1. Discussion Board. (Please always include conclusion at the end. And include word count.)
Your Discussion should be a minimum of 250 words in length and not more than 450 words. Please include a word count. Following the APA standard, use references and in-text citations for the textbook and any other sources.
Continuing with the company Apple Inc, discuss how the income statement budget would be created for a year starting with the sales budget through the SG&A budget. Be sure to:
· Be specific in describing the component line items of each
· Identify the individuals that would be involved in developing the budgets
Please always include conclusion at the end. And include word count.
2. Written Assignment Please always include conclusion at the end. And cite your sources.
Submit a paper which is 2-3 pages in length (no more than 3-pages), exclusive of the reference page. Paper should be double spaced in Times New Roman (or its equivalent) font which is no greater than 12 points in size. The paper should cite at least two sources in APA format. One source can be your textbook.
Please describe the circumstances of the following case study and recommend a course of action. Explain your approach to the problem, perform relevant calculations and analysis, and formulate a recommendation. Ensure your work and recommendation are thoroughly supported.
Case Study:
Papaya Partners is a distributor of papayas. They purchase papayas from individual growers and package them in 10-pound cartons for delivery to their various customers, generally supermarkets. Last month, they budgeted to sell $500,000 worth of cartons at a price of $25 each. Actual sales met a budget of $500,000 at $25 per carton.
Management has received cost information based on actual performance and needs to understand the drivers of the overall variance from the budget. They have asked you, as an analyst in their management accounting department, to calculate and explain the variances. The following data has been provided:
Budget | |
Cost of fruit @ 10 pounds per carton | $ 200,000 |
Cost of packaging @ 1 pound per carton | $ 10,000 |
Labor costs @ .5 hours per carton | $ 90,000 |
Total Cost | $ 300,000 |
Actual | |
Cost of fruit @ 10 pounds per carton | $ 244,200 |
Cost of packaging @ .55 pound per carton | $ 11,000 |
Labor costs @ .75 hours per carton | $ 150,000 |
Gross Profit | $ 405,200 |
Unfavorable variance | $105,200.00 |
Specifically, management needs to know the:
· Standard cost per unit (carton)
· Actual cost per unit
· Direct materials price variances
· Direct materials usage variances
· Direct labor rate variance
· Direct labor efficiency variance
In addition, they would like to understand how the variances are calculated and what caused them. They would also like a recommendation on what might be done to improve the variances.
For this assignment, compute all required amounts and explain how the computations were performed. Describe whom you would work with to determine the causes of the variances and hypothesize on what caused the variances. Based on your analysis, recommend actions that management could take to improve the variances.
Superior papers will:
· Perform all calculations correctly.
· Articulate how the calculations were performed.
· Assess the variances computed and evaluate the operational results (i.e., is performance better or worse than budgeted?).
· Explain with whom you would work to identify the root causes of the variances.
· Propose well-thought-out causes for each variance.
· Conclude on which variances require management’s attention and recommend courses of action.
Be sure to use APA formatting in your paper. Purdue University’s Online Writing LAB (OWL) is a free website that provides excellent information and resources for understanding and using the APA format and style. The OWL website can be accessed here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
3. Portfolio Assignment. (Please always include conclusion at the end.)
This unit has focused on manufacturing companies; however, many companies are service operations that do not sell a physical product. For this portfolio assignment, select a service company and describe the process it would use to create a master budget (refer to Figure 9.1 of the text). How would the budget process for the service company differ from a manufacturing company? Be specific.
As portfolio activities are to be self-reflective, please make sure to connect the portfolio assignment to:
· Personal experiences. Reflect on how this assignment topic is applicable to and will benefit you.
· Course readings and any external readings.
· Discussion forum posts or other course objectives.
The Portfolio Activity entry should be a minimum of 500 words and not more than 750 words. Use APA citations and references if you use ideas from the readings or other sources.
Here is the link for the book. 1. Heisinger, K., & Hoyle, J. B. (n.d.). Accounting for Managers. Retrieved