Question

Pacific Siding Incorporated produces synthetic wood siding used in the construction of residential and commercial buildings. Pacific Siding’s fiscal year ends on March 31, and the weighted-average method is used for the company’s process costing system.

Financial results for the first 11 months of the current fiscal year (through February 28) are well below the expectations of management, owners, and creditors. Halfway through the month of March, the chief executive officer (CEO) and the chief financial officer (CFO) ask the controller to estimate the production results for the month of March in the form of a production cost report (the company has only one production department). This report is shown as follows.

Data Entry Section
Unit Information		Percent Complete
	Units (board feet)	Direct Materials			Direct Labor			Overhead
Units in beginning WIP inventory (all completed this period)	330,000		n/a			n/a			n/a
Units started and completed during the period	180,000		100%			100%			100%
Units started and partially completed during the period	78,000		40			60			30
Cost Information		Direct materials			Direct labor			Overhead
Costs in beginning WIP inventory		$	84,000		$	98,000		$	158,000
Costs incurred during the period			63,000			83,000			143,000

PACIFIC SIDING INCORPORATED
Preliminary Production Cost Report
Month Ending March 31
Step 1: Summary of Physical Units and Equivalent Unit Calculations
Units to be accounted for:	Physical Units
Units in beginning WIP inventory		330,000
Units started during the period		258,000
Total units to be accounted for		588,000
				Equivalent Units
Units accounted for:		Physical Units		Direct Materials			Direct Labor			Overhead
Units completed and transferred out		510,000			510,000			510,000			510,000
Units in ending WIP inventory		78,000			31,200			46,800			23,400
Total units accounted for		588,000			541,200			556,800			533,400
Step 2: Summary of Costs to Be Accounted for
Costs to be accounted for:	Direct Materials			Direct Labor			Overhead			Total
Costs in beginning WIP inventory	$	84,000		$	98,000		$	158,000		$	340,000
Costs incurred during the period		63,000			83,000			143,000			289,000
Total costs to be accounted for	$	147,000		$	181,000		$	301,000		$	629,000
Step 3: Calculation of Cost per Equivalent Unit
	Direct Materials			Direct Labor			Overhead			Total
Total costs to be accounted for (a)	$	147,000		$	181,000		$	301,000
Total equivalent units accounted for (b)		541,200			556,800			533,400
Cost per equivalent unit (a) ÷ (b)	$	0.2716		$	0.3251		$	0.5643		$	1.1610
Step 4: Assign Costs to Units Transferred Out and Units in Ending WIP Inventory
	Direct Materials			Direct Labor			Overhead			Total
Costs assigned to units transferred out	$	138,525		$	165,787		$	287,795		$	592,107
Costs assigned to ending WIP inventory		8,475			15,213			13,205			36,893
Total costs accounted for										$	629,000

Armed with the preliminary production cost report for March, and knowing that the company’s production is well below capacity, the CEO and CFO decide to produce as many units as possible for the last half of March, even though sales are not expected to increase any time soon. The production manager is told to push his employees to get as far as possible with production, thereby increasing the percentage of completion for ending WIP inventory. However, since the production process takes three weeks to complete, all of the units produced in the last half of March will be in WIP inventory at the end of March.

Required:

b. Using the following assumptions, prepare a revised estimate of production results in the form of a production cost report for the month of March. Assumptions based on the CEO and CFO request to boost production:

1. Units started and partially completed during the period will increase to 265,000 (from the initial estimate of 78,000). This is the projected ending WIP inventory at March 31.

2. Percentage of completion estimates for units in ending WIP inventory will increase to 80 percent for direct materials, 85 percent for direct labor, and 90 percent for overhead.

3. Costs incurred during the period will increase to $103,000 for direct materials, $110,000 for direct labor, and $158,000 for overhead (Note: most overhead costs are fixed).

4. All units completed and transferred out during March are sold by March 31.

c. Compare your new production cost report with the one prepared by the controller. How much do you expect profit to increase as a result of increasing production during the last half of March?

d. Is the request made by the CEO and CFO ethical?

Answer 1

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Part b
PACIFIC SIDING INCORPORATED
Preliminary Production Cost Report
Month Ending March 31
Step 1: Summary of Physical Units and Equivalent Unit Calculations
Units to be accounted for:	Physical Units
Units in beginning WIP inventory	330,000
Units started during the period	445,000
Total units to be accounted for	775,000
		Equivalent Units
Units accounted for:	Physical Units	Direct Materials	Direct Labor	Overhead
Units completed and transferred out	510,000	510,000	510,000	510,000	100%	100%	100%
Units in ending WIP inventory	265,000	212,000	225,250	238,500	80%	85%	90%
Total units accounted for	775,000	722,000	735,250	748,500
Step 2: Summary of Costs to Be Accounted for
Costs to be accounted for:		Direct Materials	Direct Labor	Overhead	Total
Costs in beginning WIP inventory		$                       84,000	$                     98,000	$                      158,000	$      340,000
Costs incurred during the period		$                     103,000	$                   110,000	$                      158,000	$      371,000
Total costs to be accounted for		$                     187,000	$                   208,000	$                      316,000	$      711,000
Step 3: Calculation of Cost per Equivalent Unit
		Direct Materials	Direct Labor	Overhead	Total
Total costs to be accounted for (a)		$                     187,000	$                   208,000	$                      316,000	$      711,000
Total equivalent units accounted for (b)		722,000	735,250	748,500
Cost per equivalent unit (a) ÷ (b)		$                       0.2590	$                     0.2829	$                         0.4222	$         0.9641
Step 4: Assign Costs to Units Transferred Out and Units in Ending WIP Inventory
		Direct Materials	Direct Labor	Overhead	Total
Costs assigned to units transferred out		$                     132,091	$                   144,277	$                      215,311	$      491,679
Costs assigned to ending WIP inventory		$                       54,909	$                     63,723	$                      100,689	$      219,321
Total costs accounted for		$                     187,000	$                   208,000	$                      316,000	$      711,000
Part c
	Old	Revised	Increase in profit
Costs assigned to units transferred out	$                      592,107	$                     491,679	$                   100,428
Part d
No, this is not ethical, as increase in production was to manipulate the income to distort the results for the period.