November 2006 Examinations: Paper P1 - Management Accounting - Performance Evaluation
November 2006 Examinations: Paper P1 - Management Accounting - Performance Evaluation
November 2006 Examinations: Paper P1 - Management Accounting - Performance Evaluation
Managerial Level
Question Paper 2
Examiner’s Answers 23
The answers published here have been written by the Examiner and should provide a helpful
guide for both tutors and students.
2006 The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recorded or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
P1 – Management Accounting –
Performance Evaluation
Instructions to candidates
You are allowed 20 minutes reading time before the examination begins
during which you should read the question paper, and if you wish, make
annotations on the question paper. However, you will not be allowed, under
any circumstances, to open the answer book and start writing or use your
calculator during this reading time.
You are strongly advised to carefully read ALL the question requirements
before attempting the question concerned (that is, all parts and/or sub-
questions). The requirements for the questions in Section C are contained in
a dotted box.
Write your full examination number, paper number and the examination
subject title in the spaces provided on the front of the examination answer
book. Also write your contact ID and name in the space provided in the right
hand margin and seal to close.
Tick the appropriate boxes on the front of the answer book to indicate which
questions you have answered.
P1 2 November 2006
SECTION A – 50 MARKS
[the indicative time for answering this section is 90 minutes]
ANSWER ALL EIGHTEEN SUB-QUESTIONS
Your answers should be clearly numbered with the sub-question number then ruled
off, so that the markers know which sub-question you are answering. For multiple
choice questions, you need only write the sub-question number and the letter
of the answer option you have chosen. You do not need to start a new page for
each sub-question.
For sub-questions 1.11 to 1.18 you should show your workings as marks are
available for the method you use to answer these sub-questions.
Question One
The following data are given for sub-questions 1.1 to 1.3 below
A company uses standard absorption costing. The following information was recorded by the
company for October:
Budget Actual
Output and sales (units) 8,700 8,200
Selling price per unit £26 £31
Variable cost per unit £10 £10
Total fixed overheads £34,800 £37,000
A £38,500 favourable
B £41,000 favourable
C £41,000 adverse
D £65,600 adverse
(2 marks)
November 2006 3 P1
1.2 The sales volume profit variance for October was
A £6,000 adverse
B £6,000 favourable
C £8,000 adverse
D £8,000 favourable
(2 marks)
A £2,000 adverse
B £2,200 adverse
C £2,200 favourable
D £4,200 adverse
(2 marks)
D budgeted income statement, budgeted balance sheet and budgeted cash flow only.
(2 marks)
P1 4 November 2006
The following data are given for sub-questions 1.5 and 1.6 below
£000
Sales revenue 800
Less variable costs 390
Contribution 410
Less fixed costs 90
Less depreciation 20
Net income 300
Assets £6·75m
A 4·44%
B 4·74%
C 5·77%
D 6·07%
(2 marks)
£000
A (467)
B (487)
C (557)
D (577)
(2 marks)
November 2006 5 P1
1.7 A company has reported annual operating profits for the year of £89·2m after charging
£9·6m for the full development costs of a new product that is expected to last for the
current year and two further years. The cost of capital is 13% per annum. The balance
sheet for the company shows fixed assets with a historical cost of £120m. A note to the
balance sheet estimates that the replacement cost of these fixed assets at the beginning
of the year is £168m. The assets have been depreciated at 20% per year.
A £64·16m
B £70·56m
C £83·36m
D £100·96m
(2 marks)
(iii) Material requirements planning (MRP) systems are computer based systems that
integrate all aspects of a business so that the planning and scheduling of
production ensures components are available when needed.
A (i) only
(2 marks)
P1 6 November 2006
1.9 RJD Ltd operates a standard absorption costing system. The following fixed production
overhead data is available for one month:
A 180,000 units.
B 240,000 units.
C 270,000 units.
D 280,000 units.
(2 marks)
1.10 WTD Ltd produces a single product. The management currently uses marginal costing
but is considering using absorption costing in the future.
The budgeted fixed production overheads for the period are £500,000. The budgeted
output for the period is 2,000 units. There were 800 units of opening inventory at the
beginning of the period and 500 units of closing inventory at the end of the period.
If absorption costing principles were applied, the profit for the period compared to the
marginal costing profit would be
A £75,000 higher.
B £75,000 lower.
C £125,000 higher.
D £125,000 lower.
(2 marks)
November 2006 7 P1
1.11 JJ Ltd manufactures three products: W, X and Y. The products use a series of different
machines but there is a common machine that is a bottleneck.
The standard selling price and standard cost per unit for each product for the forthcoming
period are as follows:
W X Y
£ £ £
Selling price 200 150 150
Cost
Direct materials 41 20 30
Labour 30 20 36
Overheads 60 40 50
Profit 69 70 34
Bottleneck machine
– minutes per unit 9 10 7
Using a throughput accounting approach, what would be the ranking of the products for
best use of the bottleneck?
(3 marks)
1.12 X Ltd has two production departments, Assembly and Finishing, and two service
departments, Stores and Maintenance.
Stores provides the following service to the production departments: 60% to Assembly
and 40% to Finishing.
Maintenance provides the following service to the production and service departments:
40% to Assembly, 45% to Finishing and 15% to Stores.
At the end of the year after apportioning the service department overheads, the total fixed
production overheads debited to the Assembly department’s fixed production overhead
control account were £180,000.
Calculate the under/over absorption of fixed production overheads for the Assembly
department.
(4 marks)
P1 8 November 2006
1.13 A company simultaneously produces three products (X, Y and Z) from a single process.
X and Y are processed further before they can be sold; Z is a by-product that is sold
immediately for $6 per unit without incurring any further costs. The sales prices of X and
Y after further processing are $50 per unit and $60 per unit respectively.
Joint costs are apportioned using the final sales value method.
X Y
Market price per component $800
Market price per unit of W $1,200
Production costs per component $600
Assembly costs per unit of W $400
Non production fixed costs $1·5m $1·3m
The production cost per component is 60% variable. The fixed production costs are
absorbed based on budgeted output.
November 2006 9 P1
1.15 PP Ltd operates a standard absorption costing system. The following information has
been extracted from the standard cost card for one of its products:
It has subsequently been noted that due to a change in economic conditions the best
price that the material could have been purchased for was £4·50 per kg during the
period.
(4 marks)
1.16 CJD Ltd manufactures plastic components for the car industry. The following budgeted
information is available for three of their key plastic components:
W X Y
£ per unit £ per unit £ per unit
Selling price 200 183 175
Direct material 50 40 35
Direct labour 30 35 30
The total number of activities for each of the three products for the period is as follows:
Calculate the budgeted profit per unit for each of the three products using activity based
budgeting.
(4 marks)
P1 10 November 2006
1.17 CW Ltd makes one product in a single process. The details of the process for period 2
were as follows:
Material £98,000
Labour £46,000
Production overheads £7,600
During the period 1,800 units were added to the process and the following costs were
incurred:
Material £387,800
Labour £276,320
Production overheads £149,280
There were 500 units of closing work in progress, which were 100% complete for material,
90% complete for labour and 40% complete for production overheads.
A normal loss equal to 10% of new material input during the period was expected. The
actual loss amounted to 180 units. Each unit of loss was sold for £10 per unit.
1.18 SS Ltd operates a standard marginal costing system. An extract from the standard cost
card for the labour costs of one of its products is as follows:
Labour Cost
5 hours x £12 £60
(4 marks)
End of Section A
November 2006 11 P1
SECTION B – 30 MARKS
[the indicative time for answering this section is 54 minutes]
ANSWER ALL SIX SUB-QUESTIONS. EACH SUB-QUESTION IS WORTH 5
MARKS
Question Two
X Plc manufactures specialist insulating products that are used in both residential and
commercial buildings. One of the products, Product W, is made using two different raw
materials and two types of labour. The company operates a standard absorption costing system
and is now preparing its budgets for the next four quarters. The following information has been
identified for Product W:
Sales
Selling price £220 per unit
Sales demand
Quarter 1 2,250 units
Quarter 2 2,050 units
Quarter 3 1,650 units
Quarter 4 2,050 units
Quarter 5 1,250 units
Quarter 6 2,050 units
Costs
Materials
A 5 kgs per unit @ £4 per kg
B 3 kgs per unit @ £7 per kg
Labour
Skilled 4 hours per unit @ £15 per hour
Semi-skilled 6 hours per unit @ £9 per hour
The management team are concerned that X Plc has recently faced increasing competition in
the market place for Product W. As a consequence there have been issues concerning the
availability and costs of the specialised materials and employees needed to manufacture
Product W, and there is concern that these might cause problems in the current budget setting
process.
P1 12 November 2006
(a) Prepare the following budgets for each quarter for X Plc:
(ii) Raw material purchases budget in kgs and value for Material B.
(5 Marks)
(b) X Plc has just been informed that Material A may be in short supply during the year for
which it is preparing budgets. Discuss the impact this will have on budget preparation
and other areas of X Plc.
(5 Marks)
(c) Assuming that the budgeted production of Product W was 7,700 units and that the
following actual results were incurred for labour and overheads in the year:
Prepare a flexible budget statement for X Plc showing the total variances that have
occurred for the above four costs only.
(5 Marks)
(d) X Plc currently uses incremental budgeting. Explain how Zero Based Budgeting could
overcome the problems that might be faced as a result of the continued use of the current
system.
(5 Marks)
(e) Explain how rolling budgets are used and why they would be suitable for X Plc.
(5 Marks)
(f) Briefly explain how linear regression analysis can be used to forecast sales and briefly
discuss whether it would be a suitable method for X Plc to use.
(5 marks)
(Total for Question Two = 30 marks)
End of Section B
Section C starts on page 13
November 2006 13 P1
SECTION C – 20 MARKS
[the indicative time for answering this section is 36 minutes]
ANSWER ONE OF THE TWO QUESTIONS
Question Three
In order to arrive at the budgeted selling price for Product P the company adds 80% mark-up to
the standard marginal cost. The company budgeted to produce and sell 5,000 units of Product
P in the period. There were no budgeted inventories of Product P.
Required:
(a) Prepare an operating statement which reconciles the budgeted profit to the actual
profit for the period. (The statement should include the material mix and material
yield variances).
(12 marks)
(b) The Production Manager of X Ltd is new to the job and has very little experience of
management information. Write a brief report to the Production Manager of X Ltd
that
(8 marks)
(Total for Question Three = 20 marks)
P1 14 November 2006
Question Four
The ZZ Group has two divisions, X and Y. Each division produces only one type of product: X
produces a component (C) and Y produces a finished product (FP). Each FP needs one C. It is
the current policy of the group for C to be transferred to Division Y at the marginal cost of £10
per component and that Y must buy all the components it needs from X.
The markets for the component and the finished product are competitive and price sensitive.
Component C is produced by many other companies but it is thought that the external demand
for the next year could increase to 1,000 units more than the sales volume shown in the current
budget for Division X.
Budgeted data, taken from the ZZ Group Internal Information System, for the divisions for the
next year is as follows:
Division X
Income statement
Sales £70,000
Cost of sales
Variable costs £50,000
Contribution £20,000
Fixed costs (controllable) £15,000
Profit £ 5,000
Other information
Cost of capital charge 10%
Division Y
Income statement
Sales £270,000
Cost of sales
Variable costs £114,000
Contribution £156,000
Fixed costs (controllable) £100,000
Profit £ 56,000
Other information
Cost of capital charge 10%
November 2006 15 P1
Four measures are used to evaluate the performance of the Divisional Managers. Based on the
data above, the budgeted performance measures for the two divisions are as follows:
Division X Division Y
Residual income (£1,000) £45,000
Return on capital employed 8·33% 50·91%
Operating profit margin 7·14% 20·74%
Asset turnover 1·17 2·46
Current policy
It is the current policy of the group for C to be transferred to Division Y at the marginal cost of
£10 per component and that Y must buy all the components that it needs from X.
Proposed policy
ZZ Group is thinking of giving the Divisional Managers the freedom to set their own transfer
price and to buy the components from external suppliers but there are concerns about problems
that could arise by granting such autonomy.
Required:
(a) If the transfer price of the component is set by the Manager of Division X at the
current market price (£20 per component), recalculate the budgeted
performance measures for each division.
(8 marks)
(b) Discuss the changes to the performance measures of the divisions that would
arise as a result of altering the transfer price to £20 per component.
(6 marks)
(c) (i) Explain the problems that could arise for each of the Divisional Managers
and for ZZ Group as a whole as a result of giving full autonomy to the
Divisional Managers.
(ii) Discuss how the problems you have explained could be resolved without
resorting to a policy of imposed transfer prices.
(6 marks)
P1 16 November 2006
November 2006 17 P1
PRESENT VALUE TABLE
P1 18 November 2006
Cumulative present value of $1 per annum, Receivable or Payable at the end of each year for n
1− (1+ r ) − n
years r
November 2006 19 P1
Formulae
PROBABILITY
A ∪ B = A or B. A ∩ B = A and B (overlap).
P(B A) = probability of B, given A.
Rules of Addition
If A and B are mutually exclusive: P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B)
If A and B are not mutually exclusive: P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A ∩ B)
Rules of Multiplication
If A and B are independent: P(A ∩ B) = P(A) * P(B)
If A and B are not independent: P(A ∩ B) = P(A) * P(B | A)
Quadratic Equations
If aX2 + bX + c = 0 is the general quadratic equation, the two solutions (roots) are given by:
− b ± b 2 − 4ac
X =
2a
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
Arithmetic Mean
∑x ∑ fx
x = x= (frequency distribution)
n ∑f
Standard Deviation
∑( x − x ) 2 ∑ fx 2
SD = SD = − x 2 (frequency distribution)
n ∑ f
INDEX NUMBERS
Price relative = 100 * P1/P0 Quantity relative = 100 * Q1/Q0
P
∑ w ∗ 1
Po
Price: x 100
∑w
Q
∑ w ∗ 1
Quantity: Qo x 100
∑w
TIME SERIES
Additive Model
Series = Trend + Seasonal + Random
Multiplicative Model
Series = Trend * Seasonal * Random
P1 20 November 2006
LINEAR REGRESSION AND CORRELATION
The linear regression equation of Y on X is given by:
Y = a + bX or Y - Y = b(X – X)
where
Covariance ( XY) n ∑ XY − ( ∑ X)( ∑ Y )
b= =
Variance ( X) n ∑ X 2 − ( ∑ X) 2
and a = Y – bX
or solve
∑ Y = na + b ∑ X
∑ XY = a ∑ X + b∑X2
Coefficient of correlation
6∑d2
R(rank) = 1 -
n(n 2 − 1)
FINANCIAL MATHEMATICS
Annuity
Present value of an annuity of £1 per annum receivable or payable for n years, commencing in
one year, discounted at r% per annum:
1 1
PV = 1 −
r [1 + r ] n
Perpetuity
Present value of £1 per annum, payable or receivable in perpetuity, commencing in one year,
discounted at r% per annum:
1
PV =
r
November 2006 21 P1
The Examiner for Management Accounting – Performance Evaluation offers to
future candidates and to tutors using this booklet for study purposes, the
following background and guidance on the questions included in this
examination paper.
(a) covers learning outcome B(iii) –Prepare and discuss a report which reconciles budget and
actual profit using absorption and/or marginal costing principles.
(b) covers learning outcome B(ii) - Calculate and interpret material, labour, variable overhead,
fixed overhead and sales variances.
(a) covers learning outcome D(iv) – Calculate and apply measures of performance for
investment centres.
(b) covers learning outcome D(vi) - Explain the typical consequences of a divisional structure
for performance measurement as divisions compete or trade with each other.
(c) covers learning outcome D(vii) - Identify the likely consequences of different approaches
to transfer pricing for divisional decision making, divisional and group profitability, the
motivation of divisional management and the autonomy of individual divisions.
P1 22 November 2006
Managerial Level Paper
SECTION A
November 2006 23 P1
1.6 RI £300K – 877·5K (13% x £6·75m) = -£577·5
1.7 £m
Profit 89·20
Add
Current depreciation (120 x 20%) 24·00
Development costs (£9·60 x 2/3) 6·40
Less
Replacement depreciation (£168 x 20%) 33·60
Adjusted profit 86·00
Less cost of capital charge (Working 1) 21·84
EVA 64·16
Working 1
Cost of capital charge
Fixed assets (£168 – 33·6) 134·4
Working capital 27·2
Development costs 6·4
168.0 x 13% = 21·84
Total variance
Actual £1,300,000
Absorbed £1,200,000
£ 100,000 adverse
£1,200,000/£5 = 240,000
1.10 Units
Opening inventory 800
Closing inventory 500
Decrease 300 x (£500,000/2,000) = £75,000 lower
1.11 W X Y
£ £ £
Selling price 200 150 150
Cost
Direct materials 41 20 30
Throughput contribution 159 130 120
TP/LF 159/9 130/10 120/7
£17·66 £13·00 £17·14
Ranking 1st 3rd 2nd
P1 24 November 2006
1.12 Assembly Finishing Stores Maintenance
(£) (£) (£) (£)
Overheads 100,000 150,000 50,000 40,000
Reapportion
Maintenance 16,000 18,000 6,000 -40,000
Stores 33,600 22,400 -56,000
149,600 190,400 Nil Nil
OAR 149,600/100,000
£1·496 per unit
Assembly
Absorbed 120,000 x £1·496 £179,520
Incurred £180,000
Under absorbed £480
1.14 X Y
($) ($)
Sales
10,000 x $800 8,000,000
12,000 x $612 7,344,000
12,000 x $1,200 14,400,000
Costs
22,000 x $360 -7,920,000
12,000 x $1,012 -12,144,000
Fixed costs
Production 22,000 x $240 -5,280,000
Non production -1,500,000 -1,300,000
Usage variance kg
Standard 7 x 1,600 11,200
Actual 12,000
800 x £4·50 = £3,600 Adverse
November 2006 25 P1
1.16 W X Y
£ per unit £ per unit £ per unit
Selling price 200·00 183·00 175·00
Direct material 50·00 40·00 35·00
Direct labour 30·00 35·00 30·00
Overheads
Receiving/inspecting etc 33·60 33·60 31·11
Production scheduling 36·00 26·00 25·00
Profit per unit 50·40 48·40 53·89
Costs £ £ £
OWIP 98,000 46,000 7,600
Process 387,800 276,320 149,280
485,800 322,320 156,880
Less normal loss – 180 x £10 1,800
484,000
EU cost £200 £136 £74
Rate variance
Standard rate £12·00
Actual rate £12·75
£0·75 x 60,000 hours = £45,000 Adverse
P1 26 November 2006
SECTION B
Answer to (a)
Answer to (b)
If material A is in short supply during the coming year, X plc will need to source a different
supplier or find a substitute material. If they are unable to do this then they will have to make
best use of the materials in scarce supply and focus their efforts on producing the product which
maximises contribution per limiting factor. Rather than starting with the sales budget they will
now need to start with the production budget due to the scarcity of material A as there will be a
limit to how many units of output they can produce. The production budget therefore becomes
the key budget factor which will drive the preparation of all budgets.
X plc could also review any wastage that may be occurring and aim to reduce this.
Answer to (c)
Operating Statement
Fixed Budget Flexed Budget Actual Flexible Budget Variance
Activity 7,700 7,250 7,250
Overheads £ £ £ £
Variable 168,000 158,182 185,000 26,818 adverse
Fixed 112,000 112,000 105,000 7,000 favourable
Labour
Skilled 462,000 435,000 568,750 133,750 adverse
Semi-skilled 415,800 391,500 332,400 59,100 favourable
1,157,800 1,096,682 1,191,150 94,468 adverse
November 2006 27 P1
Answer to (d)
Incremental budgeting builds in any inefficiency contained in the previous year’s budget as it
simply takes the previous year’s budget or actual results and adjusts for anticipated changes.
Incremental budgeting does not encourage building the budget from zero and justifying each
item of cost. It also does not allow for the changing nature of the business environment as it is
inward looking.
ZBB does require each cost element to be specifically justified, as though the activities to which
the budget relates were being undertaken for the first time, thereby avoiding the problems
encountered with incremental budgeting.
Answer to (e)
A rolling budget system is particularly useful when future costs and/or activities cannot be
forecast accurately. A rolling budget is continuously updated by adding a further accounting
period (month or quarter) when the earliest accounting period has expired. This means that a
company will always be looking nine to twelve months ahead. Also, the first three quarters of the
new budget are reviewed and revised to take account of any changed circumstances.
As X plc is experiencing an increase in competition in the market it will need to be able to react
to this by adjusting selling price, sales volume and so on. Also, the changes in material and
labour availability mean that it will need to be able to adjust budgets if these resources become
limited and therefore expensive, or the opposite where it could possibly produce more and
therefore increase its sales effort.
Answer to (f)
The linear regression method determines mathematically the regression line of best fit. When
forecasting sales a series of historical values for sales volume that vary over time would be
plotted on a graph and a time series may then reveal a trend or relationship. This trend or
relationship can then be adjusted for variations, for example cyclical, seasonal, long term trend
and random variations. Once the trend line has been adjusted for such variations a forecast of
future sales can be made. However it should be noted that linear regression analysis assumes
that the past is an indication of what will happen in the future.
The linear regression method for sales forecasting may be useful to X plc in that it could provide
a base from which other adjustments can be made according to the state of the market,
availability and costs of material and labour.
P1 28 November 2006
SECTION C
Workings
Mix variance
A B C Total
kg kg kg kg
Actual materials in standard mix 45,000 36,000 22,500 103,500
Actual materials in actual mix 43,000 37,000 23,500 103,500
Difference 2,000 -1,000 -1,000
Standard price £15 £8 £4
Variance £30,000 £8,000 £4,000 £18,000 favourable
favourable adverse adverse
Yield variance
Standard output from material input (103,500/23) 4,500 units
Actual output 5,450 units
Yield 950 units
x £234
£222,300 favourable
November 2006 29 P1
(b)
Report
This report interprets the material price, mix and yield variances and also discusses the
advantages and disadvantages of calculating the materials mix and yield variances.
(i) The material price variance is adverse because materials A and C cost more than
standard and more than offsetting the favourable variance on B. Material, mix and yield
variances are inter-related and, as individual variances, they should not be interpreted in
isolation. By changing the mix this has led to a favourable mix and yield variance. This
indicates that the decision to use less of material A and more of B and C has worked in
the company’s favour. The mix was also more efficient than the standard mix because the
yield variance was also favourable. It should be remembered that substitution of one
material for another can only occur up to a point otherwise the identity of the product or
the quality of the product can be seriously impacted upon.
(ii) The material mix and yield variances are sub-divisions of the material usage variance. X
Ltd produces an industrial component where a standard input mix is the norm, and
recognisable individual components of input are combined during the production process
to produce an output in which the individual items are no longer separately identifiable.
X Ltd may have decided to vary the input mix because of a shortage of material and/or in
order to take advantage of an attractive input price on material B. Whether X Ltd’s input
mix is a standard or non-standard one, there is a possibility that the outcome from the
process will differ from that which was expected, that is the yield, in this instance the yield
has been favourable. By calculating the mix and yield variances, X Ltd highlights the
different aspects of the production process and provides additional insights to help
managers to attain the optimum combination of materials input. You should note that mix
and yield variances are appropriate only to those production processes where managers
have the discretion to vary the mix of materials and deviate from engineered input-output
relationships.
If X Ltd had not calculated the mix and yield variances they would have just calculated
material usage variances which demonstrates how much of the direct material total
variance was caused by using a different quantity of a material, compared with the
standard allowance for the production achieved. The usage variance does not consider
how a mix of different materials would have impacted on the yield and would not provide
managers with an insight to attain the optimum combination.
Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
P1 30 November 2006
Answer to Question Four
(a)
Income Statements
Division X Division Y
£ £
Sales 100,000 270,000
Variable Costs 50,000 144,000
Contribution 50,000 126,000
Fixed Costs 15,000 100,000
Profit 35,000 26,000
(b)
Division X Division X Division Y Division Y
Current Current
Transfer Price Transfer Price Transfer Price Transfer Price
is Marginal Cost is Market Price is Marginal Cost is Market Price
Residual Income -£1,000 £29,000 £45,000 £15,000
Return on capital employed 8·33% 58·33% 50·91% 23·64%
Operating Profit Margin 7·14% 35·00% 20·74% 9·63%
Asset Turnover 1·17 1·67 2·46 2·46
The residual income for Division X has increased by £30k and for Division Y it has decreased by
£30k. This is due to the transfer price being set at market price. Division X’s revenue has
increased by £10 per component transferred (3,000 transferred - £30,000) and Division Y’s
marginal cost has increased by £10 per component received (3,000 received - £30,000).
The ROCE for Division X has increased to 58·33%, that is, by seven times as the operating
profit has increased seven fold (£5k to £35k). Division Y’s ROCE has decreased from 50·91% to
23·64%, that is, by approximately 54% because profit has reduced by 54%, that is, from £56k to
£26k.
The operating profit margin for Division X has increased by approximately five times as profit
has increased by seven times and sales have increased by approximately 43%. For Division Y
the operating profit margin has decreased by approximately 54% due to profit decreasing by
approximately 54% and the sales remaining the same.
The asset turnover ratio for Division X has increased to 1·67 due to an extra £30k sales being
generated in relation to the same capital employed. Whereas for Division Y, the asset turnover
ratio has remained unchanged as there has been no change to the turnover generated in
relation to the capital employed.
Therefore in all of the above cases Division X’s performance has improved whereas Division Y’s
performance has deteriorated with the exception of the asset turnover ratio which remains
unchanged. The manager of Division X will be happy to set a transfer price equal to market price
November 2006 31 P1
and Division Y will not be willing to pay the market price due to the impact on performance.
Division Y will either wish to negotiate a lower transfer price or alternatively source the
component externally at perhaps a more competitive price.
(c)
(i) If ZZ Group relaxes the imposed transfer pricing system and the divisional managers of X
and Y negotiate the transfer price instead, the manager of Division X will want to set a
transfer price equal to the market price and the manager of Division Y will wish to retain
the current transfer price equal to marginal cost, due to the impact on the performance
ratios. This will mean that Division Y will either need to negotiate a lower transfer price
with Division X or alternatively source the component externally at perhaps a more
competitive price.
If negotiations fail and ZZ Group do not intervene then Division Y may source the
component externally. If the components are sourced externally this will result in spare
capacity of 2,000 components for Division X as there is only an external market for an
additional 1,000 components. Assuming Division X’s fixed costs remain constant and they
cannot use the spare capacity to generate further profits for the group then this will have a
negative impact on the overall profit for the ZZ Group.
(ii) One of the main problems identified in C(i) is that Division X will want to set a transfer
price equal to the market place and that the manager of Division Y will wish to retain the
current transfer price equal to marginal cost, due to the impact on performance ratios. A
recommended resolution to the problem could be a two-part tariff or dual pricing transfer
pricing system. A two-part tariff works where the transfer is at marginal cost and a fixed
fee is credited to Division X to compensate them for the lost additional contribution and
the subsequent reduction in the performance ratios. Alternatively a dual pricing system
could be used where the transfer is recorded in Division Y at marginal cost and in Division
X at market price and the discrepancy between the two prices is recorded in an account
at head office. Either of these methods would allow the divisions to remain autonomous
and ZZ Group to protect group profits. The Group could continue to measure performance
based on the four key ratios and still motivate the divisional managers to improve their
performance.
The other issues identified when managers are negotiating a transfer price, that is,
negotiations becoming protracted and time consuming; difficulty in reaching an agreement
and the possibility that one manager may be more skilled than another in such
negotiations, could be overcome by head office appointing an arbitrator to assist the
managers in arriving at a fair transfer price.
If the divisional managers fail to negotiate a transfer price then central management will
have to intervene to avoid a reduction in group profit if Division Y sources the component
externally.
P1 32 November 2006