Question:
(Predictors and cost drivers; team activity) Lawrence & Slater CPAs often use factors that change in a consistent pattern with costs to explain or predict cost behavior.
a. As a team of three or four, select factors to predict or explain the behavior of the following costs:
1. Staff accountant's travel expenses
2. Office supplies inventory
3. Laptops used in audit engagements
4. Maintenance costs for the firm's lawn & grounds service
b. Prepare a presentation of your chosen factors that also addresses whether the factors could be used as cost drivers in addition to cost predictors.