Berkman Financial is a regional bank that offers a variety of financial services to both retail and commercial customers. Berkman uses the step-down allocation method to allocate four service departments' costs (S1, S2, S3, and S4) to the three strategic business units (SBUs). Services provided by service departments are measured in "service units." The following table summarizes the cost of each of the four service departments and the number of service units used by the other service departments and SBUs:

In other words, Service Department S2 used 43 service units provided by S1 and SBU2 used 40 service units of S1. Likewise, S1 used 17 service units of S4 and SBU1 used 63 units of S4.
Required:
a. What is the cost per service unit of S1, and what is the cost per service unit of S2 if S1 is the first service department and S2 is the second department in the step-down order?
b. What is the cost per service unit of S1 and what is the cost per service unit of S2 if S2 is the first service department and S1 is the second department in the step-down order?
c. Describe briefly why the costs per service unit of S1 and S2 vary depending on the step-down allocation order.
d. Should S1 come before S2 or vice versa in the step-down order? In other words, what factors should management consider in ordering the four departments in the step-down allocation method?

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No. of Service Units Used Syc Svc Dept Service Departments Strategic Bus Units Dept Cost (millions) SI S3 SBU3 S2 S4 SBUI SBU2 43 6. 4.2 30 39 22 40 78 43 22 28 12.5 52 9. si $3.50 $6.20 2 7.2 28 4 17 S2 S3 6. $8.30 $4.20 15 2 S4 63