Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PRESENTATION
Md. Asibur Rahman
ID05051
CASE 44: WHIZ CALCULATOR
COMPANY
WHIZ CALCULATOR COMPANY
Whiz Calculator Company is into manufacturing
the complete line of electronic calculators. Their
products are sold through branch offices to
wholesalers to retailers or directly to government
or industrial users.
Whiz Calculator Company is currently
considering the new method of planning and
controlling selling cost. The old method was
unsatisfactory according to Mr. Riesman.
while making the overall budget for the
organization for a particular fiscal year.
OLD METHOD OF BUDGETING
Selling expenses were budgeted on a fixed or
appropriation basis.
Each October, the accounting department sent
records of actual expenses for the preceding year
and for the current year to date, to the branch
managers and to other managers who in charge
of selling departments.
Looking into the preceding year’s report & by
their judgment, these department heads drew up
and submit estimates of the expenses for their
departments for the succeeding year.
OLD METHOD OF BUDGETING
Then the estimates made by the branch
managers were sent to the sales manager, who
was in charge of all branch sales.
Upon the approval by the sales manager, the
estimates of branch expenses were submitted to
the manager of marketing .
Lastly budget was submitted to the budget
committee for final approval.
These budgeted figures were divided into 12
equal amounts and compared to each month
actual results.
PARAMETER FOR SALES
BUDGETING
Sales in the previous years
Competition
Expected volumes to be sold and at what
price
Raw Material costs
Other related expenses
SALES BUDGET AND RELATED
SELLING EXPENSES CAN BE BASED
ON
Judgments: It is more of the fixed method
approach wherein managers make sales budgets
per their own judgment and experience.
Percentage of sales method: The related
expenses are purely based on how much sales is
done or to be done.
However, both methods individually may not be of
much help. Hence, certain companies used a
combination of two methods to take the complete
advantage for controlling the systems.
Q1. FROM THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN
EXHIBITS 1 AND 3, DETERMINE INSOFAR
AS YOU CAN WHETHER EACH ITEM OF
EXPENSE IS (A) VARIABLE WITH SALES
VOLUME (B) PARTLY VARIABLE WITH
SALES VOLUME (C)VARIABLE WITH
SOME OTHER FACTORS OR (D) NOT
RELATED TO OUTPUT VARIABLE AT ALL.
SOLUTION OF Q1
In Exhibit 1, the figures of selling expenses are
fixed or appropriation basis wherein the
managers use judgment method for arriving at
the budget for succeeding year. This is known as
static budgeting. They work well for evaluating
performance when the planned level of activity is
the same as the actual level of activity, or when
the budget report is prepared for fixed costs.
Thus, in old system, expenses are not related to
output variable at all.
SOLUTION OF Q1 ( CONT.)
In order to have proper control over costs as well
as to evaluate the performance, management
must use a budget prepared for the actual level of
activity (here minimum sales volume = 65% of
capacity utilization). But at the same time, the
management needs to capture the variances in
actual sales. This can be achieved by way of
flexible budgeting.
Therefore, the new system is partly variable with
sales volume and partly fixed visàvis old system
which was completely fixed.
Q2. WHAT BEARING DO YOUR
CONCLUSIONS IN QUESTION 1 HAVE ON
THE TYPE OF BUDGETING SYSTEM THAT
IS MOST APPROPRIATE?
SOLUTION OF Q2
Based on the conclusion in question 1, the new
method for budgeting is most appropriate since
attends to be more accurate in representing both
the requirement for input cash flow into a
business, as well as projected sales profits as
compared to a static budget. Since a flexible
budget tries to adapt to changing resource levels
in consumption, it offers a more precise level of
control over business processes than a static
budget can. Variable budgets also tend to be
better at predicting future demands for the
business and adjusting for unexpected external
factors than can affect productivity.
Q3. SHOULD THE PROPOSED SALES
EXPENSE BUDGETING BE
ADOPTED? WHY OR WHY NOT?
SOLUTION OF Q3
Currently, Whiz Calculator is estimating the
budget for the coming year’s selling expenses as
if it is comprised of only fixed expenses.
President Riesman finds this method
unsatisfactory for two major reasons:
1. It is difficult to judge how good the estimates
made by the department heads really are;
2. Selling conditions fluctuate over time and there
is no way to account for these changes in the
selling expenses once the budget is set for that
year.
SOLUTION OF Q3 (CONT.)
The new method, if adopted, would be based on both
fixed and variable costs. The fixed costs will be those
incurred at the minimum sales
volume and the variable costs would be expressed as an
amount per sales dollar.
It is important to note that this new method does not
consider the nature of each selling region, economies of
scale for large orders, or consumer behavior.
Additionally, not all highlighted selling expenses are
variable to sales and some are only partly variable to
sales.
When comparing the new method figures with the
figures from the current method, it is apparent that the
new method has lesser variation with the actual sales.
Q4. WHAT OTHER SUGGESTIONS DO YOU HAVE
REGARDING THE SALES EXPENSE REPORTING
SYSTEM FOR WHIZ CALCULATOR?
SOLUTION OF Q4
The new method is based partly fixed and partly
variable components. However, while doing so
the company should also focus on:
Demand from various regions.
The company should establish the standard
costing methods as well. This would help in
comparing the actual costs with the standard
costing.
Try to consider economies of scale since this
would reduce the overall costs.