James, Inc., manufactures only two products, Medium (42- inch) and Large (63- inch) TVs. To generate adequate

Question:

James, Inc., manufactures only two products, Medium (42- inch) and Large (63- inch) TVs. To generate adequate profit and cover its expenses throughout the value chain, James prices its TVs at 300% of manufacturing cost. The company is concerned because the Large model is facing severe pricing competition, whereas the Medium model is the low-price leader in the market. The CEO questions whether the cost numbers generated by the accounting system are correct. The CEO just learned about ABC and wants to reanalyze this past year€™s product costs using an ABC system. Information about the company€™s products this past year is as follows:

Medium (42- inch) TVs:
Total direct material cost: $ 663,000
Total direct labor cost: $ 221,000
Production volume: 3,020 units
Large (63- inch) TVs:
Total direct material cost: $ 1,320,000
Total direct labor cost: $ 390,000
Production volume: 4,180 units

Currently, thecompany applies manufacturing overhead on the basis of direct labor hours. The company incurred $ 838,000 of manufacturing overhead this year, and 25,500 direct labor hours (9,500 direct labor hours making Medium TVs and 16,000 making Large TVs). The ABC team identified three primary production activities that generate manufacturing overhead costs:

Materials Handling($ 168,000); driven by number of material orders handled Machine Processing ($ 576,000); driven by machine hours
Packaging ($ 94,000); driven by packaging hours

The company€™sonly two products required the following activity levels during the year:

Requirements
1. Use the company€™s current costing system to find the total cost of producing all Medium (42- inch) TVs and the total cost of producing all Large (63- inch) TVs. What was the average cost of making each unit of each model? Round your answers to the nearest cent.
2. Use ABC to find the total cost of producing all Medium (42- inch) TVs and the total cost of producing all Large (63- inch) TVs. What was the average cost of making each unit of each model? Round your answers to the nearest cent.
3. How much cost distortion was occurring between the company€™s two products? Calculate the cost distortion in total and on a per unit basis. Could the cost distortion explain the CEO€™s confusion about pricing competition?Explain.