Reference no: EM131814050

Question: Mercer Asbestos Removal Company removes potentially toxic asbestos insulation and related products from buildings. There has been a long-simmering dispute between the company's estimator and the work supervisors. The on-site supervisors claim that the estimators do not adequately distinguish between routine work such as removal of asbestos insulation around heating pipes in older homes and nonroutine work such as removing asbestos-contaminated ceiling plaster in industrial buildings. The on-site supervisors believe that nonroutine work is far more expensive than routine work and should bear higher customer charges. The estimator sums up his position in this way: "My job is to measure the area to be cleared of asbestos. As directed by top management, I simply multiply the square footage by $2.50 to determine the bid price. Since our average cost is only $2.175 per square foot, that leaves enough cushion to take care of the additional costs of nonroutine work that shows up. Besides, it is difficult to know what is routine or not routine until you actually start tearing things apart."

To shed light on this controversy, the company initiated an activity-based costing study of all of its costs. Data from the activity-based costing system follow:

Activity Cost Pool	Activity Measure	Total Activity
Removing asbestos	Thousands of square feet		800		thousand squarefeet
Estimating and job setup	Number of jobs		500		jobs
Working on nonroutine jobs	Number of nonroutine jobs		100		nonroutine jobs
Other (costs of idle capacity and organization-sustaining costs)	None

Note: The 100 nonroutine jobs are included in the total of 500 jobs. Both nonroutine jobs and routine jobs require estimating and setup.

Costs for the Year
Wages and salaries	$300,000
Disposal fees	700,000
Equipment depreciation	90,000
On-site supplies	50,000
Office expenses	200,000
Licensing and insurance	400,000
Total cost	$1,740,000

Distribution of Resource Consumption Across Activities

	Removing Asbestos		Estimating and Job Setup		Working on Nonroutine Jobs			Other				Total
Wages and salaries	50	%	10	%	30	%			10	%			100	%
Disposal fees	60	%	0	%	40	%			0	%			100	%
Equipment depreciation	40	%	5	%	20	%			35	%			100	%
On-site supplies	60	%	30	%	10	%			0	%			100	%
Office expenses	10	%	35	%	25	%			30	%			100	%
Licensing and insurance	30	%	0	%	50	%			20	%			100	%

Required: 1. Perform the first-stage allocation of costs to the activity cost pools.

2. Compute the activity rates for the activity cost pools.

3. Using the activity rates you have computed, determine the total cost and the average cost per thousand square feet of each of the following jobs according to the activity-based costing system. (Round the "Average cost" to 2 decimal places.)

a. A routine 1,000-square-foot asbestos removal job.

b. A routine 2,000-square-foot asbestos removal job.

c. A nonroutine 2,000-square-foot asbestos removal job.

4. Given the results do you agree with the estimator that the company's present policy for bidding on jobs is adequate?