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Activity based costing

Unit: Management accounting

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April 2025

1 Questions
Question 1b
​ ​ ​​Mbao Ltd. makes and sells three types of standard furniture using job order costing system. The extract below shows the budgeted production plan for sofa sets, tables and beds in three product cost centres for the month of May 2025:

Product...................................
Sofa.sets
Tables
Beds
Total
Production and sales (units)
1,000
2,000
800
Direct material cost per unit
Sh.4,500
Sh.2,000
Sh.3,100
Sh.10,980,000
Direct labour hours per unit
2.5
2
3
8,900
Machine hours per unit
1.5
1
2
5,100
Direct labour cost per hour
Sh.1,000
Sh.800
Sh.750
Cost drivers:
Number of production runs
3
7
20
30
Number of deliveries
30
20
50
100
Number of requisitions raised
15
35
220
270
Number of orders executed
15
10
25
50

Additional information:
1
The company operates a just in time (JIT) inventory policy and receives each component once per production run
2
Currently, production overheads are allocated based on direct labour hours absorption basis.
3
Susana Njeri, the company management accountant has recently attended a conference on activity-based costing (ABC) system where she learnt that overheads costs can be analysed by the major activities in order to compute the activity-based costs. Therefore, she proposed the adoption of activity-based costing (ABC) technique.
4
The production overheads for the period have been analysed as follows together with their cost drivers:
Production overhead cost
Cost driver
Sh.
Set up costs
Number of production runs
300,000
Machining costs
Number of machine hours
1,122,000
Requisition costs
Number of requisitions raised
1,350,000
Inspection costs 
Number of deliveries
1,493,000
Material handling costs
Number of orders executed
1,075,000
5,340,000

Required: 
Calculate the unit cost for each product production costs are absorbed on the basis of: 

(i) Direct labour hour overhead absorption base. 

(ii) Activity based costing (ABC) base.


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August 2024

1 Questions
Question 4b
​ ​ ​​Aquatiq Ltd. manufactures water dispensers for both domestic and office use using absorption costing system. There are three models branded “regular”, “medium” and “deluxe”. 

Selected data for the three products is as follows:

Model...................................
Regular...
Medium.....
Deluxe
Direct material cost per unit
Sh.2,500
Sh.3,250
Sh.5,500
Direct labour hours per unit
0.75hours
1.5 hours
1 hour
Machine hours per unit
1.5 hours
1 hour
3 hours
Production volume
800 units 
1,200 units
4,800.units

Additional information:
1
The total cost per unit is loaded a profit markup of 20% to determine the selling price
2
Direct labour cost is Sh.2,100 per labour hour
3
Currently, production overheads are absorbed based on a blanket-wise machine hour absorption costing basis. The rate for the period is Sh.1,500 per machine hour.
4
Budgeted annual production overheads for Aquatiq Ltd. amounted to Sh.25,200,000. Further analysis shows that the production overheads can be apportioned according to activity based costing (ABC) approach as follows:
4
Cost pools
Apportionment
Cost driver
Set-up costs
40%
Number of set-ups
Machine costs
20%
Number of machine hours
Material procurement cost
10%
Number of orders
Quality control cost
30%
Number of inspections
100%
5
The following cost drivers are associated with the models:
5
Model
Regular
Medium
Deluxe
Number of set-ups
64
120
320
Number of orders
12
21
87
Number of inspections
120
180
456
Number of machine hours
1,200
1,200
14,400

Required: 
Calculate for each model, the full cost and selling price per unit under: 

(i) Blanket-wise absorption costing approach. 

(ii) Activity based costing (ABC) approach.
 


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December 2023

1 Questions
Question 5b
​​Activity Based Costing (ABC) attempts to relate the incidence of costs to the level of activities undertaken. 

Required: 
In relation to the above statement, explain the following hierarchy of activities that are used in activity based costing system: 

(i) Unit level activities. 

(ii) Batch level activities. 

(iii) Product level activities.


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August 2023

1 Questions
Question 4b
​ ​ ​ ​​Mars Bottlers Ltd manufactures and sells four products. Details of the four products and relevant information are given below for the month of August 2023:

Product
A01
B02
C03
D04
Total
Output units
1,200 units
1,000 units
800 units
1,200 units
4,200 units
Machine hours per unit
4 hours
3 hours
2 hours
3 hours
12 hours
Production runs 
6
5
4
6
21
Requisitions raised
20
20
20
20
80
Orders executed 
12
10
8
12
42

Cost per unit: 

Sh.

Sh.

Sh.

Sh.
Direct material
3,300
4,125
2,475
4,950
Direct labour
2,310
1,980
1,155
1,815

Additional information:
1
Currently production overheads are absorbed based on conventional machine hour basis although the management is proposing the adoption of activity-based costing (ABC) technique.
2
The production overheads for the period have been analysed as follows together with ABC cost drivers: 
Cost element
Sh. “000”
Cost driver
Machinery cost centre
10,430  
Total machine hours
Set-up costs
5,250
Number of production runs
Stores receiving costs
3,600
Requisitions raised
Inspection costs
2,100
Number of production runs
Material handling costs
4,620
Orders executed 
26,000  
 
Required: 
Compute a budgeted unit cost and total cost using: 

(i) Conventional technique. 

(ii) Activity based costing (ABC) technique.


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December 2022

1 Questions
Question 3a
​ ​ ​​TQM Ltd. is a manufacturing company that makes three products namely; T, Q, and M. The data for the period ended 30 November 2022 is given as follows:


Units produced and sold
T
12,000
Q
16,000
M
8,000
Sh.
Sh.
Sh.
Sales price per unit 
50
70
60
Direct material cost per unit 
16
24
20
Direct labour cost per unit
8
12
8

Production overheads costs
Total
Sh.
Cost drivers
Machining costs
102,000
Machine hours
Production scheduling
84,000
Number of production runs
Set-up costs 
54,000
Number of production runs
Quality control
49,200
Number of production runs
Receiving materials
64,800
Number of component receipts
Packing materials
36,000
Number of customer orders
390,000

Information on the cost driver is given as follows:
T
Q
M
Direct labour hours per unit
1
1​\(\frac{1}{2}\)
1
Machine hours per unit
\(\frac{1}{2}\)
1
\(1\frac{1}{2}\)
Number of components per unit
3
5
8
Number of component receipts
18
80
64
Number of customer orders
6
20
10
Number of production runs
6
16
18

Required: 
Using activity-based costing (ABC), determine the cost and gross profit per unit for each product during the period.


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April 2022

1 Questions
Question 3c
​ ​ ​ ​​Seek Plastics Ltd. manufactures plastic components for water pumps. 

The following budgeted information is available for three of their key plastic components:

W
Sh. per unit
X
Sh. per unit
Y
Sh. per unit
Selling price
200
183
175
Direct materials
50
40
35
Direct labour
30
35
30
Units produced and sold
10,000
15,000
18,000

Additional information:
1
The total number of activities for each of the three products for the period is as follows:
1
Product
W
X
Y
Number of purchase requisitions
1,200
1,800
2,000
Number of set ups
240
260
300
2
Overhead costs have been analysed as follows:
Receiving/ inspecting quality assurance
Sh.1,400,000
Production scheduling/ machine set up
Sh.1,200,000

Required:
Determine the budgeted profit per unit of each of the three products using Activity Based Costing (ABC) method. 


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December 2021

1 Questions
Question 5c
​​ Describe two advantages and two disadvantages of using activity based costing (ABC).


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September 2021

1 Questions
Question 2b
​​The following details have been recorded for four batches made in the month of June 2021:

Batch
A
B
C
D
Output in units
250
60
200
120
Cost per batch:
Sh.
Sh.
Sh.
Sh.
Direct materials
1,650
750
750
900
Direct labour
9,200
1,520
6,880
2,400
Labour hours per batch
1,150
190
860
300

Additional information:
1
The total production overheads for the month of June 2021 has been analysed as follows:
Sh.
Machine related cost
14,600
Material handling and dispatch
6,800
Stores
8,250
Inspection/quality control
5,850
Set-ups
6,200
Engineering support
8,300
2
The following cost driver volumes were recorded for the four batches:
Batch
A
B
C
D
Total
Machine hours per batch
520
255
610
325
1,710
Material movements
180
70
205
40
495
Requisitions
40
21
43
26
130
Inspections
18
8
13
8
47
Set-ups
12
7
16
8
43
Engineering hours
65
38
52
35
190

Required: 
(i) Based on a labour hour overhead absorption rate (OAR), compute the batch cost and unit cost using traditional absorption costing system. 

(ii) The batch cost and unit cost using Activity Based Costing (ABC) system.


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May 2021

1 Questions
Question 3a
​​Describe the three main stages of the Activity Based Costing (ABC) system.


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May 2019

1 Questions
Question 3b
​​Machakato Ltd. makes three main products using the same equipment. Total overheads amounting to Sh.720,000 were charged for the last quarter of the financial year ended 31 December 2018. 

Details of the three products for the months of September 2018 to December 2018 are as follows

Product              
A
B
C
Labour hours per unit 
2
3
1
Machine hours per unit
3
2
5
Material cost per unit (Sh.)
45
28
52
Volume (Units)
1,500
2,400
11,000

Additional information:
1
Direct labour costs are Sh. 14 per hour.
2
 Production overheads are absorbed on a material cost percentage basis.
3
The machine rate for the period under consideration is Sh.56 per machine hour.
4
 Further analysis shows that the total production overheads could be apportioned as follows:
o  Cost relating to set-ups
20%
o  Cost relating to materials movement
35%
o  Cost relating to inspection
45%
5
The following activity volumes are associated with the product line for the period:
Total activities for the period
Number of
set-ups
Number of material
movements
 Number of inspections
Product:   A
                B
                C
78
112
460
650
12
21
82
115
140
170
640
950

Required: 
Cost per unit for each product using: 
(i) Traditional method. 

(ii) Activity Based Costing (ABС).


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May 2017

1 Questions
Question 3b
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ABC Ltd. plans to use activity-based costing to determine its product costs. Currently, it uses a single plantwide factory overhead rate for allocating factory overheads to products, based on direct labour hours. The total factory overhead cost is as follows:

Department
Factory overheads
Sh.
Production support
1,225,000
Production (factory overheads only)
175,000
Totai cost
1,400,000

The company has determined that it performs four major activities in the production support department. 

These activities along with their budgeted costs are as follows:

Production support activities
Budgeted cost
Sh.
Set-up
428,750
Production control
245,000
Quality control
183,750
Materials management
367,500
Total
1,225,000

ABC Ltd. has estimated the following activity-based usage quantities and units produced for each of its three products:

Product
Number.of
Units
Direct.Labour
hours
Set-ups
Production
orders
Inspections
Material
requisitions
Product K
10,000
25,000
80
80
35
320
Product L
2,000
10,000
40
40
40
400
Product M
50,000
140,000
5
5
0
30
Total
62,000
175,000
125
125
75
750

Required: 

Determine the factory overhead cost per unit for each product using: 

(i) Single plantwide factory overhead rate method. 

(ii) Activity-based costing. 

(iii) Giving reasons, advise the management of ABC Ltd. on the most accurate method of product costing. 


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May 2016

1 Questions
Question 3b
​ ​​QFX Ltd. uses batch costing in cost analysis. The following information is provided:

Batch
Output in units

Cost per batch
Direct labour (Sh.)
Direct materials (Sh.)

Labour.hours.per.batch
P
2,500


92,000
16,500

11,500
Ο
600


15,200
7,500

1,900
R
2,000


68,800
21,000

8,600
S
1,200


 24,000
9,000

3,000

The following data relates to the total production overheads for the period ended 31 March 2016:

Particulars
Stores
Inspection
Set-up
Engineering support
Machine related costs
Materials dispatch
Cost(Sh.)
82,500
58,500
62,000
83,000
146,000
68,000
500,000
Cost driver
Number.of.requisitions
Number of inspections
Number of set-ups
Engineering hours
Machine hours
Materials movements

Corresponding cost driver volumes for the batches were as follows:


Requisitions
Inspections
Setups
Engineering hours
Machine hours
Materials.movement
P
400
180
120
650
5,200
1,800
Q
210
80
70
380
2,550
700
R
430
130
160
520
6,100
2,050
S
260
80
80
350
3,250
400
Total
1,300
470
430
1,900
17,100
4,950


Required: 

Compute the batch cost and unit cost using: 

(i) Traditional costing based on a labour hour overhead absorption rate. 

(ii) Activity based costing (ABC) system.


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