Problem 4-18B Selecting an appropriate cost driver (What is the base?)

Fokine Research Institute has three departments: biology, chemistry, and physics. The institutes controller wants to estimate the cost of operating each department. He has identified several indirect costs that must be allocated to each department including $16,000 of phone expense, $3,600 of office supplies, $840,000 of office rent, $140,000 of janitorial services, and $150,000 of salary paid to the director. To provide a reasonably accurate allocation of costs, the controller identified several possible cost drivers. These drivers and their association with each department follow:

Cost Driver	Biology	Chemistry	Physics
Number of telephones	10	14	16
Number of researchers	8	10	12
Square footage of office space	8,000	8,000	12,000
Number of secretaries	1	1	1

Required

Identify the appropriate cost objects.

Identify the appropriate cost driver for each indirect cost, and compute the allocation rate for assigning each indirect cost to the cost objects. Round your figures to two decimal points.

Determine the amount of telephone expense that should be allocated to each of the three departments.

Determine the amount of supplies expense that should be allocated to the physics department.

Determine the amount of office rent cost that should be allocated to the chemistry department.

Determine the amount of janitorial services cost that should be allocated to the biology department.

Identify two cost drivers not listed here that could be used to allocate the cost of the directors salary to the three departments.