The controller for Muir Company€™s Salem plant is analyzing overhead in order to determine appropriate drivers for use in flexible budgeting. She decided to concentrate on the past 12 months since that time period was one in which there was little important change in technology, product lines, and so on. Data on overhead costs, number of machine hours, number of setups, and number of purchase orders are in the following table.

Required:
1. Calculate an overhead rate based on machine hours using the total overhead cost and total machine hours. (Round the overhead rate to the nearest cent and predicted overhead to the nearest dollar.) Use this rate to predict overhead for each of the 12 months.
2. Run a regression equation using only machine hours as the independent variable. Prepare a flexible budget for overhead for the 12 months using the results of this regression equation. (Round the intercept and x-coefficient to the nearest cent and predicted overhead to the nearest dollar.) Is this flexible budget better than the budget in Requirement 1? Why or why not?

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