heritage Jewellery Store for a number of years. He uses the standard mark-up of 300 per cent (known as a triple key in this industry) and uses an average cost that includes an allocation of overhead as the cost base. Late
> List some common advantages and disadvantages for target and kaizen costing.
> Lance Novak recently acquired Chiefs Loft, a restaurant in an inner city suburb of Brisbane. Past records show the restaurant has generally experienced quite good customer numbers. While conducting his due diligence and from the first few weeks in the re
> Terence Smythe, a veterinariant, decided to join a small group of vets so that he no longer has to be on call every night. Practice members share the responsibility of emergencies with other members of the group. In the past, Terrence differentiated his
> In an Environmental Victoria audit, it was found that Australian supermarkets could save $41.6 million annually if ‘green bags’ were universally adopted. This audit was conducted at Leo’s Fine Foods i
> Consider the carbon footprint of an airline such as Qantas. Could an airline ever become carbon neutral or positive? Explain. What about a botanical garden? Discuss.
> Search the newspapers/web to find examples of Australian companies disclosing their sustainability practices using management accounting information or tools such as the balanced scorecard. Provide a report on your findings.
> Using the following table, classify each sustainability cost according to their appropriate category (level 1–5).
> Read the management accounting case at the beginning of this chapter. Using Bank Australia as an example, list some of the positive externalities that might be achieved as a result of its operations. What are some of the negative externalities that could
> List some costs that may be considered to be ‘contingent’ sustainability-related costs for the mining industry.
> Comment on how the inclusion of environmental and social indicators in a balanced scorecard might contribute to an organisation’s profitability.
> (a) Explain how carbon-trading might reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (b) How might the existence of carbon trading schemes affect the management accounting system within organisations?
> Supply chain analysis focuses particularly on one aspect of value chain analysis. Explain how supply chain analysis is performed and how it relates to value chain analysis.
> The World Coal Institute claims that coal provides over 26.5 per cent of global primary energy needs and generates over 41.5 per cent of the world’s electricity. Coal is one of the cheapest forms of fuel available on the planet. However, burning fuel pro
> Investigate which companies have experienced either one-strike or two-strikes on their remuneration reports in the last year or two. Summarise your results and collect the specifics of one example.
> Sarah Tesar is the lead partner of a medium-sized accounting firm. The eight partners share in an annual bonus pool. The characteristics of the bonus pool system include: • The bonus pool size each year is calculated as 40 per cent of annual profit. • Th
> Harley–Davidson, Inc. has found itself having to confront a number of risk-related issues. These have mainly related to: (a) the need to increase the number of recalls due to faults (b) surging costs of making the repairs to faulty motorbikes (c) increas
> Becky Tan is the CFO at Frosters Systems, a diversified company with eight different business units (divisions). Becky has been asked by the CEO to develop a shared bonus pool system. Required What key decisions will Becky have to make to set up the sha
> Ben, an employee of Joseph’s, appears to be extremely enthusiastic about his back-office accounting role. He has been with Joseph’s company for about four years and has performed well in his position. Ben is very keen to progress in the company and Josep
> The ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations set out rules to deal with enhanced management performance and effectiveness and requires disclosure of the process for performance evaluation of the board, its committees and individual directo
> You are a remuneration consultant employed by a listed company to assess the CEO’s reward plan. The board is concerned that the CEO is overpaid in absolute terms and also when compared to other CEOs of major corporations. Required How might you determin
> Freshwater is an entity that processes and distributes bottled water throughout Australia and New Zealand. You have been employed as a remuneration consultant to develop a new reward system for the entity. Required Explain how you would develop an incen
> You are a remuneration consultant. The board of a large multi-national bank has asked you to draft a proposal for a new reward system for senior executives. Currently all senior executives are paid a fixed salary. Your investigations at the entity reveal
> Explain market-based pricing and explain where managers and accountants can find information that would help them set prices using this type of approach.
> You are required to offer advice to a small but growing community bank. Describe the steps you would take to prepare a risk profile for this organisation.
> Stevan is the divisional manager with the Liberty Property Development Group. His performance report shows a positive divisional margin but a loss for the year. Stevan has complained to the CEO about the common costs that have been charged to his divisio
> Assume you are a senior manager at a publicly listed company. Under the company’s longer-term incentive plan you have recently received a parcel of share options. These share options can only be exercised (converted to shares) after three years. Require
> Relative performance evaluation at the company level often results in using a market index like the ASX100 as the peer group. Required Outline the potential advantages and disadvantages of this practice.
> Many organisations use a balanced scorecard set of measures to determine the short-term incentive for senior managers and executives. Required Outline any potential difficulties associated with using a set of balanced scorecard measures to determine the
> Describe the factors that need to be considered when structuring a compensation plan for executives.
> Think about the type of work you will perform in your future career. Required (a) Give examples of the types of financial and non-financial information you will probably use in your work. (b) List several methods you could use to produce information tha
> The Galaxy Hotel Group owns and operates a number of mid-level boutique hotels mostly in regional Australia. Galaxy is structured around regions with a regional general manager usually given the responsibility of working closely with the managers of the
> (a) Reflect on the management accounting case and the balanced scorecards used by Qantas and Virgin Australia as part of their incentive plans. How might they use a strategy map in the process of developing their scorecards? (b) With reference to the man
> Perspectives, performance objectives and potential performance measures for the balanced scorecard at Holiday Resorts are as follows: Perspectives (i) Financial (ii) Customer (iii) Internal business (iv) Learning and growth Performance objectives A. Redu
> Explain cost-based pricing and give an example that shows how prices would be determined using this method.
> You have been invited by a classmate to help found a new not-for-profit organisation named Students Care. The organisation’s purpose is to provide scholarship money for children in Africa who have become orphans because of the AIDS epidemic. The organisa
> Part of the process for developing a balanced scorecard is to identify one or more measures for each perspective. Required Categorise each of the following potential balanced scorecard measures according to the following perspectives: F Financial C Cust
> Markman Ltd, a large pharmaceutical company, is concerned about the ability of its research and development department to develop profitable new prescription drugs. Once a drug has been developed and patented, it takes 9 to 12 years to meet all of the re
> Leyland College is in the process of developing a balanced scorecard. The administrators decided that their customers are parents and future employers of their students. They believe the students are their products. Required Discuss whether each of the
> Managers increasingly use a mixture of financial and non-financial measures for organisational performance. Required In the following list of performance measures, identify those that are financial (F) and those that are non-financial (N). (a) Customer
> Following is financial information for last period about Curry House, a regional company with a number of fast-food stores: Required Describe and calculate several measures that could be used for the financial perspective.
> Georgina Chan is the chief financial officer of Colorado Pty Ltd, which has three interdependent divisions where, on average, about 30 per cent of the output of one division is transferred to one of the other divisions. She is currently dealing with a di
> The following information relates to a new computer chip that Hand Held has developed for its new mobile phone that contains a personal organiser: The variable costs of the mobile phone division will be incurred whether it buys from the chip division o
> The Enviro division of Solar Sun produces electric motors, 20 per cent of which are sold to the Energy Plus division of Solar Sun and the remainder to outside customers. Solar Sun treats its divisions as profit centres and allows division managers to cho
> Fowler Electronics produces colour plasma screens in its Bien Hoa plant in Vietnam. The screens are then shipped to the entity’s plant in Sturt, South Australia, where they are incorporated into finished televisions. Although the Bien Hoa plant never sel
> In competitive markets such as the game console industry, how might management respond to techniques such as life cycle costing?
> Refer to the information in Problem 18.21. The manager of Sandy Point Construction is considering a new project. She can buy or lease equipment that will reprocess tailings from old mines to remove any traces of gold left behind by the original separatin
> The following financial data are for the evaluation of performance for Sandy Point Construction: Sandy Point Construction currently uses return on investment to evaluate investment centre managers. An accounting intern from the local university suggest
> Senior management at Harriot Industries, an Italian-based fashion house and cosmetics company, have been engaged in a debate around the best key financial measure relevant to evaluate the performance of senior executives and divisional managers. Currentl