Response to the following problem:
Losses have been incurred at Millard Corporation for some time. In an effort to isolate the problem and improve the company's performance, management has requested that the monthly income statement be segmented by sales region. The company's first effort at preparing a segmented statement is given below. This statement is for May, the most recent month of activity.
|
|
West
|
Sales Region
Central
|
East
|
|
Sales
|
$450,000
|
$800 ,000
|
$ 750,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
Regional expenses (traceable):
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of goods sold
|
162,900
|
280,000
|
376,500
|
|
Advertising
|
108,000
|
200,000
|
210,000
|
|
Salaries
|
90,000
|
88,000
|
135,000
|
|
Utilities
|
13.500
|
12,000
|
15,000
|
|
Depreciation
|
27,000
|
28,000
|
30,000
|
|
Shipping expense
|
17,100
|
32.000
|
28,500
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total regional expenses
|
418.500
|
640.000
|
795,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
Regional income (loss) before
|
|
|
|
|
corporate expenses
|
31 500
|
160,000
|
(45,000)
|
|
|
|
|
Corporate expenses:
|
|
|
|
|
Advertising (general)
|
18,000
|
32,000
|
30,000
|
|
General administrative expense
|
50,000
|
50,000
|
50,000
|
|
|
|
|
Total corporate expenses
|
68.000
|
82.000
|
80,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net operating income (loss)
|
$(36,500)
|
$ 78,000
|
$(125,000)
|
Cost of goods sold and shipping expense are both variable; other costs are all fixed.
Millard Corporation is a wholesale distributor of office products. It purchases office products from manufacturers and distributes them in the three regions given above. The three regions are about the same size, and each has its own manager and sales staff. The products that the company distributes vary widely in profitability.
Required:
1. List any disadvantages or weaknesses that you see to the statement format illustrated above.
2. Explain the basis that is apparently being used to allocate the corporate expenses to the regions. Do you agree with these allocations? Explain.
3. Prepare a new contribution format segmented income statement for May. Show a Total column as well as data for each region. In addition, for the company as a whole and for each sales region, show each item on the segmented income statement as a percent of sales.
4. Analyze the statement that you prepared in part (3) above. What points that might help to improve the company's performance would you bring to management'sattention?