Bullock's Company's copy department, which does almost all of the photocopying for the sales department and the administrative department, budgets the following costs for the year, based on the expected activity of 5,000,000 copies:
Salaries (fixed) $91,500
Employee benefits (fixed) 10,000
Depreciation of copy machines (fixed) 10,000
Utilities (fixed) 5,000
Paper (variable, 1 cent per copy) 50,000
Toner (variable, 1 cent per copy) 50,000
The costs are assigned to two cost pools, one for fixed and one for variable costs. The costs are then assigned to the sales department and the administrative department. Fixed costs are assigned on a lump-sum basis, 40 percent to sales and 60 percent to administration. The variable costs are assigned at a rate of 2 cents per copy.