Problem 1: The laboratory services department for Swank Medical Systems has $300,000 in direct costs during 2012. These costs must be allocated to Swank's three revenue producing patient services departments using the direct method. Two cost drivers are under consideration; patient services revenue and hours of laboratory services used. The patient services departments generated $6 million in total revenues in 2012, and to support these clinical activities, they used 6,000 hours of laboratory services.
Probelm 2: Refer to Problem 1. Assume that the three patient services departments are adult services, pediatric services, and other services. The patient services revenue and hours of laboratory services for each department are
| Department |
Revenue |
Laboratory
Hours |
| Adult Services |
3,000,000 |
1,500 |
| Pediatric Services |
1,500,000 |
3000 |
| Other Services |
1,500,000 |
1,500 |
| total |
6,000,000 |
6,000
|
a. What is the dollar allocation to each patient services department if patient services revenue is used as the cost driver?
b. What is the dollar allocation to each patient services department if hours of laboratory services are used as the cost driver?
c. What is the difference in the allocation to each department between the two drivers?
d. Which of the two drivers is better? Why?