Activity-Based Costing Analysis for Products
Activity-Based Costing Analysis for Products
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Cost and Management Accounting
Activity Based Costing
Meaning of Activity According to CIMA London, “ABC Costing is the cost attribution to cost
Based Costing units on the basis of benefits received from indirect activities, e.g. ordering,
(ABC) setting up, assuring quality”.
ABC assigns cost to activities based on their use of resources.
It then assigns cost to cost objects, such as products or customers, based on
their use of activities.
Meaning of Cost Anything for which cost is ascertained is known as cost object. It may be a
Object job, a product or a customer, etc. In the case of product, a cost object may
be a car, a TV set, a computer etc.
Meaning of Cost It is grouping of individual cost items. A cost pool is created for each
Pool activity. Cost pool, also known as cost bucket, is like a cost center for
which costs are accumulated.
Unit level activities Unit level activities are the activities whose costs are strongly correlated to
the number of units produced.
E.g. use of indirect material tends to increase in proportion to the number
of units produce.
Batch level Batch level activities are the activities whose costs are driven by the
activities number of batches of units produced but is common or fixed for all units
within the batch.
E.g. machine set-up cost where machines need resetting between each
different batch of production.
Production level In this case the cost of some of the activities are driven by the creation of a
activities new product line and its maintenance.
E.g. designing the product, technical drawings of products etc.
Facility level These are the activities which cannot be directly attributed to individual
activities products.
These are necessary to sustain the manufacturing process and are common
and joint to all products manufactured
E.g. maintenance of buildings, plant security etc.
Steps involved in Step-1) Identify the various Activities within the organization
Activity Based Step 2) Relate the Overheads to the Activities using Resource Cost Drivers
Costing Step 3) Apportion the costs of Support Activities over the Primary
Activities on suitable basis
Step 4) Determine the Activity Cost Drivers for each Activity / Cost Pool
Step 5) Calculate Activity Cost Driver Rate
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Benefits of Activity ABC provides more accurate and informative product costs, which lead
Based Costing to more accurate product profitability measurements and to better-informed
strategic decisions.
ABC provides more accurate measurements of activity-driving costs,
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Limitations of Allocations. Even if activity data are available, some costs probably
Activity Based require allocations to departments and products based on arbitrary volume
Costing measures.
Omission of costs. ABC omits from the analysis some costs identified with
specific products. Activities that cause such costs include marketing,
advertising, research and development, product engineering, and warranty
claims.
Expense and time. An ABC system is very expensive to develop and
implement and is very time consuming.
Activity Based ABB analyse the resource input or cost for each activity.
Budgeting (ABB) It provides a framework for estimating the amount of resources required in
accordance with the budgeted level of activity.
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Benefits of Activity ABB can enhance accuracy of financial forecasts and increasing
Based Budgeting management understanding
(ABB) When automated, ABB can rapidly and accurately produce financial plans
and models based on varying levels of volume assumptions
ABB eliminates much of the needless rework created by traditional
budgeting techniques
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Practical Questions
Question – 2 [SM]
SK Ltd. is a multiproduct company, manufacturing three products S, K and M. the budgeted costs and
production for the year ending March 31st, are as follows:
S K M
Production quantity (units) 4,000 3,000 1,600
Resources per unit:
Direct Material (Kg) 4 6 3
Direct labour (Minutes) 30 45 60
The budgeted direct labour rate was `10 per hour and the budgeted materials cost was `2 per Kg. Production
overheads were budgeted at `99,450 and were absorbed to products using the direct labour hour rate. SK Ltd.
followed an Absorption Costing System.
SK Ltd. is in consideration to adopt an Activity Based Costing System. The following additional information
is made available for this purpose:
(a) Budgeted overheads were analyzed into the following:
Material handling `29,100
Storage costs `31,200
Electricity `39,150
(b) The cost drivers identified were as follows:
Material handling Weight of material handled
Storage costs Number of batches of material
Electricity Number of machine operators
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Question – 3 [SM]
SK Ltd. has collected the following data for its two activities. It calculates activity cost rates based on cost
driver capacity:
Activity Cost Driver Capacity Cost
Power Kilowatt hours 50,000 kilowatt hours `2,00,000
Quality inspections No. of inspections 10,000 inspections `3,00,000
The company makes three products S, K and M. For the year ended March 31, the following consumption of
cost driver was reported:
Product Kilowatt Hours Quality Inspections
S 10,000 3,500
K 20,000 2,500
M 15,000 3,000
Required:
(i) Compute the costs allocated to each product from each activity
(ii) Calculate the cost of unused capacity for each activity
(iii) Discuss the factors the management considers in choosing a capacity level to compute the budgeted
fixed overhead cost rate.
[Answer – (i) Total Power = `1,80,000; Total Inspection = `2,70,000; (ii) `20,000; `30,000]
Question – 4 [SM]
‘Humara – Apna’ bank offers three products, viz. deposits, Loans and Credit Cards. The bank has selected 4
activities for a detailed budgeting exercise, following activity based costing method.
The bank wants to know the product wise total cost per unit for the selected activities, so that price may be
fixed accordingly. The following information is made available to formulate the budget:
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Question – 5 [SM]
SK is a global brand created by SK Ltd. The company manufactures three range of beauty soaps i.e. SK-
Gold, SK-Pearl, and SK-Diamond. The budgeted costs and production for the month of March, 2021 are as
follows:
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Now, SK Ltd. is considering adopting an Activity Based Costing system. For this, additional information
regarding budgeted overheads and their cost drivers is provided below:
Particulars (`) Cost drivers
Forklifting cost 58,000 Weight of material lifted
Supervising cost 60,000 Direct labour hours
Utilities 80,000 Number of Machine operations
The number of machine operators per unit of production are 5, 5, and 6 for SK-Gold, SK-Pearl, and SK-
Diamond respectively.
(Consider (i) Mass of 1 litre of Essential Oils and Filtered Water equivalent to 0.8 kg and 1 kg respectively
(ii) Mass of output produced is equivalent to the mass of input materials taken together.)
During the last year, GREEN hairclips had been introduced at 10% premium in selling price after the
introduction of YELLO hairclips earlier five years back at 10/3% premium. However, the manager of the
company is disheartened with the sales figure for the current financial year as follows:
Traditional Income Statement (in `)
Brown Black Yellow Green Total
Sales 1,50,00,000 1,20,00,00 27,90,000 3,30,000 3,01,20,000
Material costs 50,00,000 40,00,000 9,36,000 1,10,000 1,0046,000
Direct labour 20,00,000 16,00,000 3,60,000 40,000 40,00,000
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At present, all of the Plant’s indirect expenses are allocated to the products at 3 times of the direct labour
expenses. However, the manager is interested in allocating indirect expenses on the basis of activity cost to
reveal real earner. He provides support expenses category-wise as follows:
Support Expenses (`)
Indirect labour 40,00,000
Labour Incentives 32,00,000
Computer Systems 20,00,000
Machinery depreciation 16,00,000
Machine maintenance 8,00,000
Energy for machinery 4,00,000
Total 1,20,00,000
He provides following additional information for accomplishment of his interest:
Incentive to be allocated @40% of labour expenses (both direct and indirect).
Indirect labour are involved mainly in three activities. About half of indirect labour is involved in handling
production runs. Another 40% is required just for the physical changeover from one color hairclip to another
because YELLO hairclips require substantial labour for preparing the machine as compared to other colour
hairclips. Remaining 10% of the time is spent for maintaining records of the products in four parts.
Another amount spent on computer system of `20,00,000 is for maintenance of documents relating to
production runs and record keeping of the four products. In aggregate, approx. 80% of the amount expend is
involved in the production run activity and approx. 20% is used to keep records of the products in four parts.
Other overhead expenses i.e. machinery depreciation, machine maintenance and energy for machinery are
incurred to supply machine capacity to produce all the hairclips (practical capability of 20,000 hours).
Activity Cost Drivers:
Particulars Brown Black Yellow Green Total
Sales volume (units) 1,00,000 80,000 18,000 2,000 2,00,000
Selling price (`) 150 150 155 165
Material cost (`) 50 50 52 55
Machine hours per unit (Hrs) 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10 20,000
Production runs 100 100 76 24 300
Setup time per run (Hrs) 4 1 6 4
You are required to:
(i) Calculate operating income and operating income as per percentage of sales using activity-based
costing system
(ii) State the reasons for different operating income under traditional income system and activity based
costing system.
[Answer – (i) 21.61%; 22,67%; -44%; -200.12%]
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Practice Questions
The company proposes to use activity based costing system and the activity analysis is as under:
Particulars S K M
Batch size (units) 150 500 1,000
Number of purchase orders per batch 3 10 8
Number of inspections per batch 5 4 3
The total production overheads are analysed as under:
Machine set up costs 20%
Machine operations costs 30%
Inspection costs 40%
Material procurement related costs 10%
Required:
(i) Calculate the cost per unit of each product using traditional method of absorbing all production
overheads on the basis of machine hours.
(ii) Calculate the cost per unit of each using activity based costing principles.
[Answer – (i) `230; `428; `364; (ii) `427; `425; `335.20]
Question – 11 [SM]
SK Ltd. Manufactures two types of machinery equipment S and K and applies/absorbs overheads on the basis
of direct-labour hours. The budgeted overheads and direct labour hours for the month of December, are
`12,42,500 and 20,000 hours respectively. The information about Company’s products are as follows:
Equipment S Equipment K
Budgeted Production volume 2,500 units 3,125 units
Direct material cost `300 per unit `450 per unit
Direct labour cost
S: 3 hours @ `150 per hour `450
K: 4 hours @ `150 per hour `600
SK Ltd.’s overheads of `12,42,500 can be identified with three major activities:
Order processing (`2,10,000), machine processing (`8,75,000) and product inspection (`1,57,500). These
activities are driven by number of orders processed, machine hours worked and inspection hours,
respectively. The data relevant to these activities is as follows:
Order processed Machine hours worked Inspection hours
S 350 23,000 4,000
K 250 27,000 11,000
Total 600 50,000 15,000
Required:
(a) Assuming use of direct-labour hours to absorb/apply overheads to production, compute the unit
manufacturing cost of the equipment S and K, if the budgeted manufacturing volume is attained.
(b) Assuming use of activity-based costing, compute the unit manufacturing costs of the equipment S and K,
if the budgeted manufacturing volume is achieved.
(c) SK Ltd.’s selling prices are based heavily on cost. By using direct-labour hours as an application based,
calculate the amount of cost distortion (under-costed or over-costed) for each equipment.
[Answer – (a) `963.38; `1,298.50; (b) `976.80; `1,266.16; (c) -`40.42; +`32.34]
Actual production and budgeted production for the month is same. Workers are paid at standard rate. Out of
total overhead costs, 30% related to machine set-ups, 30% related to customer order processing and customer
complaint management, while the balance proportion related to material ordering.
Required:
(a) Compute overhead cost per unit using activity based costing method
(b) Determine the selling price of each product based on activity based costing with the same profit mark-up
on cost.
[Answer – (a) `129.60; `268.40; `955.80; (b) `899.50; `1,410.57; `2,407.25]
SK Ltd. was absorbing overheads on the basis of direct labour hours. A newly appointed management
accountant has suggested that the company should introduce ABC system and has identified cost drivers and
cost pools as follows:
Activity Cost Pool Cost Driver Associated Cost (`)
Stores Received Purchase Requisitions 2,96,000
Inspection Number of Production Runs 8,94,000
Dispatch Orders Executed 2,10,000
Machine Setup Number of Setups 12,00,000
Required to calculate activity based production cost of all the three products.
[Answer - `150.49; `124.25; `123.67]
The following annual information on three products was also made available:
Activity Driver Checking Accounts Personal Loans Gold Visa
Units of Product 30,000 5,000 10,000
ATM Transactions 1,80,000 0 20,000
Computer Transactions 20,00,000 2,00,000 3,00,000
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Question – 18 [SM]
RST Limited specializes in the distribution of pharmaceutical products. It buys from the pharmaceutical
companies and resells to each of the three different markets.
(a) General Supermarket Chains
(b) Drugstore Chains
(c) Chemist Shops
The following data for the month of April, 2004 in respect of RST Limited has been reported:
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In the past, RST Limited has used gross margin percentage to evaluate the relative profitability of its
distribution channels. The company plans to use activity-based costing for analyzing the profitability of its
distribution channels.
(a) Compute for April, 2004 gross-margin percentage for each of its three distribution channels and compute
RST Limited’s operating income.
(b) Compute the April, 2004 rate per unit of the cost-allocation base for each of the five activity areas.
(c) Compute the operating income of each distribution market in April, 2004 using the activity-based
costing information. Comment on the results. What new insights are available with the activity-based
cost information?
[Answer – (a) 2.91%; 4.76%; 9.09%; (b) `40; `3; `50; `1; `16; (c) `6,53,840; `9,43,965; `8,86,600]
(ii) Total machine hours = (3,000 ´ 10) + (5,000 ´ 18) + (20,000 ´ 14) = 4,00,000
Total production overheads = 4,00,000 ´ `6 = `24,00,000
Particulars P Q R Total
A Production (units) 3,000 5,000 20,000
B Batch size (units) 150 500 1,000
C Number of batches (A B) 20 10 20 50
D Number of purchase order per batch 3 10 8
E Total purchase order (C ´ D) 60 100 160 320
F Number of inspections per batch 5 4 3
G Total inspections (C ´ F) 100 40 60 200
Solution – 9
(i) Statement of Cost Driver Rate
Activity Amount (A) Cost driver (B) Cost Driver Rate (A÷B)
Direct Labour Hours 3,00,000 30,000 Labour Hours `10 per labour hour
Production runs 1,80,000 600 Production runs `300 per production run
Quality Inspections 2,40,000 8000 Inspections `30 per inspection
Statement of Cost
Particulars P Q R Total
Direct labour hour 10 × 10,000 10 × 8,000 10 × 6,000
= 1,00,000 = 80,000 = 60,000 2,40,000
Production run 300 × 200 300 × 180 300 × 160
= 60,000 = 54,000 = 48,000 1,62,000
Quality inspection 30 × 3,000 30 × 2,500 30 × 1,500
= 90,000 = 75,000 = 45,000 2,10,000
Total Cost 2,50,000 2,09,000 1,53,000 6,12,000
COS 48,750
Add: Profit (48,750 × 20%) 9,750
Sales 58,500
Solution – 10
Working Note:
(1) Total labour hours and recovery rate
Particulars Product X Product Y Product Z Total
Production units 1,200 1,440 1,968 1,27,500
Labour hours per unit 18÷4 = 4.50 20÷4 = 5 30÷4 = 7.50
Total labour hours 5,400 7,200 14,760 27,360
Total Overheads - - - 2,46,240
OHs recovery rate - - - `9
Solution – 11
(a) Overhead application base: Direct Labour Hours
Equipment S Equipment K
(`) (`)
Direct material cost 300 450
Direct labour cost 450 600
Overheads (62.125×3)(62.125×4) 186.38 248.50
936.38 1,298.50
Budgeted Overheads 12, 42, 500
Pre-determined overhead rate = = = `62.125
Budgeted direct labour hours 20, 000
(b) Estimation of cost-driver rate
Activity Overhead Cost Cost-driver level Cost driver rate
(`) (`)
Order processing 2,10,000 600 order processed 350
Machine processing 8,75,000 50,000 machine hours 17.50
Inspection 1,57,500 15,000 inspection hours 10.50
Calculation of Overhead Costs
Activity Equipment S Equipment K
(`) (`)
Order Processing (350×350) (250×350) 1,22,500 87,500
Machine processing (23,000×17.50) (27000×17.50) 4,02,500 4,72,500
Inspection (4000×10.50) (11,000×10.50) 42,000 1,15,500
Total overhead cost 5,67,000 6,75,500
Total units 2,500 3,125
Overhead per unit 226.80 216.16
Calculation of cost per unit
Equipment S Equipment K
(`) (`)
Direct material cost 300 450
Direct labour cost 450 600
Overheads 226.80 216.16
976.80 1,266.16
(c) Statement of cost
Equipment S Equipment K
(`) (`)
Unit manufacturing cost-using direct labour hours as an application 936.38 1,298.50
base
Unit manufacturing cost-using activity based costing 976.80 1,266.16
Cost distortion (-) 40.42 + 32.34
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Low volume product S is under-costed and high volume product K is over costed using direct labour hours
for overhead production.
Solution – 12
Working Note:
(1) Total labour hours and overhead cost:
Particulars Product S Product K Product P Total
Production units 45,000 52,500 30,000 1,27,500
Hour per unit 3 5 7
Total hours 1,35,000 2,62,500 2,10,000 6,07,500
Rate per hour - - - `80
Total Overheads - - - `4,86,00,000
Solution – 13
The total production overheads are `26,00,000:
Product S: 10,000 × `30 = `3,00,000
Product K: 20,000 × `30 = `8,00,000
Product M: 30,000 × `30 = `15,00,000
Solution – 14
Calculation of Activity Rate
Cost pool Costs (`) Cost Driver Cost Driver Rate (`)
(A) (B) (A ÷ B)
Machine department 18,48,000 Machine hours 14.00
expenses – 1,32,000 hours
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Solution – 15
(a) Statement showing Activity Rate
Activity Activity Activity Driver Activity Activity
Cost (`) Capacity Rate
Providing ATM Service 1,00,000 No. of Transactions 2,00,000 0.50
Computer Processing 10,00,000 No. of Transactions 25,00,000 0.40
Issuing Statements 8,00,000 No. of Statements 5,00,000 1.60
Customer Inquiries 3,60,000 Telephone Minutes 6,00,000 0.60
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Solution – 16
(i) Overhead application base: Direct Labour Hours
Solution – 17
(a) Statement of calculation of machine and labour hours
X Y Z Total
Production (units) (A) 1,00,000 80,000 60,000 -
Machine hours per unit (B) 3 4 5 -
Machine hours (A×B) 3,00,000 3,20,000 3,00,000 9,20,000
Labour hours per unit (C) 6 4 3 -
Labour hours (A×C) 6,00,000 3,20,000 1,80,000 11,00,000
A5,=6,666
Machine hour rate = <,96,666
= `8 per machine hour
>>,66,666
Labour hour rate = 88,66,666 = `5 per labour hour
Statement of profit
X Y Z Total
Production (units) (A) 1,00,000 80,000 60,000 2,40,000
Selling price per unit (B) 90 180 140 -
Sales (C = A×B) 90,00,000 1,44,00,000 84,00,000 3,18,00,000
Direct cost per unit (D) 50 90 95 -
Total Direct Cost (A×D) 50,00,000 72,00,000 57,00,000 1,79,00,000
Overheads:
Machine department cost 3,00,000 × 8 3,20,000 × 8 3,00,000 × 8 73,60,000
= 24,00,000 = 25,60,000 = 24,00,000
Labour department cost 6,00,000 × 5 3,20,000 × 5 1,80,000 × 5 55,00,000
= 30,00,000 = 16,00,000 = 9,00,000
Total Cost (E) 1,04,00,000 1,13,60,000 90,00,000 3,07,60,000
Profit (C – E) (14,00,000) 30,40,000 (6,00,000) 10,40,000
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Statement of profit
X Y Z Total
Production (units) (A) 1,00,000 80,000 60,000 2,40,000
Selling price per unit (B) 90 180 140 -
Sales (C = A×B) 90,00,000 1,44,00,000 84,00,000 3,18,00,000
Direct cost per unit (D) 50 90 95 -
Total Direct Cost (A×D) 50,00,000 72,00,000 57,00,000 1,79,00,000
Overheads:
Machining services 3,00,000 × 7 3,20,000 × 7 3,00,000 × 7 64,40,000
= 21,00,000 = 22,40,000 = 21,00,000
Assembly services 6,00,000 × 4 3,20,000 × 4 1,80,000 × 4 44,00,000
= 24,00,000 = 12,80,000 = 7,20,000
Machine set-up costs 4,500 × 100 3,000 × 100 1,500 × 100 9,00,000
= 4,50,000 = 3,00,000 = 1,50,000
Order processing cost 2,200 × 100 2,400 × 100 2,600 × 100 7,20,000
= 2,20,000 = 2,40,000 = 2,60,000
Purchasing cost 300 × 500 350 × 500 150 × 500 4,00,000
= 1,50,000 = 1,75,000 = 75,000
Total Cost (E) 1,03,20,000 1,14,35,000 90,05,000 3,07,60,000
Profit (C – E) (13,20,000) 29,65,000 (6,05,000) 10,40,000
Solution – 18
(a) Statement of operating income
Particulars Market S Market K Market M Total
Revenue per delivery 84,975 28,875 5,445 -
No. of delivery 330 825 2,750 -
Revenue (A) 2,80,41,750 2,38,21,875 1,49,73,750 6,68,37,375
COGS 82,500×330 27,500×825 4,950×2,750 6,35,25,000
=2,72,25,000 =2,26,87,500 =1,36,12,500
Gross Margin (B) 8,16,750 11,34,375 13,61,250 33,12,375
(-) Operating cost - - - 8,27,970
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Solution – 19
(i) (a) Statement of operating income
Particulars Drug A Drug B Drug C Total
Revenue (A) 74,50,000 1,11,75,000 1,86,25,000 3,72,50,000
COGS 41,44,500 68,16,750 1,20,63,750 2,30,25,000
Gross Margin 33,05,500 43,58,250 65,61,250 1,42,25,000
(-) Operating cost (in 16,57,800 27,26,700 48,25,500 92,10,000
COGS Ratio)
Operating Income (B) 16,47,700 16,31,550 17,35,750 50,15,000
Operating income % (B ÷ 22.12% 14.60% 9.32% 13.46%
A)
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(ii) When the operating costs are distributed on the basis of cost of goods sold, Drug A has the highest level
of operating income percentage because lesser operating cost share is distributed to it.
Activity based costing shows that Drug C uses the large amount of operating cost resources than the
other two drugs and simultaneously generates the highest level of revenue and thus operating income
percentage is maximum in case of Drug C.