GrwnPwr, a privately held startup company, designs and manufacturers patented electrodes for electric-powered vehicle batteries. GrwnPwr's patented
Question:
You work as a financial analyst for a private equity firm that is considering making a direct investment in GrwnPwr. Your boss has asked you to analyze the firm's current financial condition. But before starting your analysis, your boss notices that GrwnPwr is using variable costing rather than traditional absorption costing. During GrwnPwr's first year of operations, it produced and sold two different electrodes, the X759 model and the Z200 model. GrwnPwr's variable costing income statement for its first year of operations is provided below. Note there were no beginning inventories of models X759 and Z200.
The footnotes to the financial statements read as follows: "Finished goods inventory under variable costing at year end consisted of $31,920 of X759 and $25,160 of Z200."
Your boss isn't quite sure what the difference is between variable and absorption costing and doesn't know how the reported net income before taxes would change if GrwnPwr used absorption costing. He asks you to prepare a statement showing what GrwnPwr's net income before tax would have been if it had used absorption costing. You contact GrwnPwr's CFO and learn the following additional facts:
¢ Each X759 electrode sold for $48.
¢ Each Z200 electrode sold for $62.
¢ Each X759 electrode required 13.5 minutes of milling time.
¢ Each Z200 electrode required 18.2 minutes of milling time.
¢ There is no variable overhead in GrwnPwr's manufacturing process. That is, manufacturing costs consist only of direct materials and labor (the variable costs) and fixed manufacturing overhead. Fixed manufacturing overhead consists entirely of lease payments on equipment, the factory rent, and other cash expenses.
¢ You conclude that milling minutes is the most appropriate way to absorb fixed manufacturing overhead to the electrodes.
Required:
a. Prepare a statement showing what GrwnPwr's net income before tax would have been if GrwnPwr had used absorption costing.
b. Write a memo to your boss (i) explaining why the absorption costing and variable net income before tax amounts do or do not differ and (ii) discussing how your absorption costing net income before tax should (or should not) be used in your private equity firm's decision to invest in GrwnPwr. In particular, how should your private equity firm's valuation of GrwnPwr change (or not change) based on your absorption costing statement prepared in part (a)?
Financial statements are the standardized formats to present the financial information related to a business or an organization for its users. Financial statements contain the historical information as well as current period’s financial...
Step by Step Answer:
Accounting for Decision Making and Control
ISBN: 978-1259564550
9th edition
Authors: Jerold Zimmerman