Browning Transportation Co. has three regional divisions organized as profit centers. The chief executive officer (CEO) evaluates
Question:
Browning Transportation Co. has three regional divisions organized as profit centers. The chief executive officer (CEO) evaluates divisional performance, using income from operations as a percent of revenues. The following quarterly income and expense accounts were provided from the trial balance as of December 31, 2010:
Revenues?East Division ???????. $600,000
Revenues?West Division ???????. 710,000
Revenues?Metro Division ??????? 980,000
Operating Expenses?East Division ???... 362,400
Operating Expenses?West Division ???. 393,540
Operating Expenses?Metro Division ?.?? 527,760
Corporate Expenses?Shareholder Relations ? 87,500
Corporate Expenses?Customer Support ?? 300,000
Corporate Expenses?Legal ??????? 122,400
General Corporate Officers? Salaries ???.. 204,000
The company operates three service departments: Shareholder Relations, Customer Support, and Legal. The Shareholder Relations Department conducts a variety of services for shareholders of the company. The Customer Support Department is the company?s point of contact for new service, complaints, and requests for repair. The department believes that the number of customer contacts is an activity base for this work. The Legal Department provides legal services for division management. The department believes that the number of hours billed is an activity base for this work. The following additional information has been gathered:
Instructions1. Prepare quarterly income statements showing income from operations for the three divisions. Use three column headings: East, West, and Metro.2. Identify the most successful division according to the profit margin. Round to two decimal places.3. Provide a recommendation to the CEO for a better method for evaluating the performance of the divisions. In your recommendation, identify the major weakness of the present method.
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