Refer to the AccuTax, Inc., example in the chapter. One of the partners is planning to retire at the end of the year. May Higgins, the sole remaining partner, plans to add a manager at an annual salary of $90,000. She expects the manager to work, on average, 45 hours a week for 45 weeks per year. She plans to change the required staff time for each hour spent to complete a tax return to the following:

 

The manager is salaried and earns no overtime pay. Senior consultants are salaried but receive time and a half for any overtime worked. The firm plans to keep all the senior consultants and adjust the number of consultants as needed including employing part-time consultants, who also are paid on an hourly basis. The partner has also decided to have five supporting staff at $40,000 each. All other operating data remain unchanged. The manager will share 10 percent of any profit over $500,000 before bonus.

Required

Set up an Excel spreadsheet to answer the following questions:

1. What is the budgeted total cost for overtime hours worked by senior consultants?

2. How many full-time consultants should be budgeted?

3. Determine the manager’s total compensation and total pretax operating income for the firm, assuming that the revenues from preparing tax returns remainunchanged.

Complex Individual Return Simple Individual Business Return Return 0.05 hr 0.15 hr 0.30 hr 0.20 hr 0.50 hr 0.00 hr Partner Manager Senior Consultant 0.40 hr 0.40 hr 0.20 hr 0.80 hr Consultant