Suppose Gene determines that next year€™s Sales Division activities include the following:
Research€”researching current and future conditions in the industry
Shipping€”arranging for shipping of mattresses and handling calls from purchasing agents at retail stores to trace shipments and correct errors
Jobbers€”coordinating the efforts of the independent jobbers who sell the mattresses
Basic ads€”placing print and television ads for the Sleepeze and Plushette lines
Ultima ads€”choosing and working with the advertising agency on the Ultima account
Office management€”operating the Sales Division office
The percentage of time spent by each employee of the Sales Division on each of the above activities is given in the following table:

Additional information is as follows:
a. Depreciation on the office equipment belongs to the office management activity.
b. Of the $21,000 for office supplies and other expenses, $5,000 can be assigned to telephone costs which can be split evenly between the shipping and jobbers€™ activities. An additional $2,400 per year is attributable to Internet connections and fees, and the bulk of these costs (80 percent) are assignable to research. The remainder is a cost of office management. All other office supplies and costs are assigned to the office management activity.
Required:
1. Prepare an activity-based budget for next year by activity. Use the expected level of sales activity.
2. On the basis of the budget prepared in Requirement 1, advise Gene regarding actions that might be taken to reduce expenses.

Administrative Assistant Research Gene Assistant 75% 10 Research Shipping Jobbers Basic ads Ultima ads Office management 30% 15 9 20% 20 40 15 30 25 15