Problem:
The Greater Insurance Company has two service departments — actuarial (S1) and premium rating (S2), and two production departments — marketing and sales. The distribution of each service department's efforts to the other departments is shown below:
FROM TO
Actuarial Premium Marketing Sales
S1 0% 40% 25% 35%
S2 50% 0% 10% 40%
The direct operating costs of the departments (including both variable and fixed costs) were as follows:
Actuarial $80,000
Premium Rating $30,000
Marketing $50,000
Sales $60,000
Required:
Question 1: Allocate the service department costs to the production departments using the direct method.
Question 2: Allocate the service department costs to the production departments using the step method.
Question 3: Why do organizations use budgeted rates instead of actual rates to allocate the costs of support departments to each other and to user departments and divisions? Explain.