"I was trained as an engineer, I work as an engineer, and I intend to retire as an engineer. Why on earth would I want to learn accounting?" Linda Payton, a senior production engineer at a Fortune 500 firm, clearly is unhappy that her boss asked her to attend a one-week seminar on managerial accounting before taking on her new position. Linda's new duties deal with managing tools. She has overall authority for when to replace tools, whether to buy them or make them, and what quantities to purchase or produce.

Required:

The following list presents five decisions that Linda might face in her job. How can managerial accounting information help with these decisions? For each decision, list at least one information item that Linda might use and whether the item is financial or nonfinancial in nature.

1. Whether actual costs are in line with expectations?

2. Whether to make a tool in-house or buy it from a supplier?

3. How many tools to purchase for making 100,000 units of a product?

4. What is the right inventory level for a given tool?

5. Whether to make a new tool or to refurbish an existing tool?