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Cost-Volume-Profit Relationships
Learning Objectives
1. Explain how changes in activity affect contribution margin and net operating income.

2. Prepare and interpret a cost-volume-profit (CVP) graph.

3. Use the contribution margin ratio (CM ratio) to compute changes in contribution margin and net
operating income resulting from changes in sales volume.

4. Show the effects on contribution margin of changes in variable costs, fixed costs, selling price, and
volume.

5. Compute the break-even point in unit sales and sales dollars.

6. Determine the level of sales needed to achieve a desired target profit.

7. Compute the margin of safety and explain its significance.

8. Compute the degree of operating leverage at a particular level of sales, and explain how the degree
of operating leverage can be used to predict changes in net operating income.

9. Compute the break-even point for a multiple product company and explain the effects of shifts in
the sales mix on contribution margin and the break-even point.

Chapter Overview

 

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Cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis is a key
step in many decisions. CVP analysis involves specifying a model of the relations among the prices of
products, the volume or level of activity, unit variable costs, total fixed costs, and the sales mix. This
model is used to predict the impact on profits of changes in those parameters.

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Contribution margin is the amount remaining from sales revenue after
variable expenses have been deducted. It contributes towards covering fixed costs and then towards
profit.

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The unit contribution margin can be used to predict changes in total
contribution margin as a result of changes in the unit sales of a product. To do this, the unit
contribution margin is simply multiplied by the change in unit sales. Assuming no change in fixed
costs, the change in total contribution margin falls directly to the bottom line as a change in profits.

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The contribution margin (CM) ratio is the ratio of the contribution
margin to total sales. It shows how the contribution margin is affected by a given dollar change in total
sales. The contribution margin ratio is often easier to work with than the unit contribution margin,
particularly when a company has many products. This is because the contribution margin ratio is
denominated in sales dollars, which is a convenient way to express activity in multi-product firms.


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CVP analysis is typically used to estimate the impact on
profits of changes in selling price, variable cost per unit, sales volume, and total fixed costs. CVP
analysis can be used to estimate the effect on profit of a change in any one (or any combination) of
these parameters. A variety of examples of applications of CVP are provided in the text.


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CVP graphs can be used to gain insight into the behavior of
expenses and profits. The basic CVP graph is drawn with dollars on the vertical axis and unit sales on
the horizontal axis. Total fixed expense is drawn first and then variable expense is added to the fixed
expense to draw the total expense line. Finally, the total revenue line is drawn. The total profit (or loss)
is the vertical difference between the total revenue and total expense lines. The break-even occurs at
the point where the total revenue and total expenses lines cross.


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Target profit analysis is concerned with
estimating the level of sales required to attain a specified target profit. Break-even analysis is a special
case of target profit analysis in which the target profit is zero.

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Both the equation and contribution (formula) methods of break-even and
target profit analysis are based on the contribution approach to the income statement. The format of
this statement can be expressed in equation form as:

Profits = Sales - Variable expenses - Fixed expenses

In CVP analysis this equation is commonly rearranged and expressed as:

Sales = Variable expenses + Fixed expenses + Profits

a. The above equation can be expressed in terms of unit sales as follows:

Price x Unit sales = Unit variable cost x Unit sales + Fixed expenses + Profits

Unit contribution margin x Unit sales = Fixed expenses + Profits

b. The basic equation can also be expressed in terms of sales dollars using the variable expense ratio:

Sales = Variable expense ratio x Sales + Fixed expenses + Profits

(1 - Variable expense ratio) x Sales = Fixed expenses + Profits

Contribution margin ratio* x Sales = Fixed expenses + Profits

c.

* 1 - Variable expense ratio = 1 -

=Contributionmargin/Sales

=Contributionmarginratio

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The break-even point is the level of sales at which
profit is zero. It can also be defined as the point where total sales equals total expenses or as the point
where total contribution margin equals total fixed expenses. Break-even analysis can be approached
either by the equation method or by the contribution margin method. The two methods are logically
equivalent.

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This method involves following
the steps in section (1a) above. Substitute the selling price, unit variable cost and fixed expense in the
first equation and set profits equal to zero. Then solve for the unit sales.

b. +- /c,$*+,c

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This is a short-cut method that jumps directly to
the solution, bypassing the intermediate algebraic steps.

a. 
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This method involves using
the final formula for unit sales in section (1a) above. Set profits equal to zero in the formula.
Break-even unit sales = =

b. 
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Break-even sales = =

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Either the equation method or the contribution margin method can be used
to find the number of units that must be sold to attain a target profit. In the case of the contribution
margin method, the formulas are:

Unit sales to attain target profits =

Dollar sales to attain target profits =

Note that these formulas are the same as the break-even formulas if the target profit is zero.

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The margin of safety is the excess of budgeted (or actual) sales over the break-
even volume of sales. It is the amount by which sales can drop before losses begin to be incurred. The
margin of safety can be computed in terms of dollars:

Margin of safety in dollars = Total sales ± Break-even sales

or in percentage form:

Margin of safety percentage =

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Cost structure refers to the relative proportion of fixed and variable costs in an
organization. Understanding a company¶s cost structure is important for decision-making as well as for
analysis of performance.

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Operating leverage is a measure of how sensitive net operating income is to
a given percentage change in sales.

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The degree of operating leverage at a given level of sales is
computed as follows:
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The degree of operating leverage can be
used to estimate how a given percentage change in sales volume will affect net income at a given level
of sales, assuming there is no change in fixed expenses. To verify this, consider the following:

= Percentage change in net operating income

Thus, providing that fixed expenses are not affected and the other assumptions of CVP analysis are
valid, the degree of operating leverage provides a quick way to predict the percentage effect on profits
of a given percentage increase in sales. The higher the degree of operating leverage, the larger the
increase in net operating income.

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The degree of operating leverage is not constant as
the level of sales changes. For example, at the break-even point the degree of operating leverage is
infinite since the denominator of the ratio is zero. Therefore, the degree of operating leverage should
be used with some caution and should be recomputed for each level of starting sales.

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Richard Lord, ³Interpreting and Measuring Operating
Leverage,´ È
 
 

 , Fall 1995, pp. 31xx-229, points out that the relation
between operating leverage and the cost structure of the company is contingent. It is difficult, for
example, to infer the relative proportions of fixed and variable costs in the cost structures of any two
companies just by comparing their operating leverages. We can, however, say that if two single-
product companies have the same profit, the same selling price, the same unit sales, and the same total
expenses, then the company with the higher operating leverage will have a higher proportion of fixed
costs in its cost structure. If they do not have the same profit, the same unit sales, the same selling
price, and the same total expenses, we cannot safely make this inference about their cost structure. All
of the statements in the text about operating leverage and cost structure assume that the companies
being compared are identical except for the proportions of fixed and variable costs in their cost
structures.

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Students may have a tendency to overlook the importance of this
section due to its brevity. You may want to discuss with your students how salespeople are ordinarily
compensated (salary plus commissions based on sales) and how this can lead to dysfunctional
behavior. For example, would a company make more money if its salespeople steered customers
toward Model A or Model B as described below?



 
Price $100 $150
Variable cost 75 130
Unit CM $ 25 $ 20

Which model will salespeople push hardest if they are paid a commission of 10% of sales revenue?

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Sales mix is the relative proportions in which a company¶s products are sold. Most
companies have a number of products with differing contribution margins. Thus, changes in the sales
mix can cause variations in a company¶s profits. As a result, the break-even point in a multi-product
company is dependent on the sales mix.

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In CVP analysis, it is usually assumed that the sales mix will not
change. Under this assumption, the break-even level of sales dollars can be computed using the overall
contribution margin (CM) ratio. In essence, it is assumed that the company has only one product that
consists of a basket of its various products in a specified proportion. The contribution margin ratio of
this basket can be easily computed by dividing the total contribution margin of all products by total
sales.

Overall CM ratio =

2. %,

The overall contribution margin ratio can be used in CVP analysis
exactly like the contribution margin ratio for a single product company. For a multi-product company
the formulas for break-even sales dollars and the sales required to attain a target profit are:
 Break-even sales =

Sales to achieve target profits =

Note that these formulas are really the same as for the single product case. The constant sales mix
assumption allows us to use the same simple formulas.

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If the proportions in which products are sold change, then the overall
contribution margin ratio will change. Since the sales mix is not in reality constant, the results of CVP
analysis should be viewed with more caution in multi-product companies than in single product
companies.

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Simple CVP analysis relies on simplifying assumptions. However,
if a manager knows that one of the assumptions is violated, the CVP analysis can often be easily
modified to make it more realistic.

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The assumption is that the selling price of a product will not change as the
unit volume changes. This is not wholly realistic since unit sales and the selling price are usually
inversely related. In order to increase volume it is often necessary to drop the price. However, CVP
analysis can easily accommodate more realistic assumptions. A number of examples and problems in
the text show how to use CVP analysis to investigate situations in which prices  changed.

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It is assumed
that the variable element is constant per unit and the fixed element is constant in total. This implies
that operating conditions are stable. It also implies that the fixed costs are really fixed. When volume
changes dramatically, this assumption becomes tenuous. Nevertheless, if the effects of a decision on
fixed costs can be estimated, this can be explicitly taken into account in CVP analysis. A number of
examples and problems in the text show how to use CVP analysis when fixed costs are affected.

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This assumption is invoked so as to use
the simple break-even and target profit formulas in multi-product companies. If unit contribution
margins are fairly uniform across products, violations of this assumption will not be important.
However, if unit contribution margins differ a great deal, then changes in the sales mix can have a big
impact on the overall contribution margin ratio and hence on the results of CVP analysis. If a manager
can predict how the sales mix will change, then a more refined CVP analysis can be performed in
which the individual contribution margins of products are computed.

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It is assumed that everything the
company produces is sold in the same period. Violations of this assumption result in discrepancies
between financial accounting net operating income and the profits calculated using the contribution
approach. This topic is covered in detail in the chapter on variable costing.