Question Tag: Standard Marginal Costing

Zealow Ltd has just introduced a new standard marginal costing system to assist in the planning and control of the production activities for the single product which the company manufactures, “The Stand.” The system became operational on 1 March 2017.

The Management Accountant has consulted with the Senior Engineer and they have agreed on the following standard specifications to manufacture one unit of the product known as “The Stand”:

• Direct materials: 4kg @ GH¢1.75 per kg
• Direct labour: 2 hours @ GH¢10 per hour
• Variable overhead: 2 hours @ GH¢8.25 per hour

The Marketing Director has advised that in Zealow Ltd’s industry, the budgeted selling price is normally calculated to achieve a mark-up of 30% on cost.

The budgeted level of production and sales activity has been agreed with both production managers and sales staff at 24,000 units per month.

The actual results for the month of March 2017 are as follows:

• Sales: 22,000 units yielding a total revenue of GH¢1,276,000
• Production: 23,000 units
• Direct Materials: 90,000 kgs at a cost of GH¢162,000
• Direct labour: 48,000 hours at a cost of GH¢576,000
• Variable overhead: GH¢350,000

Required:

a) Calculate the standard selling price of one unit of “The Stand” and prepare a summary budgeted profit statement for Zealow Ltd for the month of March 2017.
b) Calculate the relevant variances for March 2017 under the headings of sales, materials, labour, and overheads.
c) Zealow Ltd uses a standard marginal costing system and therefore fixed costs have been ignored in the calculations shown above. Assuming that the fixed costs for the company are estimated to be GH¢1,879,200 per annum, calculate the monthly sales in both units and value that will be required to break-even and estimate the margin of safety, based on the current budget levels.