MA1 Kit BPP 2016-1

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 170

ACCA APPROVED

CONTENT PROVIDER

Foundations in Accountancy MA1


ACCA approved content provider
BPP Learning Media is dedicated to supporting aspiring business professionals
with top-quality learning material as they study for demanding professional
exams, often whilst working full time. BPP Learning Media’s commitment
to student success is shown by our record of quality, innovation and market
leadership in paper-based and e-learning materials. BPP Learning Media’s study
materials are written by professionally qualified specialists who know from
personal experience the importance of top-quality materials for exam success.

Foundations in Accountancy MA1


Management Information
This Kit provides material specifically for the practice One of a suite of products supporting Foundations
and revision stage of your studies for Foundations in in Accountancy MA1 Management Information, for

Management Information
Accountancy MA1 Management Information that use independently or as part of a package, this Kit is
has been comprehensively reviewed by the ACCA targeted at Foundations in Accountancy exams from
examining team. This unique review ensures that 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2017 and contains:
the questions, solutions and guidance provide the
• DO YOU KNOW? Checklists to test your
best and most effective resource for practising and
knowledge of Management Information topics
revising for the exam.
• A bank of exam-standard MCQs with answers,
covering the syllabus
• Two mock exams including the MA1 Specimen
exam

Practice & Revision Kit


ACCA Approved
Practice & Revision Kit

Contact us
Foundations in Accountancy
MA1
For exams from 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2017
BPP House
142-144 Uxbridge Road
London W12 8AA
United Kingdom Management Information
T 0845 075 1100 (UK)
T +44 (0)20 8740 2211 (Overseas)
E [email protected] For exams from 1 September 2016
bpp.com/learningmedia
to 31 August 2017
March 2016
£13.00

FI12RK16 (POL).indd 1-3 03/03/2016 12:28


Foundations in P
R

Accountancy A
C
T
I
C
MA1 E

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION &

R
E
Welcome to BPP Learning Media’s Practice & Revision Kit for MA1. In this Practice
V
& Revision Kit which has been reviewed by the ACCA examination team, we: I
 Include Do you know? Checklists to test your knowledge and understanding
of topics S


Provide you with two mock exams including the Specimen Exam June 2014
We provide the ACCA exam answers to the Specimen Exam June 2014 as an
I
additional revision aid O
N

K
I
T
FOR EXAMS FROM 1 SEPTEMBER 2016 TO 31 AUGUST 2017
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

First edition May 2011 A note about copyright


Fifth edition March 2016 Dear Customer

ISBN 9781 4727 4615 3 What does the little © mean and why does it matter?
Previous ISBN 9781 4727 3530 0 Your market-leading BPP books, course materials and e-learning
materials do not write and update themselves. People write
e-ISBN 9781 4727 4634 4 them on their own behalf or as employees of an organisation
that invests in this activity. Copyright law protects their
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data livelihoods. It does so by creating rights over the use of the
content.
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library Breach of copyright is a form of theft – as well as being a
criminal offence in some jurisdictions, it is potentially a serious
Published by breach of professional ethics.

With current technology, things might seem a bit hazy but,


BPP Learning Media Ltd basically, without the express permission of BPP Learning
BPP House, Aldine Place Media:
London W12 8AA • Photocopying our materials is a breach of copyright

www.bpp.com/learningmedia • Scanning, ripcasting or conversion of our digital


materials into different file formats, uploading them to
Facebook or e-mailing them to your friends is a breach
Printed in Beijing by of copyright

Beijing Congreat Printing Company Ltd. You can, of course, sell your books, in the form in which you
have bought them – once you have finished with them. (Is this
Ji'an Road No. 2
fair to your fellow students? We update for a reason.) Please
Houshayu Jixiang Industrial Park
note the e-products are sold on a single user licence basis: we
Shunyi District do not supply 'unlock' codes to people who have bought them
Beijing secondhand.
PRC
And what about outside the UK? BPP Learning Media strives to
make our materials available at prices students can afford by
Your learning materials, published by BPP local printing arrangements, pricing policies and partnerships
Learning Media Ltd, are printed on paper obtained which are clearly listed on our website. A tiny minority ignore
from traceable, sustainable sources. this and indulge in criminal activity by illegally photocopying our
material or supporting organisations that do. If they act illegally
and unethically in one area, can you really trust them?
All our rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior written permission
of BPP Learning Media Ltd.

We are grateful to the Association of Chartered


Certified Accountants for permission to reproduce
past examination questions. The suggested
solutions in the practice answer bank have been
prepared by BPP Learning Media Ltd, except
where otherwise stated.

©
BPP Learning Media Ltd
2016

ii
CONTENTS

Contents
Page

Finding questions
Question index .............................................................................................................................. v

Helping you with your revision ........................................................................................................ vi


Using your BPP Practice and Revision Kit....................................................................................... vii
Passing the MA1 exam................................................................................................................ viii
Approach to examining the syllabus .............................................................................................. viii
The Computer Based Examination .................................................................................................. ix
Tackling Multiple Choice Questions.................................................................................................. x
Using your BPP products............................................................................................................... xi

Questions and answers


Questions .................................................................................................................................... 3
Answers .................................................................................................................................... 87

Exam practice
Mock exam 1 – Specimen Exam June 2014
 Questions......................................................................................................................... 111
 Answers........................................................................................................................... 125
Mock exam 2
 Questions......................................................................................................................... 133
 Answers........................................................................................................................... 145

Review form

iii
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

iv
USING YOUR PRACTICE AND REVISION KIT

Question index
Time
Page
allocation

Marks Mins Questions Answer

Part A: The nature and purpose of cost and


management accounting

Business organisation and accounting

Questions 1.1 to 1.17 34 40 5 87

Introduction to management information

Questions 2.1 to 2.14 28 34 11 87

Part B: Cost classification and measurement

Cost units, cost classification and profit reporting

Questions 3.1 to 3.21 42 45 15 88

Management responsibility and performance


measurement

Questions 4.1 to 4.17 34 40 20 89

Part C: Source documents and coding

Source documents and coding

Questions 5.1 to 5.25 50 60 25 91


Part D: Cost accounting

Material and labour costs

Questions 6.1 to 6.29 58 68 33 92


Overhead costs

Questions 7.1 to 7.15 30 35 40 96


Job, batch and process costing

Questions 8.1 to 8.24 48 58 47 97


Part E: The spreadsheet system

The basics of using spreadsheets

Questions 9.1 to 9.29 58 70 55 101


Using spreadsheets to present information

Questions 10.1 to 10.21 42 50 67 103


Mixed banks

Mixed bank 1: Questions 11.1 to 11.23 46 55 75 104


Mixed bank 2: Questions 12.1 to 12.20 40 48 80 105
Mock exams

Mock Exam 1 (Specimen Exam June 2014) 100 120 111 125
Mock Exam 2 100 120 133 145

v
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Helping you with your revision

BPP Learning Media – ACCA Approved Content Provider


As an ACCA Approved Content Provider, BPP Learning Media gives you the opportunity to use revision
materials reviewed by the ACCA examination team. By incorporating the examination team’s comments
and suggestions regarding the depth and breadth of syllabus coverage, the BPP Learning Media Practice
& Revision Kit provides excellent, ACCA-approved support for your revision.

Selecting questions
We provide signposts to help you plan your revision.
 A full question index

Attempting mock exams


There are two mock exams that provide practice at coping with the pressures of the exam day. We
strongly recommend that you attempt them under exam conditions. Mock exam 1 is the Specimen Exam
June 2014. Mock exam 2 reflects the question styles and syllabus coverage of the exam.

vi
USING YOUR PRACTICE AND REVISION KIT

Using your BPP Practice & Revision Kit

Aim of this Practice & Revision Kit


To provide the practice to help you succeed in the examinations for MA1 Management Information.
To pass the examination you need a thorough understanding in all areas covered by the syllabus and
teaching guide.

Recommended approach
 Make sure you are able to answer questions on everything specified by the syllabus and teaching
guide. You cannot make any assumptions about what questions may come up on your paper. The
examination team aims to discourage 'question spotting'.
 Learning is an active process. Use the DO YOU KNOW? Checklists to test your knowledge and
understanding of the topics covered in MA1 Management Information by filling in the blank
spaces. Then check your answers against the DID YOU KNOW? Checklists. Do not attempt any
questions if you are unable to fill in any of the blanks – go back to your BPP Interactive Text and
revise first.
 When you are revising a topic, think about the mistakes that you know that you should avoid by
writing down POSSIBLE PITFALLS at the end of each DO YOU KNOW? Checklist.
 Once you have completed the checklists successfully, you should attempt the questions on that
topic. Each question is worth 2 marks and carries with it a time allocation of 2.4 minutes.
 You should attempt each bank of MCQs to ensure you are familiar with their styles and to
practise your technique. Ensure you read Tackling Multiple Choice Questions on page xi to get
advice on how best to approach them.
 Once you have completed all of the questions in the body of this Practice & Revision Kit, you
should attempt the MOCK EXAMS under examination conditions. Check your answers against our
answers to find out how well you did.

vii
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Passing the MA1 exam


For conversion arrangements from CAT to Foundations in Accountancy and access to CAT and
Foundations in Accountancy syllabuses, visit the ACCA website.
www.accaglobal.com

The exam
You can take this exam as a paper-based exam or by CBE. All questions in the exam are compulsory.
This means you cannot avoid any topic, but also means that you do not need to waste time in the exam
deciding which questions to attempt. There are 50 MCQs in the paper-based exam and in the CBE.
This means that the examination team are able to test most of the syllabus at each sitting, and that is
what he aim to do. So you need to have revised right across the syllabus for this exam.

Revision
This kit has been reviewed by the MA1 examination team and contains the Specimen Exam June 2014,
so if you just worked through it to the end you would be very well prepared for the exam. It is important
to tackle questions under exam conditions. Allow yourself just the number of minutes shown next to the
questions in the index and don’t look at the answers until you have finished. Then correct your answer
and go back to the Interactive Text for any topic you are really having trouble with. Try the same
question again a week later – you will be surprised how much better you are getting. Doing the
questions like this will really show you what you know, and will make the exam experience less
worrying.

Doing the exam


If you have honestly done your revision you can pass this exam. There are certain points which you must
bear in mind:
 Read the question properly.
 Don’t spend more than the allotted time on each question. If you are having trouble with a
question leave it and carry on. You can come back to it at the end.

Approach to examining the syllabus


MA1 is a two-hour paper. It can be taken as a paper based or a computer based examination.

The exam is structured as follows:


No of marks
50 compulsory multiple choice questions of 2 marks each 100

viii
THE COMPUTER BASED EXAMINATION

The Computer Based Examination


Computer based examinations (CBEs) are available for the first seven Foundations in Accountancy
papers (not papers FAU, FTX or FFM), in addition to the conventional paper based examination.
Computer based examinations must be taken at an ACCA CBE Licensed Centre.

How does CBE work?


 Questions are displayed on a monitor.
 Candidates enter their answer directly onto the computer.
 Candidates have two hours to complete the examination.
 When the candidate has completed their examination, the final percentage score is calculated
and displayed on screen.
 Candidates are provided with a Provisional Result Notification showing their results before leaving
the examination room.
 The CBE Licensed Centre uploads the results to the ACCA (as proof of the candidate's
performance) within 72 hours.
 Candidates can check their exam status on the ACCA website by logging into myACCA.

Benefits
 Flexibility as a CBE can be sat at any time.
 Resits can also be taken at any time and there is no restriction on the number of times a
candidate can sit a CBE.
 Instant feedback as the computer displays the results at the end of the CBE.
 Results are notified to ACCA within 72 hours.

See the ACCA website for further information on computer based exams.
www.accaglobal.com

ix
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Tackling Multiple Choice Questions


MCQs are part of all Foundations in Accountancy exams. They form the paper based exams and may
appear in the CBE.
The MCQs in your exam contain four possible answers. You have to choose the option that best
answers the question. The three incorrect options are called distracters. There is a skill in answering
MCQs quickly and correctly. By practising MCQs you can develop this skill, giving you a better chance of
passing the exam.
You may wish to follow the approach outlined below, or you may prefer to adapt it.

Step 1 Skim read all the MCQs and identify what appear to be the easier questions.

Step 2 Attempt each question – starting with the easier questions identified in Step 1. Read
the question thoroughly. You may prefer to work out the answer before looking at the
options, or you may prefer to look at the options at the beginning. Adopt the method
that works best for you.

Step 3 Read the four options and see if one matches your own answer. Be careful with
numerical questions as the distracters are designed to match answers that incorporate
common errors. Check that your calculation is correct. Have you followed the
requirement exactly? Have you included every stage of the calculation?

Step 4 You may find that none of the options matches your answer.
 Re-read the question to ensure that you understand it and are answering the
requirement.
 Eliminate any obviously wrong answers.
 Consider which of the remaining answers is the most likely to be correct and
select the option.

Step 5 If you are still unsure make a note and continue to the next question.

Step 6 Revisit unanswered questions. When you come back to a question after a break you
often find you are able to answer it correctly straight away. If you are still unsure have a
guess. You are not penalised for incorrect answers, so never leave a question
unanswered!

After extensive practice and revision of MCQs, you may find that you recognise a question when you sit
the exam. Be aware that the detail and/or requirement may be different. If the question seems familiar
read the requirement and options carefully – do not assume that it is identical.

x
THE COMPUTER BASED EXAMINATION

Using your BPP products


This Kit gives you the question practice and guidance you need in the exam. Our other products can also help
you pass:

 Interactive Text introduces and explains the knowledge required for your exam
 Passcards provide you with clear topic summaries and exam tips

You can purchase these products by visiting www.bpp.com/learningmedia

xi
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

xii
Questions

1
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

2
QUESTIONS

Do you know? – Business organisation and accounting

Check that you can fill in the blanks in the statements below before you attempt any questions. If in doubt,
you should go back to your BPP Interactive Text and revise first.
 The office in an organisation is a centre for information and administration. The most common functions
in an office are as follows.
……………….
Personnel (………………. ……………….)
………………. ……………….
……………….
………………. ………………. ……………….
 A ………. ………. should help to ensure that all personnel follow procedures and best practices.
 The main types of transactions that most businesses enter into are sales, purchases, paying expenses,
paying employees and purchasing fixed assets. In order for management to control the transactions of
the business there must be a system of ………………. of transactions in place.
 The basic principle of …………. …………. …………. is that for every debit entry there must be a
corresponding credit entry.
 Increases in assets or expenses and decreases in liabilities and income are ……………. entries in ledger
accounts.
 Increases in liabilities and income and decreases in assets and expenses are ……… entries in ledger
accounts.
 Transactions are initially recorded in books of ……. .……. which are totalled and the totals posted to
the ledger accounts.
 A system in which the cost accounting and financial accounting functions are combined in one system of
ledger accounts is known as an ………………. system.
 A system in which there is a cost ledger for the cost accounting function and a financial ledger for the
financial accounting function is known as an ………………. system.
 Computerised accounting systems allow much quicker and more accurate entries to the accounting
system.
TRY QUESTIONS 1.1 TO 1.17
 Possible pitfalls. Write down examples of mistakes you should avoid.

3
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Did you know? – Business organisation and accounting

Could you fill in the blanks? The answers are in bold. Use this page for revision purposes as you approach
the exam.
 The office in an organisation is a centre for information and administration. The most common functions
in an office are as follows.
Purchasing
Personnel (human resources)
General administration
Finance
Sales and marketing
 A policy manual should help to ensure that all personnel follow procedures and best practices.
 The main types of transactions that most businesses enter into are sales, purchases, paying expenses,
paying employees and purchasing fixed assets. In order for management to control the transactions of
the business there must be a system of authorisation of transactions in places.
 The basic principle of double entry bookkeeping is that for every debit entry there must be a
corresponding credit entry.
 Increases in assets or expenses and decreases in liabilities and income are debit entries in ledger
accounts.
 Increases in liabilities and income and decreases in assets and expenses are credit entries in ledger
accounts.
 Transactions are initially recorded in books of prime entry which are totalled and the totals posted to the
ledger accounts.
 A system in which the cost accounting and financial accounting functions are combined in one system of
ledger accounts is known as an integrated system.
 A system in which there is a cost ledger for the cost accounting function and a financial ledger for the
financial accounting function is known as an interlocking system.
 Computerised accounting systems allow much quicker and more accurate entries to the accounting
system.
TRY QUESTIONS 1.1 TO 1.17

 Possible pitfalls include the following (you may have thought of others).
– Not understanding the principles of double entry bookkeeping
– Not being able to distinguish between integrated and interlocking accounting systems
– Getting confused between debit and credit entries in the ledgers
– Not understanding the purpose of books of prime entry

4
QUESTIONS

1 Business organisation and accounting 40 mins


1.1 Which of the following will not be a function of the human resources department?
A Hiring employees
B Firing employees
C Paying employees
D Arranging training of employees (2 marks)

1.2 Which of the following statements relate to the policy manual of an organisation?
1 Policies should be in place to deal with the authorisation of the purchase of fixed assets.
2 Employees will need to know where to find the policy manual to refer to but need not have read it.
3 Strict adherence to the manual can lead to inflexibility.
A All three
B 1 and 2 only
C 1 and 3 only
D 2 and 3 only (2 marks)

1.3 Which of the following personnel in an organisation would not be involved in the sale of goods on credit?
A Warehouse manager
B Purchase ledger controller
C Credit controller
D Accountant (2 marks)

1.4 What is the double entry for a purchase of goods on credit?


A Debit Payables
Credit Materials control
B Debit Receivables
Credit Materials control
C Debit Materials control
Credit Payables
D Debit Materials control
Credit Receivables (2 marks)

1.5 What is the double entry for materials returned to a supplier which had been purchased on credit?
A Debit Payables
Credit Materials control
B Debit Receivables
Credit Materials control
C Debit Materials control
Credit Payables
D Debit Materials control
Credit Receivables (2 marks)

5
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

1.6 Which of the following statements, relating to the recording of accounting transactions in books of prime
entry, are TRUE?
1 Credit notes from suppliers are recorded in the sales returns day book.
2 Invoices to customers are recorded in the sales day book.
3 Payments for expenses are recorded in the cash payments book.
A 1 and 2 only
B 1 and 3 only
C 2 and 3 only
D All three (2 marks)

1.7 Which of the following statements, relating to cost ledger accounting, are TRUE?
1 An integrated system is one where separate ledgers are kept for cost accounting and management
accounting.
2 An interlocking system is one where there is just one system of ledger accounts for cost
accounting and for management accounting.
A Both statements are correct
B Neither statement is correct
C Statement 1 is correct but statement 2 is incorrect
D Statement 2 is correct but statement 1 is incorrect (2 marks)

1.8 Which of the following describes the cost ledger control account?
A An account which can be used to reconcile creditor (supplier) balances
B An account which can be used to reconcile debtor (customer) balances
C An account in the cost ledger to record financial items
D An account in the financial ledger to record costing items (2 marks)

1.9 Purchase invoices are entered into an organisation's computer system at the end of each day.
What is this an example of?
A Batch processing
B Real time online processing
C File maintenance
D File updating (2 marks)

1.10 Which of the following is a disadvantage of batch processing?


A Information will not always be up-to-date
B It is not suitable for internal regular tasks
C A ‘missing’ record cannot be located
D Batches sent off for processing cannot be tracked (2 marks)

1.11 Which of the following statements about integrated accounts is/are correct?
(i) Integrated systems save time and administrative effort.
(ii) Integrated systems maintain two separate sets of accounts: one for financial accounts and one for
cost accounts.
(iii) Integrated systems avoid the need for periodic profit reconciliations.
A (i) only
B (i) and (ii)
C (i) and (iii)
D (ii) and (iii) (2 marks)

6
QUESTIONS

1.12 The book of prime entry for invoices received from credit suppliers is which of the following?
A Sales day book
B Purchases day book
C Petty cash book
D Cash payments book (2 marks)

1.13 Which of the following statements about an organisation chart is untrue?


A An organisation chart provides a summary of the structure of a business
B An organisation chart can improve internal communications within a business
C An organisation chart can improve employees’ understanding of their role within a business
D An organisation chart cannot indicate authority within a business (2 marks)

1.14 Which of the following is an advantage of centralisation?


A It helps to develop the skills of junior managers
B It avoids overburdening top managers in terms of workload and stress
C Senior managers can take a wider view of problems and consequences
D Local factors can be taken into account when making decisions (2 marks)

1.15 A company's accounting system operates so that the cost accounts are independent of the financial
accounts. The two sets of accounts are reconciled on a regular basis to keep them continuously in
agreement.
What is this type of accounting system known as?
A Independent accounts
B Interlocking accounts
C Reconciled accounts
D Integrated accounts (2 marks)

1.16 When materials are purchased on credit and an interlocking costing system is in use what is the double
entry for the purchase?
A Debit Materials control
Credit Payables
B Debit Materials control
Credit Cost ledger control
C Debit Payables
Credit Materials control
D Debit Cost ledger control
Credit Materials control (2 marks)

1.17 Which of the following describes how management controls the transactions of a business?
A Through a system of control of transactions
B Through a system of authorisation of transactions
C Through strict control of sales on credit made to new customers
D Through strict control of purchases of non-current assets (2 marks)

(Total = 34 marks)

7
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

8
QUESTIONS

Do you know? – Introduction to management information

Check that you can fill in the blanks in the statements below before you attempt any questions. If in doubt,
you should go back to your BPP Interactive Text and revise first.
 ………………. is processed to produce information.
 The purpose of management information is to help managers to manage resources efficiently and
effectively by planning and ………………., and to take ………………. .
 Good management information has the following characteristics.
……………….
……………….
……………….
 Producing useful management information such as a report depends on understanding the needs of the
….. ……. and of the …………. .
 There are many sources of information for management accounting, some of which are shared with
financial accounting. Computer systems and ………………. ………………. help to sort the information
into the categories and formats required for both financial and management accounting.
 Information sources can be either ……….. or ……….. .
 ……….. are one of the primary sources of internal information.
 A growing source of external information is the ……….. .
 There is a legal requirement to produce …………. accounts but not …………. accounts.
 The role of the ………….. …………. in a cost and management accounting system is to provide
answers to questions on costs and revenues.
TRY QUESTIONS 2.1 TO 2.14
 Possible pitfalls. Write down examples of mistakes you should avoid.

9
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Did you know? – Introduction to management information

Could you fill in the blanks? The answers are in bold. Use this page for revision purposes as you approach
the exam.
 Data is processed to produce information.
 The purpose of management information is to help managers to manage resources efficiently and
effectively by planning and control, and to take decisions.
 Good management information has the following characteristics.
Reliable
Timely
Relevant
 Producing useful management information such as a report depends on understanding the needs of the
end user and of the organisation.
 There are many sources of information for management accounting, some of which are shared with
financial accounting. Computer systems and coding structures help to sort the information into the
categories and formats required for both financial and management accounting.
 Information sources can be either internal or external.
 Employees are one of the primary sources of internal information.
 A growing source of external information is the Internet.
 There is a legal requirement to produce financial accounts but not management accounts.
 The role of the trainee accountant in a cost and management accounting system is to provide answers
to questions on costs and revenues.
TRY QUESTIONS 2.1 TO 2.14
 Possible pitfalls include the following (you may have thought of others)
– Not being able to distinguish between data and information
– Not being able to describe the features of useful management information
– Not being able to distinguish between management accounts and financial accounts
– Not having a clear picture of the trainee accountant's role in a cost accounting system

10
QUESTIONS

2 Introduction to management information 34 mins


2.1 How would facts and figures which have been processed and communicated to another party be best
described?
A Data
B Statistics
C Information
D Coding (2 marks)

2.2 Which of the following is not an external source of information?


A Newspapers
B Internet
C Employees
D Industry report (2 marks)

2.3 Two statements follow about data and information:


1 Data is a scientific term for facts, figures and information.
2 Information is data which has been processed.
Which of the following is correct with regard to the above two statements?
A Both statements are false
B Both statements are true
C Statement 1 is true but statement 2 is false
D Statement 1 is false but statement 2 is true (2 marks)

2.4 Which of the following combinations describe the purposes of management information?
A Planning, negotiating and decision making
B Control, decision making and publication
C Decision making, negotiating and implementing
D Planning, control and decision making (2 marks)

2.5 The cost accountant has produced a report showing the hourly output from the factory floor for the last
week.
Who in the organisation is most likely to require this information?
A The financial accountant
B The sales director
C The production manager
D The human resources manager (2 marks)

2.6 Which of the following is not a quality of good management information?


A Clarity
B Reliability
C Accuracy
D Computerised (2 marks)

2.7 The cost accountant has provided information about the actual and budgeted cost of the materials used
in production in the last month.
This information will primarily aid management in which of the following areas?
A Planning
B Implementing
C Control
D Decision making (2 marks)

11
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

2.8 Which of the following is not an example of internal information for the accounts department?
A Goods received note
B Time sheets for employees
C Materials requisitions from the factory
D Purchase invoices from suppliers (2 marks)

2.9 Which of the statements about management accounting are TRUE?


1 Management accounts are a legal requirement for a company.
2 Management accounts consider future data only.
3 Management accounts include financial and non-financial information.
A 1 and 3
B 2 and 3
C 2 only
D 3 only (2 marks)

2.10 Which of the following is not an attribute of management accounts?


A Based on historical data only
B Produced for internal use only
C Used for planning, decision making and control
D Presented according to management's requirements (2 marks)

2.11 Which of the following could be considered to be a limitation of cost and management accounting
information?
A Affected by changing prices over time
B Includes non-financial as well as financial information
C Produced periodically
D Produced in the format required by management (2 marks)

2.12 Which is true of management information?


A It is the same as operating information
B It must be produced by a computer
C It should be completely accurate regardless of cost
D It should be produced if its cost is less than the increased revenue it leads to (2 marks)

2.13 Which of the following statements is correct?


A Cost accounting is only relevant to manufacturing organisations
B Management accounts must be presented in a regulated format
C Financial and management accounts are prepared from completely separate sets of data
D Management accounts are normally prepared for internal use within a company
(2 marks)

2.14 Which of the following is not an example of a question that a trainee accountant may be asked in
respect of a cost and management accounting system?
A Which revenue streams should the company seek to maximise in the next year?
B What have revenues for each stream been in the last period?
C What has the cost of goods produced or services provided been for the last period?
D What has the cost of operating a department been for the last period?
(2 marks)

(Total = 28 marks)

12
QUESTIONS

Do you know? – Cost units, cost classification and profit reporting; management
responsibility and performance measurement

Check that you can fill in the blanks in the statements below before you attempt any questions. If in doubt,
you should go back to your BPP Interactive Text and revise first.
 A unit of product which has costs attached to it is known as a …………..
 The ways in which costs are affected by changes in the level of activity are known as ……..…
………………………..
 Costs which are fixed in nature within certain levels of activity are known as ……….…-……… costs.
 Semi-variable/semi-fixed costs are partly fixed and partly variable and therefore only partly affected by
changes in activity levels. They are also known as ……… costs.
 Costs can also be analysed according to their …………., for example, production, distribution and
selling, administration and financing costs.
 A function or department of an organisation that is headed by a manager who has direct responsibility
for its performance is known as a(n) ………………. centre.
 A unit of an organisation to which costs can be separately attributed is known as a(n) …… centre.
 A unit of an organisation to which both revenues and costs are assigned is known as a profit centre. A
profit centre whose performance is measured by its return on capital employed is known as a(n)
…………… centre.
 Performance measurement aims to establish how well something or somebody is doing in relation to a
planned activity. Useful performance measurement techniques are as follows.
………..….
…………………
 Total costs  number of units produced = ……………….
 The profit margin (profit to sales ratio) is calculated as (X  Y)  100% where:
X = …………
Y = …………
 The amount of profit made in relation to the amount of resources invested is known as the ……….
………………… or ………………………………….
 Residual income also measures the performance of an investment centre. It measures the centre's profits
after deducing a ………… interest cost.
TRY QUESTIONS 3.1 TO 4.17
 Possible pitfalls. Write down examples of mistakes you should avoid.

13
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Did you know? – Cost units, cost classification and profit reporting; management
responsibility and performance measurement

Could you fill in the blanks? The answers are in bold. Use this page for revision purposes as you approach
the exam.
 A unit of product which has costs attached to it is known as a cost unit.
 The ways in which costs are affected by changes in the level of activity are known as cost behaviour
patterns.
 Costs which are fixed in nature within certain levels of activity are known as stepped-fixed costs.
 Semi-variable/semi-fixed costs are partly fixed and partly variable and therefore only partly affected by
changes in activity levels. They are also known as mixed costs.
 Costs can also be analysed according to their function, for example, production, distribution and selling,
administration and financing costs.
 A function or department of an organisation that is headed by a manager who has direct responsibility
for its performance is known as a(n) responsibility centre.
 A unit of an organisation to which costs can be separately attributed is known as a(n) cost centre.
 A unit of an organisation to which both revenues and costs are assigned is known as a profit centre. A
profit centre whose performance is measured by its return on capital employed is known as a(n)
investment centre.
 Performance measurement aims to establish how well something or somebody is doing in relation to a
planned activity. Useful performance measurement techniques are as follows.
– Ratios
– Percentages
 Total costs  number of units produced = cost per unit.
 The profit margin (profit to sales ratio) is calculated as (X  Y)  100% where:
X = profit
Y = sales
 The amount of profit made in relation to the amount of resources invested is known as the return on
investment or return on capital employed.
 Residual income also measures the performance of an investment centre. It measures the centre's profits
after deducing a notional interest cost.
TRY QUESTIONS 3.1 TO 4.17
 Possible pitfalls include the following (you may have thought of others).
– Not being able to describe the variety of cost classifications used for different purposes
– Not being able to illustrate the nature of variable, fixed and mixed costs
– Not being able to prepare profit statements in absorption and marginal costing formats
– Not being able to calculate the cost of a product or service

14
QUESTIONS

3 Cost units, cost classification and profit reporting 45 mins


3.1 Which of the following would not be a cost unit in a hospital?
A Patient night
B Ward bed
C X-Ray department
D Canteen meal (2 marks)

3.2 Which of the following is the best description of a direct cost?


A A cost which is directly shared by one or more cost centres
B A cost that can be directly traced to a cost unit
C A cost that is paid for in cash
D A cost that is incurred by the factory (2 marks)

3.3 Which of the following is most likely to be treated as an indirect cost by a car manufacturer?
A Sheet metal for car body
B Wages of production line workers
C Lubricant for machinery
D Fabric for car seats (2 marks)

3.4 Which of the following is most likely to be treated as an indirect cost by a computer manufacturer?
A Production line worker wages
B Microchips
C Plastic housing for computer bodies
D Factory supervisor's wages (2 marks)

3.5 Which of the following costs would be most likely to be illustrated by the diagram given below?

Total
cost
$

Level of activity
A Total materials cost
B Factory rent
C Total wages cost
D Telephone expense (2 marks)

15
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

3.6 Which description best fits the cost curve shown below?

Cost
Total
per cost
unit
$$

Level of activity
A Direct material cost per unit
B Direct labour cost per unit
C Variable production cost per unit
D Fixed production cost per unit (2 marks)

3.7 Which of the following is the best description of a stepped-fixed cost?


A A cost with both a fixed element and a variable element
B A cost which increases as the level of activity increases
C A cost which is fixed no matter what the level of activity
D A cost which is fixed for a certain level of activity and then increases (2 marks)

3.8 Which of the following would not be illustrated by the diagram shown below?

Cost
Total
per cost
unit
$$

Level of activity
A Direct material cost per unit
B Direct labour cost per unit
C Fixed production cost per unit
D Variable production cost per unit (2 marks)

16
QUESTIONS

3.9 Which of the following costs would be most likely to be illustrated by the diagram given below?

Total
cost
$

Level of activity
A Factory rent
B Telephone costs
C Materials cost
D Factory supervisors' salaries (2 marks)

Data for questions 3.10 – 3.12


A product that a company manufactures requires 3 kg of material A costing $6.20 per kg and 4 kg of material
B costing $5.60 per kg. The product requires 2 hours of labour at a cost of $7.40 per hour. The product is sold
in packs of 10 and the packaging for 10 units costs $22. Fixed production costs are $60,000 per annum and
selling, distribution and administration costs are $24,000 per annum. The company makes 15,000 units of
the product each year.

3.10 What is the prime cost of the product?


A $55.80
B $58.00
C $62.00
D $77.80 (2 marks)

3.11 What is the production cost of the product?


A $55.80
B $58.00
C $62.00
D $77.80 (2 marks)

3.12 What is the total cost of the product?


A $62.00
B $63.60
C $81.80
D $83.40 (2 marks)

3.13 Which of the following costs would not be included as part of the prime cost of a product?
A Hire charge for specialised machine required for product
B Rent and rates for factory
C Material input for product
D Direct labour cost of product (2 marks)

17
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

3.14 Which costs would not be included as a product cost in marginal costing?
A Direct materials costs
B Direct labour costs
C Variable production costs
D Fixed production costs (2 marks)

3.15 Which of the following statements, relating to absorption and marginal costing, are TRUE?
1 As inventory levels rise marginal costing profit will be higher than absorption costing profit.
2 Fixed production costs are treated as period costs under marginal costing.
A Both statements are incorrect
B Both statements are correct
C Statement 1 is correct but statement 2 is incorrect
D Statement 2 is correct but statement 1 is incorrect (2 marks)

Data for questions 3.16 and 3.17


A manufacturing company makes one product which uses 2 kg of raw material per unit of product, at a cost of
$3.80 per kg. Each unit of the product requires 2.5 hours of labour, which is paid at $7.80 per hour. The
company incurs fixed production costs of $6,000 per month, and the factory produces 2,000 units of the
product each month. There is no inventory of the product at 1 June 20X3 but only 1,600 units of the product
were sold in June.

3.16 What is the closing inventory valuation at 30 June 20X3 under absorption costing?
A $10,840
B $12,040
C $12,340
D $48,160 (2 marks)

3.17 What is the closing inventory valuation at 30 June 20X3 under marginal costing?
A $10,840
B $12,040
C $43,360
D $54,200 (2 marks)

3.18 Which of the following would be classed as indirect labour?


A A coach driver in a transport company
B Machine operators in a milk bottling plant
C A maintenance assistant in a factory maintenance department
D Plumbers in a construction company (2 marks)

3.19 A production worker is paid a salary of $650 per month, plus an extra 5 cents for each unit produced
during the month.
This labour cost is best described as which of the following?
A A variable cost
B A fixed cost
C A step cost
D A semi-variable cost (2 marks)

18
QUESTIONS

3.20 Which of the following would be an appropriate cost unit for a manufacturing company?
(i) 1 unit of product
(ii) 1 batch of product consisting of 1,000 units
(iii) The finance department
(iv) A member of the sales team

A (i) and (iv)


B (i), (ii), and (iv)
C (iii) and (iv)
D (i) and (ii) (2 marks)

3.21 Which of the following would not be a cost unit for a hotel?
A Guest per night
B Person employed in the hotel spa
C Meal served in hotel restaurant
D Bed occupied per night (2 marks)

(Total = 42 marks)

19
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

4 Management responsibility and performance measurement 40 mins


4.1 Which is the best description of responsibility accounting?
A Employees will be held responsible for all decisions they make
B Managers delegate responsibility for performance to employees
C Directors delegate responsibility for performance to managers
D Managers bear responsibility for the revenues and costs of their area of the business
(2 marks)

4.2 A manager has responsibility for both costs incurred and revenues earned by his area of the business.
This means that the manager is responsible for which of the following?
A A cost centre
B A revenue centre
C A profit centre
D An investment centre (2 marks)

4.3 A manager in a division has his performance measured on the basis of the amount of profit the division
makes in relation to the capital employed in the division.
Which of the following is the manager responsible for?
A A cost centre
B A revenue centre
C A profit centre
D An investment centre (2 marks)

4.4 In May a manufacturing company produced 150,200 units of its single product, in June 183,300 units
were produced and in July production was 190,400 units. The manufacturing costs incurred in May
were $51,068 in June were $67,821 and in July were $74,321.
What was the increase (in cents) in cost per unit from May to June?
A 3c increase
B 5c increase
C 51c increase
D 58c increase (2 marks)

4.5 If sales are $25,500, and cost of sales are $21,250, what is the gross profit percentage?
A 16.67%
B 20.00%
C 83.33%
D 120.00% (2 marks)

4.6 A business operates on a gross profit margin of 331/3%. Gross profit on a sale was $800, and expenses
were $680.
What is the net profit percentage?
A 3.75%
B 5%
C 11.25%
D 22.67% (2 marks)

20
QUESTIONS

4.7 A business has credit sales of $150,000 and cash sales of $50,000. The production costs are
$120,000 with selling costs of $35,000 and administration costs of $25,000.
What is the gross profit margin (to the nearest one decimal place)?
A 10.0%
B 20.0%
C 22.5%
D 40.0% (2 marks)

4.8 A business has credit sales of $150,000 and cash sales of $50,000. The production costs are
$120,000 with selling costs of $35,000 and administration costs of $25,000.
What is the operating profit margin (to the nearest one decimal place)?
A 10.0%
B 20.0%
C 22.5%
D 40.0% (2 marks)

4.9 You are given the following information about a business.


Gross profit margin 30%
Gross profit $240,000
Operating expenses $106,000
What is the operating profit margin (to two decimal places)?
A 14.72%
B 16.75%
C 33.97%
D 55.83% (2 marks)

4.10 A manufacturer makes three very different products, the X, Y and Z. The standard time allowed for each
unit of each product is as follows.
X 1 hour
Y 1.5 hours
Z 1.75 hours
During April the following units were produced:
800 units of Y, 1,400 units of Z and 2,000 units of X.
What are the standard hours of output for April?
A 4,200 standard hours
B 6,400 standard hours
C 5,500 standard hours
D 5,650 standard hours (2 marks)

4.11 What are the three main labour control ratios?


A Efficiency, capacity utilisation, production volume
B Rate, efficiency, capacity
C Rate, idle time, production volume
D Capacity, idle time, efficiency (2 marks)

21
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

4.12 During quarter 2 a manufacturing business had budgeted for 12,000 labour hours to be worked. The
actual hours worked were 11,400 and the standard hours of production were 10,800.
What is the labour efficiency ratio (to one decimal place)?
A 90.0%
B 94.7%
C 95.0%
D 105.6% (2 marks)

Data for questions 4.13 and 4.14


During quarter 2, a manufacturing business had budgeted for 12,000 labour hours to be worked. The actual
hours worked were 11,400 and the standard hours of production were 10,800.

4.13 What is the labour capacity utilisation ratio (to one decimal place)?
A 90.0%
B 94.7%
C 95.0%
D 105.6% (2 marks)

4.14 What is the labour production volume ratio (to one decimal place)?
A 90.0%
B 94.7%
C 95.0%
D 105.6% (2 marks)

4.15 Which of the following is the best description of residual income?


A Profits after interest and tax but before depreciation
B Profit before interest, tax and depreciation
C Profit before tax less a notional interest charge
D Profit after tax, interest and depreciation (2 marks)

4.16 An investment centre has non-current assets with a value of $300,000 and net current assets totalling
$40,000 as at 31 December 20X3. It made a profit before tax of $40,000 and the tax charge for the
year was $10,000.
What is the return on investment for the investment centre for the year (to one decimal place)?
A 8.8%
B 11.5%
C 11.8%
D 15.4% (2 marks)

4.17 For which of the following would an information system use cost centres, rather than revenue centres, in
order to provide useful information?
A A manager of a shop in a retail chain
B One of three departmental managers for a trading company
C The personnel manager of a manufacturing company
D The manager of a company’s service division providing after sales service
(2 marks)

(Total = 34 marks)

22
QUESTIONS

Do you know? – Source documents and coding

Check that you can fill in the blanks in the statements below before you attempt any questions. If in doubt,
you should go back to your BPP Interactive Text and revise first.
 When goods are required by a business the person requiring the goods must normally complete a
………………………… form which must be authorised by an appropriate manager.
 The supplier will then provide a quotation and the purchasing department will then send a
………………….. to the supplier.
 The goods sent will usually be accompanied by a ………. note and when the business receives the
goods, a ………………………. note will be completed. The supplier will later send a …………..
………… to the supplier detailing the amounts due.
 The physical quantity of inventory is often recorded on a …… card in the stores department. A similar
document known as the …………………………. will be kept by the accounts department.
 Materials issued to production must be classified as either …….. or ……….. materials.
 Hours worked are often recorded on ………………., …………… or time sheets.
 ………….. helps to sort data for analysis, as well as helping to reduce data storage requirements.
 Coding systems can be sequential, block, ………, ………….. or …………. .
 Sales invoices should be coded …… of sales tax and any trade discounts.
TRY QUESTIONS 5.1 TO 5.25
 Possible pitfalls. Write down examples of mistakes you should avoid.

23
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Did you know? – Source documents and coding

Could you fill in the blanks? The answers are in bold. Use this page for revision purposes as you approach
the exam.
 When goods are required by a business the person requiring the goods must normally complete a
purchase requisition form which must be authorised by an appropriate manager.
 The supplier will then provide a quotation and the purchasing department will then send a purchase
order to the supplier.
 The goods sent will usually be accompanied by a delivery note and when the business receives the
goods, a goods received note will be completed. The supplier will later send a purchase invoice to the
supplier detailing the amounts due.
 The physical quantity of inventory is often recorded on a bin card in the stores department. A similar
document known as the stores ledger account will be kept by the accounts department.
 Materials issued to production must be classified as either direct or indirect materials.
 Hours worked are often recorded on clock cards, job cards or time sheets.
 Coding helps to sort data for analysis, as well as helping to reduce data storage requirements.
 Coding systems can be sequential, block, faceted, mnemonic or hierarchical.
 Sales invoices should be coded net of sales tax and any trade discounts.
TRY QUESTIONS 5.1 TO 5.25
 Possible pitfalls.
– Not understanding the importance of correct coding
– Not being able to describe the material control cycle
– Not understanding the purpose of source documents
– Not knowing the order of documents in the materials ordering process

24
QUESTIONS

5 Source documents and coding 60 mins


5.1 The non-current assets of a business are coded within the numerical range of 3000 to 3055. The third
digit in the code represents the type of non-current asset as follows.
1 Land and buildings
2 Plant and machinery
3 Motor vehicles
4 Office equipment and fittings
5 Intangible assets
The final digit in the code represents the department of the organisation where the non-current asset is
used as follows.
1 Factory
2 Stores
3 Warehouse
4 Accounts
5 General administration
What would be the code given to the purchase of a new desk for the chief accountant?
A 3045
B 3054
C 3044
D 3055 (2 marks)

5.2 Which of the following documents in the purchases cycle would be generated by the supplier?
A Purchase order
B Credit note
C Purchase requisition
D Goods received note (2 marks)

5.3 Which of the following documents in the purchases cycle would be generated by the purchaser?
A Delivery note
B Invoice
C Purchase requisition
D Credit note (2 marks)

5.4 Which of the following would not appear as an addition or deduction on the face of a purchase invoice
received from a supplier?
A Cash discount
B Trade discount
C Net cost of goods
D Sales tax (2 marks)

5.5 Which of the following is the correct sequential flow of documents in the purchase of goods on credit?
A Purchase order, purchase requisition, goods received note, delivery note, invoice
B Purchase requisition, purchase order, goods received note, delivery note, invoice
C Purchase requisition, purchase order, delivery note, goods received note, invoice
D Purchase order, purchase requisition, invoice, delivery note, goods received note
(2 marks)

5.6 When a purchase invoice is received from a supplier which documents should it be checked to?
A Purchase requisition and delivery note
B Purchase order and goods received note
C Advice note and delivery note
D Purchase requisition and goods received note (2 marks)

25
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

5.7 Which member of staff is most likely to raise a materials requisition?


A Stores manager
B Cost accountant
C Purchasing manager
D Production manager (2 marks)

5.8 Which member of staff is most likely to raise a goods received note?
A Delivery driver
B Finance director
C Sales ledger clerk
D Warehouse clerk (2 marks)

The following information relates to questions 5.9 and 5.10


The overhead expenses of a company are coded using a five digit coding system, an extract from which is as
follows:
Cost centre Code no Types of expense Code no
Machining 10 Indirect materials 410
Finishing 11 Depreciation of production machinery 420
Packing 12 Indirect wages 430
Stores 13 Maintenance materials 440
Maintenance 14 Machine hire costs 450
Depreciation of non-production equipment 460
The coding for the hire costs of a packing machine is 12450

5.9 What is the coding for the depreciation of maintenance equipment?


A 10460
B 14420
C 14440
D 14460 (2 marks)

5.10 What is the coding for the issue of indirect materials issued from stores to the machining department?
A 10410
B 10440
C 13410
D 13440 (2 marks)

5.11 When ABC Co returns goods to DEF Co (a credit supplier), which of the following documents should
ABC expect to receive?
A Invoice
B Credit note
C Receipt
D Remittance advice (2 marks)

26
QUESTIONS

The following information relates to questions 5.12 and 5.13


Wilmshurst (a furniture company) makes its sales through three outlets: Dopham, Nutley and Jenson and uses
the following system of coding:
First two digits 01 represents a COST CENTRE
02 represents a PROFIT CENTRE
Second two digits Dopham profit centre 10
Nutley profit centre 11
Jenson profit centre 12
Third two digits This depends upon the type of sale
– 1.5m dining table 11
– 1.75m dining table 12
– round coffee table 13
– square coffee table 14
– dining chair 15
– 2-drawer chest 16
– 3-drawer chest 17
– 1.5m wardrobe 18
– 1.75m wardrobe 19

5.12 Which of the following codes should be used for dining chairs sold from Dopham?
A 011011
B 011015
C 021012
D 021015 (2 marks)

5.13 Which of the following codes should be used for a 1.5m dining table sold from Nutley?
A 021112
B 021111
C 011111
D 011112 (2 marks)

5.14 A company uses the following coding system.


000062 Salaries
000063 Postage
000064 Stationery
Which type of coding system is this?
A Block
B Mnemonic
C Sequential
D Hierarchical (2 marks)

27
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

5.15 A company uses the following coding system. (X indicates another digit in the code)
4XXXXX Copper
5XXXXX Steel
6XXXXX Labour
Which type of coding system is this?
A Hierarchical
B Sequential
C Block
D Mnemonic (2 marks)

5.16 A company uses the following coding system.


3 = Wood
32 = Hard wood
31 = Soft wood
322 = Oak hard wood
Which type of coding system is this?
A Sequential
B Hierarchical
C Mnemonic
D Block (2 marks)

5.17 Which document is sent to a supplier following the receipt of a quotation?


A Purchase order
B Goods received note
C Purchase requisition
D Delivery note (2 marks)

5.18 Which document may be sent with products delivered to a customer?


A Goods received note
B Delivery note
C Receipt
D Quotation (2 marks)

5.19 A company has 7,500 kgs of a raw material in inventory. 1,250 kgs has been committed for future use
and a further 3,000 kgs have been ordered.
What is the free inventory?
A 7,500 kgs
B 10,500 kgs
C 5,750 kgs
D 9,250 kgs (2 marks)

5.20 Which of the following is a materials requisition not used for?


A Updating the bin card in stores
B Charging the job, overhead or department that is using the materials
C Recording employee time
D Updating the stores ledger account in the costing department (2 marks)

5.21 Which of the following is not a use for a jobcard?


A Ensuring that time recorded is accurate
B Agreeing a labour rate
C Assisting the coding of employee time
D Authorisation of overtime payments (2 marks)

28
QUESTIONS

5.22 Which of the following defines free inventory?


A Inventory on hand + inventory on order – inventory scheduled for use
B Inventory on hand – inventory on order – inventory scheduled for use
C Inventory on hand + inventory on order + inventory scheduled for use
D Inventory on hand – inventory on order + inventory scheduled for use (2 marks)

5.23 Which of the following statements are TRUE?


1 A bin card records the quantity of inventory on hand whereas a store ledger account records the
monetary value as well as the quantity of the inventory on hand.
2 A perpetual inventory system is one where each receipt or issue of material is recorded as it takes
place.
A Both statements are correct
B Both statements are incorrect
C Statement 1 is correct but statement 2 is incorrect
D Statement 1 is incorrect but statement 2 is correct (2 marks)

5.24 Which of the following documents is not part of the purchasing system?
A Purchase requisition
B Goods received note
C Delivery note
D Purchase invoice (2 marks)

5.25 Which of the following is not a purpose of a timesheet?


A Provide management with information for analysis
B To use as a record of hours spent
C To be used as a basis for billing for services
D Authorising holiday time (2 marks)

(Total = 50 marks)

29
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

30
QUESTIONS

Do you know? – Materials, labour costs and overhead costs

Check that you can fill in the blanks in the statements below before you attempt any questions. If in doubt,
you should go back to your BPP Interactive Text and revise first.
 The re are four different methods of valuing inventory: FIFO, ……, cumulative ……….. ……… and
……….. ……………. ………… .
 In a period of rising prices, inventory will be valued higher under ……. rather than ……. .
 Where employees are paid according to the number of units of good production, this is known as a
……………….. system.
 Employers must deduct the following from gross pay before paying net pay to employees.
………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………..
 Overheads are made up of the following.
…………………..
…………………..
…………………..
 The first stage of absorption costing is the ………………… of specific overheads to specific cost centres
– then joint overheads are …………… to each cost centre on an appropriate basis. The overheads of the
………. cost centres must then be reapportioned to the production cost centres on an appropriate basis.
 Once all of the overheads have been apportioned to the production cost centres a(n) ……………
…………………… is determined normally based upon direct labour hours or machine hours.
TRY QUESTIONS 6.1 TO 7.15
 Possible pitfalls. Write down examples of mistakes you should avoid.

31
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Did you know? – Materials, labour costs and overhead costs

Could you fill in the blanks? The answers are in bold. Use this page for revision purposes as you approach
the exam.
 The re are four different methods of valuing inventory: FIFO, LIFO, cumulative weighted average and
periodic weighted average.
 In a period of rising prices, inventory will be valued higher under FIFO rather than LIFO.
 Where employees are paid according to the number of units of good production, this is known as a
piecework system.
 Employers must deduct the following from gross pay before paying net pay to employees.
– Income tax
– Employee's benefit contributions
 Overheads are made up of the following.
– Indirect materials
– Indirect labour
– Indirect expenses
 The first stage of absorption costing is the allocation of specific overheads to specific cost centres – then
joint overheads are apportioned to each cost centre on an appropriate basis. The overheads of the
service cost centres must then be reapportioned to the production cost centres on an appropriate basis.
 Once all of the overheads have been apportioned to the production cost centres a(n) overhead
absorption rate is determined normally based upon direct labour hours or machine hours.

TRY QUESTIONS 6.1 TO 7.15


 Possible pitfalls.
– Not being able to analyse gross earnings
– Not being able to apportion and absorb indirect costs
– Not being able to calculate net pay from gross figures
– Not knowing the bookkeeping for over or under-absorbed overheads

32
QUESTIONS

6 Materials and labour costs 68 mins


6.1 A business buys and sells a finished product. At 1 March 20X3 there are 120 units of this product in
inventory. The estimated sales over the next three months of this product are:
March 500 units
April 600 units
May 540 units
The stores manager wishes there to be 150 units in inventory at the end of May.
How many units of this product should be ordered now?
A 1,370 units
B 1,610 units
C 1,640 units
D 1,670 units (2 marks)

6.2 During week 14 a manufacturing business issued $19,600 of direct materials to the factory and $3,200
of indirect materials.
What is the double entry for these issues of materials?
A Debit Materials control $22,800
Credit Work in progress $19,600
Credit Production overhead control $3,200
B Debit Work in progress $19,600
Debit Production overhead control $3,200
Credit Materials control $22,800
C Debit Work in progress $3,200
Debit Production overhead control $19,600
Credit Materials control $22,800
D Debit Materials control $22,800
Credit Work in progress $3,200
Credit Production overhead control $19,600 (2 marks)

6.3 An employee is paid on a piecework basis as follows.


Up to 100 units per week $2.40 per unit
101 to 120 units per week $2.70 per unit
121 units or more per week $3.00 per unit
Only the additional units qualify for the higher rate and rejected units do not qualify for payment.
In a week when the employee produced 133 units of which 11 were rejected what would be the
employee's gross pay for the week?
A $297
B $300
C $333
D $366 (2 marks)

6.4 A manufacturing organisation has 24 employees who are paid a basic hourly rate of $6.00 for a
standard 38 hour week with any overtime hours being paid at a rate of time and a half. In a typical
week the employees all work 4 hours of overtime and produce a total 2,500 units of the organisation's
product.
What is the total unit labour cost for the product?
A $2.19
B $2.30
C $2.42
D $2.53 (2 marks)

33
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

6.5 A manufacturing organisation operates a piecework system of wage payment whereby each employee is
paid $7.40 per unit for the first 25 units produced in a week and $8.20 per unit for any units in excess
of this amount. There are 33 employees and it is expected that each will produce 29 units per week.
What is the total unit labour cost?
A $6.60
B $7.40
C $7.51
D $8.20 (2 marks)

6.6 A manufacturing organisation employs 100 factory workers who are all paid at an hourly rate of $7.00
for a 38 hour week. Any overtime hours are paid at time and a half. On average each unit of the product
the factory makes takes 4 hours and in an average week each employee works 4 hours of overtime.
The management has recently installed new machinery which it is estimated should reduce the time
taken to produce one unit of the product to 3.5 hours. The employees will continue to work the same
amount of overtime.
What will be the increase in the number of units made each week now the machinery has been
installed?
A 35 units
B 135 units
C 150 units
D 250 units (2 marks)

Data for questions 7 and 8


An employee is paid an hourly rate of $6.80 for a 40 hour week with overtime paid at a rate of time and a half.
In one week the employee worked for 45 hours.
The income tax to be deducted for the week is $58, the employees' benefit contribution is $31 and the
employer's benefit contribution is $34.

6.7 What is the employee's net pay for the week?


A $183
B $200
C $234
D $323 (2 marks)

6.8 What is the wages cost to the employer for this employee's work for the week?
A $268
B $306
C $323
D $357 (2 marks)

Data for questions 9 and 10


These are all elements of payroll costs.
1 Gross pay
2 PAYE (income tax)
3 Employer's benefit contributions
4 Employee's benefit contributions

34
QUESTIONS

6.9 Which of the above affect the employee's net pay?


A 1, 2 and 4 only
B 1, 2 and 3 only
C 1 and 2 only
D 1, 2, 3 and 4 (2 marks)

6.10 Which of the above costs are costs to the employer?


A 1 and 3 only
B 1 and 4 only
C 2, 3 and 4 only
D 1, 2, 3 and 4 (2 marks)

6.11 A business sells a product called the Bozo and each unit of Bozo requires 4.5kg of material Alif.
Inventory of material Alif are 1,100kg at the start of August and the following production is planned for
the next three months.
August September October
Production in units of Bozos 1,200 900 1,700
The stores manager is about to place an order for material Alif and he requires there to be enough
inventory at the end of October of material Alif in order to produce 200 Bozos. What is the size of the
order he must place in order to ensure that there is enough material Alif for the three months of the
production and for the closing inventory requirements?
A 16,900kg
B 17,100kg
C 16,000kg
D 17,300kg (2 marks)

6.12 During the month of September 20X3 the following labour hours were worked.
Direct production workers – 2,300 basic hours plus 500 hours of overtime.
Indirect workers – 640 hours including 120 hours of overtime.
The direct workers are paid a basic rate of $7.20 per hour and the indirect workers $6.20 per hour.
Overtime hours are paid at time and a half. The overtime premium for direct labour is classed as an
indirect cost. Of the hours paid to the direct production workers 100 of these were idle time hours.
What is the direct labour cost for the month?
A $16,560
B $16,740
C $19,440
D $20,160 (2 marks)

6.13 During the month of June the following labour hours were worked.
Direct production workers – 1,700 basic hours plus 250 hours of overtime
Indirect workers – 760 hours including 90 hours of overtime
The direct workers are paid a basic rate of $8.00 per hour and the indirect workers $7.60 per hour.
Overtime hours are paid at time and a half. The overtime premium for direct labour is classed as an
indirect cost. Of the hours paid to the direct production workers 80 of these were idle time hours.
What is the indirect labour cost for the month?
A $5,092
B $6,118
C $7,118
D $7,758 (2 marks)

35
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

6.14 At the end of week 23 a business made a payment for wages. Of the gross amount of $23,700, $3,700
was for indirect wages and the remainder was for direct workers' wages.
What is the double entry for the labour costs for the week?
A Debit Wages control $23,700
Credit Work in progress $20,000
Credit Production overhead $3,700
B Debit Wages control $23,700
Credit Work in progress $3,700
Credit Production overhead $20,000
C Debit Work in progress $20,000
Debit Production overhead $3,700
Credit Wages control $23,700
D Debit Work in progress $3,700
Debit Production overhead $20,000
Credit Wages control $23,700 (2 marks)

6.15 During the month of July 20X3 the gross pay of the direct production workers in a manufacturing
business was $32,000 with deductions for PAYE (income tax) and benefit contribution of $10,600.
Three quarters of the wages bill is for direct production workers.
What is the amount to be debited to the work in progress account?
A $5,350
B $8,000
C $16,050
D $24,000 (2 marks)

Data for questions 16 and 17


In week 23 the direct production workers of an organisation worked for 740 hours including 110 hours of
overtime. The indirect workers worked for 200 hours which included 40 hours of overtime. Included in the
direct workers' hours were 50 hours of idle time. The direct production workers have a basic rate of $8.40 per
hour and the indirect workers have a basic rate of $6 per hour. All overtime is paid at time plus one third.
Overtime premiums are treated as indirect costs.

6.16 What is the amount to be debited to the work in progress account?


A $2,008
B $5,796
C $6,216
D $6,524 (2 marks)

6.17 What is the amount to be debited to the production overhead control account?
A $1,280
B $1,588
C $2,008
D $5,796 (2 marks)

36
QUESTIONS

6.18 A company operates an integrated accounting system.


What would the accounting entries for the return of unused direct material from production be?
Debit Credit
A Work in progress account Stores control account
B Stores control account Work in progress account
C Stores control account Overhead control account
D Finished goods inventory account Work in progress account
(2 marks)

6.19 A company operates an integrated accounting system.


What would the accounting entries for the issue to production of indirect materials from inventory be?
Debit Credit
A Work in progress account Stores control account
B Stores control account Overhead control account
C Overhead control account Stores control account
D Cost of sales account Stores control account
(2 marks)

6.20 In a period of continual price inflation for material purchases, which of the following statements is true?
A The LIFO method will produce lower profits than the FIFO method, and lower closing inventory
values
B The LIFO method will produce lower profits than the FIFO method, and higher closing inventory values
C The FIFO method will produce lower profits than the LIFO method, and lower closing inventory
values
D The FIFO method will produce lower profits than the LIFO method, and higher closing inventory values
(2 marks)

6.21 A firm has a high level of inventory turnover and uses the FIFO (First In First Out) issue pricing system.
In a period of rising purchase prices, the closing inventory valuation is which of the following?
A Close to current purchase prices
B Based on the prices of the first items received
C Much lower than current purchase price
D The average of all goods purchased in the period (2 marks)

The following information relates to questions 22 and 23


G Co makes the following purchases and sales.
1 January Purchases 4,000 units for $10,000
31 January Purchases 1,000 units for $2,000
15 February Sales 3,000 units for $13,000
28 February Purchases 1,500 units for $3,750
14 March Sales 500 units for $1,200

6.22 At 31 March which of the following closing inventory valuations using FIFO is correct?
A $8,000
B $7,500
C $7,000
D $6,500 (2 marks)

37
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

6.23 At 31 March which of the following closing inventory valuations using LIFO is correct?
A $6,500
B $7,000
C $7,500
D $8,000 (2 marks)

6.24 The data relating to a specific inventory item for the month of June is as follows
Inventory item 2362 X
Receipts
price per unit
Date Units Value Units
$ $
1 June Opening inventory 100 5.00 500
3 June Receipts 300 4.80 1,440
5 June Issues 220
12 June Receipts 170 5.20 884
24 June Issues 300
Using the cumulative weighted average price method of inventory valuation, what is the cost of the
materials issued on 5 June?
A $1,056
B $1,067
C $1,078
D $1,100 (2 marks)

6.25 A wholesaler had opening inventory of 300 units of product Emm valued at $5 per unit at the beginning
of January. The following receipts and issues were recorded during January.
Receipts
price per unit
Date Units Value Units
$ $
2 Jan Receipts 250 4.80 1,200
12 Jan Issues 400
21 Jan Receipts 200 5.20 1,040
29 Jan Receipts 80 4.90 392
Using the periodic weighted average method of valuation, what is the value of closing inventory at the
end of January? (to the nearest $)
A $646
B $2,141
C $2,152
D $2,168 (2 marks)

38
QUESTIONS

6.26 A business makes one product only. The following data relates to the total labour cost of making 500
units in a one week period.
Number of employees Number of hours Rate per hour Total cost
per employee $ $
Basic wage 12 35 5.00 2,100
Overtime 12 5 7.50 450
Total labour cost 2,550

Management are thinking of changing the remuneration method to a piecework system where employees
are paid $4.10 per unit for each unit they produce for the first 40 units and $4.70 per unit for any units
produced over and above 40. Employees are expected to produce 45 units per week under this system.
What is the change in unit labour cost from the current system to the proposed piecework system?
A $4.17 increase
B $0.93 decrease
C $4.17 decrease
D $492 decrease (2 marks)

6.27 Employees in a factory are paid at a basic hourly rate of $5.50 for a 35 hour week. Overtime is paid at
a rate of $7.50 per hour. It takes one employee 3 hours to produce one unit of the sole product. On
average employees work 4 hours of overtime in a week.
Management are considering automating part of the production process which will reduce unit
production time by 30 minutes. It is expected that overtime will not be needed under this system.
What would be the effect of the new system on the per unit labour cost?
A $3.37 increase
B $2.31 decrease
C $3.37 decrease
D $2.31 increase (2 marks)

6.28 A business currently uses a piecework scheme to pay its direct labour. Employees are paid $3.50 per
unit for the first 50 units and $4.00 per unit for every unit above 50 produced in a week.
On average an employee produces 60 units in a 38 hour working week.
Management are considering changing to a per hour labour remuneration scheme, where employees
would be paid a basic wage of $5.00 per hour for a 36 hour working week with overtime paid at a
premium above basic wage of $2.40. There is not expected to be a change in the level of productivity.
What is the change in unit labour cost from the piecework system to the proposed hourly rate system?
A $0.41 increase
B $0.33 decrease
C $0.41 decrease
D $0.50 decrease (2 marks)

6.29 Which of the following are indirect costs?


(i) The depreciation of maintenance equipment.
(ii) The overtime premium incurred at the specific request of a customer.
(iii) The hire of a tool for a specific job.
A Item (i) only
B Items (i) and (ii) only
C Items (ii) and (iii) only
D All of them (2 marks)

(Total = 58 marks)

39
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

7 Overhead costs 35 mins


7.1 A company operates an integrated accounting system.
What would be the accounting entries for manufacturing overhead over absorbed?
Debit Credit
A Overhead control account Income statement
B Income statement Overhead control account
C Work in progress account Overhead control account
D Overhead control account Work in progress account
(2 marks)

7.2 A manufacturing company uses an integrated accounting system. The production overhead absorption
rate is $3 per direct labour hour. Production overhead incurred last period was $85,000 and 27,000
direct labour hours were worked.
What would be the accounting entry to record the under or over absorption of production overhead for
the period?
Debit Credit
A Income statement $4,000 Overhead control account $4,000
B Overhead control account $4,000 Income statement $4,000
C Work in progress account $4,000 Overhead control account $4,000
D Overhead control account $4,000 Work in progress account $4,000
(2 marks)

7.3 There are two production cost centres and two service cost centres in a factory. Production overheads
have been allocated and apportioned to cost centres and now require re-apportionment from service cost
centres to production cost centres. Relevant details are:
Service cost Service cost
Centre A Centre B
Total overhead $42,000 $57,600
% to Production Cost Centre X 40 55
% to Production Cost Centre Y 60 45
What is the total re-apportionment to Production Cost Centre Y?
A $42,720
B $48,480
C $51,120
D $56,880 (2 marks)

7.4 What is the term that is used to describe the process of charging an entire expense to a single cost
centre?
A Allocation
B Apportionment
C Absorption
D Re-apportionment (2 marks)

7.5 What is the term used to describe the process of sharing an expense amongst a number of cost centres?
A Allocation
B Apportionment
C Absorption
D Re-apportionment (2 marks)

40
QUESTIONS

7.6 A factory has two production cost centres, assembly and finishing, as well as two service cost centres,
maintenance and stores. The rent and rates for the next period is anticipated to be $40,000. The floor
area occupied by each of the cost centres is:
Assembly 2,000 m2
Finishing 1,400 m2
Stores 1,000 m2
Maintenance 600 m2
What amount should be apportioned to the stores cost centre for rent and rates?
A Nil
B $8,000
C $11,200
D $16,000 (2 marks)

7.7 In a factory the stores cost centre overheads are to be reapportioned to the three production cost
centres.
What is the most appropriate basis for reapportionment?
A Number of employees
B Value of machinery
C Number of materials requisitions
D Machine hours (2 marks)

7.8 A factory has two production cost centres, assembly and finishing, as well as two service cost centres,
maintenance and stores. After the allocation and apportionment of overheads the following totals have
been established:
Assembly Finishing Maintenance Stores
$ $ $ $
Allocated and apportioned overheads 52,400 41,300 18,590 15,200
The maintenance department is estimated to spend 400 hours in the assembly cost centre and 250
hours in the finishing cost centre. The assembly cost centre will make 140 materials requisitions during
the next period but the finishing cost centre will only make 60 materials requisitions.
What is the total production overhead for the assembly department?
A $22,080
B $52,400
C $53,010
D $74,480 (2 marks)

Data for questions 9 and 10


You are given the following budgeted details about the two production cost centres of a business.
Manufacturing Finishing
Overheads $245,600 $185,400
Labour hours 38,000 88,000
Machine hours 80,000 20,000
The manufacturing cost centre is a largely machine based department whereas the finishing cost centre is very
much labour based.

7.9 What is the overhead absorption rate in the manufacturing cost centre per machine hour (to the nearest
cent)?
A $2.11
B $3.07
C $6.46
D $9.27 (2 marks)

41
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

7.10 What is the overhead absorption rate per labour hour in the finishing cost centre (to the nearest cent)?
A $2.11
B $3.07
C $6.46
D $9.27 (2 marks)

7.11 One of the products that a factory makes spends 3 machine hours in the assembly department and 2
labour hours in the packaging department. The overhead absorption rates for each department are as
follows.
Assembly $2.66 per machine hour
Packaging $1.75 per labour hour
What is the total amount of overhead to be absorbed into the cost of the product?
A $4.41
B $8.82
C $10.57
D $11.48 (2 marks)

7.12 A factory produces a product called the ZZ which has direct materials costs per unit of $4.20 and a
direct labour cost per unit of $4.65. Each unit of the ZZ spends half an hour in the assembly
department and quarter of an hour being packaged. The overhead absorption rates are $4.80 per hour
in the assembly department and $3.60 per hour in the packaging department.
What is the total production cost of one unit of the ZZ?
A $3.30
B $8.40
C $8.85
D $12.15 (2 marks)

7.13 Consider the following statements.


1 All expenses are overheads
2 Service cost centre overheads should be apportioned to production cost centres
Which of the following is correct with regard to the above statements?
A Both are correct
B Both are incorrect
C Statement 1 is correct but statement 2 is incorrect
D Statement 1 is incorrect but statement 2 is correct (2 marks)

7.14 A business has two production departments, manufacturing and finishing. Details of the overhead
absorption rates used in these two departments are as follows:
Manufacturing overhead absorption rate = $1.47 per machine hour
Finishing overhead absorption rate = $3.04 per labour hour
One product, the Gant, has the following details.
Manufacturing Finishing
Labour hours per unit 4 2
Machine hours per unit 6 1
How much total overhead would be included in the cost of one unit of the Gant (to the nearest cent)?
A $11.76
B $11.90
C $11.96
D $14.90 (2 marks)

42
QUESTIONS

7.15 A factory has two production departments, assembly and packaging. Details of the departments are
given below.
Assembly Packaging
Budgeted overhead $104,300 $64,500
Budgeted machine hours 50,000 10,000
Budgeted labour hours 25,000 30,000
Overheads are absorbed on the machine hour basis in the assembly department and on the labour hour
basis in the packaging department.
What are the budgeted overhead absorption rates per relevant hour?
Assembly Packaging
A $4.17 $6.45
B $4.17 $2.15
C $2.09 $6.45
D $2.09 $2.15
(2 marks)

(Total = 30 marks)

43
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

44
QUESTIONS

Do you know? – Job, batch and process costing

Check that you can fill in the blanks in the statements below before you attempt any questions. If in doubt,
you should go back to your BPP Interactive Text and revise first.
 Job costing is the costing method used where each cost unit is separately identifiable. Costs for each job
are collected on a ……………………... or …………. Overhead is absorbed into the cost of jobs using
the …………………………………………….. rate.
 The usual method of fixing prices within a jobbing concern is ……………………..
 Batch costing is similar to job costing in that each batch of similar articles is separately identifiable. The
cost per unit manufactured in a batch is calculated by dividing the ……………………………….. by the
……………………………. in the batch.
 Process costing is a costing method used where it is not possible to identify separate units of production
usually because of the continuous nature of the production processes involved.
 Three reasons why losses occur include the following.
(1) .......................
(2) .......................
(3) .......................
 ................... loss is the loss expected during a process and it is not given a cost.
 When dealing with process costing questions, the following four-step approach should be used.

Step 1 .........................................................................................................

Step 2 .........................................................................................................

Step 3 .........................................................................................................

Step 4 .........................................................................................................

 When there is closing work in progress at the end of a period, it is necessary to calculate the
........................................ of production in order to determine the cost of a completed unit.
TRY QUESTIONS 8.1 to 8.24
 Possible pitfalls
Write down the mistakes you know you should avoid.

45
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Did you know? – Job, batch and process costing

Could you fill in the blanks? The answers are in bold. Use this page for revision purposes as you approach
the exam.
 Job costing is the costing method used where each cost unit is separately identifiable. Costs for each job
are collected on a job cost sheet or job card. Overhead is absorbed into the cost of jobs using the
predetermined overhead absorption rate.
 The usual method of fixing prices within a jobbing concern is cost plus pricing.
 Batch costing is similar to job costing in that each batch of similar articles is separately identifiable. The
cost per unit manufactured in a batch is calculated by dividing the total batch cost by the number of
units in the batch.
 Process costing is a costing method used where it is not possible to identify separate units of production
usually because of the continuous nature of the production processes involved.
 Three reasons why losses occur include the following.
(1) Wastage
(2) Spoilage
(3) Evaporation
 Normal loss is the loss expected during a process and it is not given a cost. If it has a scrap value then it
is valued at this amount.
 When dealing with process costing questions, the following four-step approach should be used.

Step 1 Determine output and losses

Step 2 Calculate cost per unit of output

Step 3 Calculate total cost of completed output and WIP (not required if no WIP)

Step 4 Complete accounts

 When there is closing work in progress at the end of a period, it is necessary to calculate the equivalent
units of production in order to determine the cost of a completed unit.
TRY QUESTIONS 8.1 to 8.24
 Possible pitfalls
– Not including all necessary costs when calculating a job or a batch price
– Forgetting that losses do not have a cost
– Not using the suggested four-step approach when answering process costing questions
– Not calculating the equivalent units correctly

46
QUESTIONS

8 Job, batch and process costing 58 mins


8.1 Which of the following statements is incorrect?
A Job costs are collected separately, whereas process costs are averages
B In job costing, the direct cost of a job can be ascertained from materials requisitions notes and
job cost cards or timesheets
C In process costing, information is needed about work passing through a process and work
remaining in each process
D In both process costing and job costing, the cost of normal loss will be incorporated into normal
product costs (2 marks)

8.2 Which of the following is a feature of job costing?


A Production is carried out in accordance with the wishes of the customer
B Associated with continuous production of large volumes of low-cost items
C Product costs are charged using the variable production costs only
D Costs are charged over the units produced in the period (2 marks)

8.3 Which of the following statements is/are correct?


(i) A materials requisition note is used to record the issue of direct material to a specific job.
(ii) A typical job cost will contain actual costs for material, labour and production overheads, and
non-production overheads are often added as a percentage of total production cost.
A (i) only
B Both (i) and (ii)
C (ii) only
D Neither statement is correct (2 marks)

8.4 The following information relates to job 2468, which is being carried out by AB Co to meet a customer's
order.
Department A Department B
Direct materials consumed $5,000 $3,000
Direct labour hours 400 hours 200 hours
Direct labour rate per hour $4 $5
Production overhead per direct labour hour $4 $4
Total administration and other overheads $2,600
What is the total cost of the job?
A $13,000
B $13,200
C $15,400
D $15,600 (2 marks)

47
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

The following information relates to questions 8.5 to 8.7


A firm makes special assemblies to customers' orders and uses job costing.
The data for a period are:
Job number Job number Job number
AA10 BB15 CC20
$ $ $
Opening WIP 26,800 42,790 0
Material added in period 17,275 0 18,500
Labour for period 14,500 3,500 24,600
The budgeted overheads for the period were $126,000 and should be absorbed based on labour hours. Details
of budgeted labour hours for each job, in this period, are as follows.
Budgeted labour hours
AA10 580
BB15 140
CC20 984

8.5 What overhead should be added to job number CC20 for the period (to the nearest $)?
A $42,887
B $10,352
C $72,761
D $126,000 (2 marks)

8.6 Job number BB15 was completed and delivered during the period.
What is the total cost of job number BB15?
A $13,852
B $46,290
C $56,642
D $119,051 (2 marks)

8.7 Job numbers AA10 and CC20 remained incomplete at the end of the period.
What was the value of closing work-in-progress at the end of the period of Job AA10?
A $58,575
B $79,687
C $101,462
D $86,962 (2 marks)

Data for questions 8.8 and 8.9


A firm uses job costing and recovers overheads on direct labour.
Three jobs were worked on during a period, the details of which are as follows.
Job 1 Job 2 Job 3
$ $ $
Opening work in progress 8,500 0 46,000
Material in period 17,150 29,025 0
Labour for period 12,500 23,000 4,500
The overheads for the period were exactly as budgeted, $140,000.

48
QUESTIONS

8.8 Jobs 1 and 2 were the only incomplete jobs at the end of the period.
What was the value of closing work in progress?
A $90,175
B $124,250
C $214,425
D $230,175 (2 marks)

8.9 Job 3 was completed during the period and consisted of 2,400 identical circuit boards.
What is the cost per unit of a circuit board?
A $8.44
B $21.04
C $27.60
D It cannot be calculated without more information (2 marks)

8.10 P Co manufactures ring binders which are embossed with the customer's own logo. A customer has
ordered a batch of 300 binders. The following data illustrate the cost for a typical batch of 100 binders.
$
Direct materials 30
Direct wages 10
Machine set up (Fixed batch cost) 3
Design and artwork (Fixed batch cost) 15
58
Direct employees are paid on a piecework basis.
P Co absorbs production and selling overheads at a rate of 20 per cent of direct wages cost.
What is the total cost for a batch of 300 binders? (to the nearest cent)
A $60.00
B $193.20
C $144.00
D $156.00 (2 marks)

8.11 A small management consultancy has prepared the following information.


Overhead absorption rate per consulting hour $12.50
Salary cost per consulting hour (senior) $20.00
Salary cost per consulting hour (junior) $15.00
Assignment number 652 took 86 hours of a senior consultant's time and 220 hours of junior time.
What is the total cost for assignment number 652?
A $5,020
B $8,845
C $9,515
D $28,215 (2 marks)

8.12 What is an equivalent unit?


A A unit of output which is identical to all others manufactured in the same process
B Notional whole units used to represent uncompleted work
C A unit of product in relation to which costs are ascertained
D The amount of work achievable, at standard efficiency levels, in an hour (2 marks)

49
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

8.13 Process B had no opening inventory. 13,500 units of raw material were transferred in at $4.50 per unit.
Additional material at $1.25 per unit was added in process. Labour and overheads were $6.25 per
completed unit and $2.50 per unit incomplete.
If 11,750 completed units were transferred out, what was the closing inventory value in Process B?
A $6,562.50
B $12,250.00
C $14,437.50
D $25,375.00 (2 marks)

8.14 A company manufactures Chemical X, in a single process. At the start of the month there was no work-
in-progress. During the month 300 litres of raw material were input into the process. At the end of the
month 250 litres of Chemical X were transferred to finished goods inventory. The remaining work-in-
progress was 100% complete with respect to materials and 50% complete with respect to conversion
costs. There were no losses in the process.
What were the equivalent units for closing work-in-progress at the end of the month?
Material Conversion costs
A 25 litres 25 litres
B 25 litres 50 litres
C 50 litres 25 litres
D 50 litres 50 litres
(2 marks)

8.15 A company produces a certain food item in a manufacturing process. On 1 November, there was no
opening inventory of work in process. During November, 500 units of material were input to the process,
with a cost of $9,000. Direct labour costs in November were $11,520. The equivalent units at the end
of November were as follows:

Equivalent units
Input Output Total Materials Labour
Units Units Units % Units %
Finished units 400 400 100 400 100
500 Closing inventory 100 100 100 80 80
500 500 500 480

What is the full production cost of completed units during November?


A $17,100
B $16,416
C $16,800
D $20,520 (2 marks)

8.16 340 litres of Chemical X were produced in a period. There is a loss of 10% of material input into the
process.
How many litres have been input in the month (to the nearest litre)?
A 370 litres
B 374 litres
C 378 litres
D 380 litres (2 marks)

50
QUESTIONS

8.17 A company uses process costing for its only process which produces Product Z. No losses occur in the
process. There was no work-in-progress at the start of a period. During the period 550 kgs of raw
material were input to the process. In the same period 150 kgs of the finished product were output from
the process. The work-in-progress remaining was 75% complete with respect to materials and 50%
complete with respect to conversion costs.
What were the equivalent units for costing work-in-progress at the end of the period?
Material Conversion costs
A 400 kg 200 kg
B 200 kg 400 kg
C 300 kg 200 kg
D 300 kg 400 kg (2 marks)

8.18 Raw materials costing $12,800 were input to a process during a period. Conversion costs totalled
$18,430. There was no work-in-progress at the beginning of the period and no process losses during the
period. 3,600 units of the product were completed in the period with 400 units remaining in the
process at the end of the period, complete for materials and with 70% of the conversion costs applied.
What was the production cost per unit?
A $7.81
B $7.95
C $8.05
D $8.68 (2 marks)

8.19 In a production process the percentage completion of the work-in-progress (WIP) at the end of a period
is found to have been understated.
When this is corrected what will be the effect on the cost per unit and the total value of WIP?
Cost per unit Total value of WIP
A Decrease Decrease
B Decrease Increase
C Increase Decrease
D Increase Increase (2 marks)

8.20 A company has one manufacturing process and uses process costing. During a period the cost of raw
materials input into the process was $30,000. There was no opening work in progress. 1,000 kg of
materials were used and losses are 5% of input. Conversion costs were $6,000. There is no closing
work in progress.
What is the cost per kg during this period?
A $30.00
B $31.58
C $36.00
D $37.89 (2 marks)

8.21 A company has one finishing process and uses process costing. During a period 500 units costing
$27,800 were input to the process. Losses are 15% of input. There is no opening or closing work in
progress.
Which of the following is the cost per unit?
A $55.60
B $65.41
C $61.78
D $58.53 (2 marks)

51
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

8.22 Which of the following defines batch costing?


A A costing method used where each cost unit is separately identifiable, where production may not
take place for inventory
B A costing method used where there are separately identifiable processes, where production may
take place for continuous jobs.
C A costing method used where each cost unit is separately identifiable, where production may take
place for inventory
D A costing method used where there are continuous processes. (2 marks)

8.23 A company manufactures table football tables, and has the following budgeted overheads for the next
month.
Department Budgeted overheads Budgeted activity
$
Welding 6,000 1,200 labour hours
Assembly 8,000 1,000 labour hours
Selling and administrative overheads are 20% of production cost. Production of 250 tables, type
Garlandi 1, made as Batch 8008, incurred the following costs.
Materials $10,000
Labour 100 hours welding shop at $7/hour
250 hours assembly shop at $10/hour
The cost of hiring special X-ray equipment for testing the welds was $600.
What is the cost per unit for Batch 8008?
A $81.60
B $78.24
C $75.36
D $65.20
(2 marks)

8.24 In which of the following areas of production would process costing not be used?
A Food processing
B Paper milling
C Car manufacture
D Milk treatment (2 marks)

(Total = 48 marks)

52
QUESTIONS

Do you know? – The spreadsheet system

Check that you can fill in the blanks in the statements below before you attempt any questions. If in doubt,
you should go back to your BPP Interactive Text and revise.
 A spreadsheet is basically an electronic piece of paper divided into r……… and c…………. The
intersection of a row and a column is known as a c…….
 Essential basic skills include how to move around within a spreadsheet, how to enter and edit data, how
to fill cells and how to i………… and d………… columns and rows.
 A spreadsheet should be given a t……… which clearly defines its purpose. The contents of rows and
columns should also be clearly l………….
 Formulae can be used in spreadsheets to perform calculations …….. and …………. There is a wide
range of formulae available in Excel.
 Errors can occur where formulae have not been set up correctly. Each error has its own solution, which
can sometimes be discovered by the use of t…….. p………. .
 Numbers can be f………… in several ways, for instance with commas, as percentages, as currency or
with a certain number of decimal places.
 All access to the spreadsheet can be prevented by the use of ………………….
 ……………… cell references (B3) change when you copy formulae to other locations or move data from
one place to another. ……………… cell references ($B$3) stay the same.

TRY QUESTIONS 9.1 TO 9.29


 Possible pitfalls. Write down examples of mistakes you should avoid.

53
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Did you know? – The spreadsheet system

Could you fill in the blanks? The answers are in bold. Use this page for revision purposes as you approach
the exam.
 A spreadsheet is basically an electronic piece of paper divided into rows and columns. The intersection
of a row and a column is known as a cell.
 Essential basic skills include how to move around within a spreadsheet, how to enter and edit data, how
to fill cells and how to insert and delete columns and rows.
 A spreadsheet should be given a title which clearly defines its purpose. The contents of rows and
columns should also be clearly labelled.
 Formulae can be used in spreadsheets to perform calculations quickly and efficiently. There is a wide
range of formulae available in Excel.
 Errors can occur where formulae have not been set up correctly. Each error has its own solution, which
can sometimes be discovered by the use of trace precedents.
 Numbers can be formatted in several ways, for instance with commas, as percentages, as currency or
with a certain number of decimal places.
 All access to the spreadsheet can be prevented by the use of passwords.
 Relative cell references (B3) change when you copy formulae to other locations or move data from one
place to another. Absolute cell references ($B$3) stay the same.

TRY QUESTIONS 9.1 TO 9.29


 Possible pitfalls include the following (you may have thought of others).
– Not knowing the causes of spreadsheet errors
– Failing to learn and understand the workings of spreadsheets
– Insufficient knowledge of appropriate formatting techniques
– Being unable to recommend the best graph to show particular information
– Not being able to understand the formula in a cell
– Not being able to correct a formula with errors in it

54
QUESTIONS

9 The basics of using a spreadsheets 70 mins

Data for questions 9.1 – 9.3


You have acquired a spreadsheet package, Excel. You want to use it to devise a monthly schedule of your firm's
income and expenditure over the past three months, in a format as shown below. The schedule is to be
updated every month.

You decide that columns should represent months, with one column containing a 3 month total. Each row
represents an item of income or expenditure, with a final profit figure for the month at the bottom of each
column, as in the illustration below. You also want to list the amount owing to your firm by its clients at the
end of each month.
A B C D E
1 Item Total 3 June May April
2 months
3 $ $ $ $
4 Fees 21500 22000 22500
5
6
7 Salaries 13500 12500 12500
8 Postage 200 200 200
9 Telephone 200 200 200
10 Stationery 200 200 200
11 Rent 1500 1500 1500
12 Accountancy 300 200
13 Bank charges – 400
14 Rates 600 600 600
15 Other 1000 1200 1300
16
17 Net 4000 5000 6000
18
19 Owed by 7170 10995 9000
clients
20
21
22
23

9.1 What should you enter in cell B4 when you construct the model, to make best use of the spreadsheet's
facilities?
A =66000
B =21500 + 22000 + 22500
C =SUM(C4:E4)
D =(C:E)*4 (2 marks)

9.2 In Microsoft Excel, which of the following would not correctly perform the calculation required in cell
B17 (assuming the remainder of the spreadsheet is complete)?
A =B4-SUM(B7:B15)
B =SUM(C17:E17)
C =B4-B7-B8-B9-B10-B11-B12-B13-B14-B15
D =SUM(C4:E4)-SUM(C7:E16) (2 marks)

55
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

9.3 You now wish to make your model more sophisticated, to include the percentage change in revenue
month by month is required.
Which of the following alternatives best expresses how you would input this requirement into your
spreadsheet?
A =(C4-D4)/D4 formatted as a percentage
B =C4-D4/D4 formatted as a percentage
C =((C4-D4)/D4)x100
D =C4/D4 formatted as a percentage (2 marks)

Questions 9.4 – 9.6 refer to the spreadsheet shown below.

9.4 The cell F5 (column F row 5) shows the opening position for month 3. The value in this cell is a
formula.
Which of the following would not be a correct entry for this cell?
A =E7-E30+D32
B =E5+E7-E30
C =E32
D =2860 (2 marks)

56
QUESTIONS

9.5 The formula in D17 (column D row 17) adds a percentage national insurance charge to the sub total of
staff costs.
Which of the formulae shown below would be a suitable formula for cell D17?
A =SUM(D11:D17)*0.1
B =SUM(D11:D16)+10%
C =SUM(D11:D16)*10%
D =SUM(D11:D17)*C17 (2 marks)

9.6 The cell D30 (column D row 30) shows the total costs. Which of the following is the correct formula for
this cell?
A =D28+D18
B =SUM(D11:D28)
C =SUM(D7:D28)
D =D18+D28 (2 marks)

9.7 The data that can be entered onto a spreadsheet comprises which of the following?
A Text and numbers
B Formulae, text and numbers
C Numbers and formulae
D Text and formulae (2 marks)

9.8 This spreadsheet shows the target sales for each employee (column C) and the amount that they
actually sold (column D). The bonus value is calculated by subtracting the actual sales from the target
sales. If the employee has failed to achieve their target level, then there is no bonus. The target figure for
next month (column F) is calculated by multiplying the target figure by a defined growth rate (cell B15).
A B C D E F G
1
2 Employment targets and bonuses
3
4 Employee Target Actual Bonus Next month
No
5 345 Rianne 2,100.00 2,000.00 0.00 2,121.00
6 567 Sian 4,300.00 4,400.00 100.00 4,343.00
7 543 Claire 2,345.00 2,300.00 0.00 2,368.45
8 231 Mark 5,680.00 5,600.00 0.00 5,736.80
9 890 Danny 345.00 500.00 155.00 348.45
10
11 14,770.00 14,800.00 14,917.70
12 Sales staff 5
13 Income/staff 2,960
14
15 Growth rate 1.00%
In the spreadsheet what is the formula in C11 (column C row 11)?
A =SUM(C5:C9)
B =AVERAGE(C5:C9)
C =SUM(C5:C11)
D =AVERAGE(C5:C11) (2 marks)

9.9 Which of the following is not a formatting option available in Excel?


A Use of colour or shading
B Multisheet (3D) spreadsheets
C Formatting numbers
D Removing gridlines (2 marks)

57
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

9.10 Which of the following does the formula bar display?


A The formula in the active cell and no other information
B The location of the active cell and the formula in the active cell
C The formula in the active cell and the result of the formula
D The location of the active cell, the formula in the active cell and the result of the formula
(2 marks)

9.11 The following spreadsheet can be used to investigate the inter-relationship between advertising
expenditure and sales.
A B C D E
Monthly
1 advertising Sales
2 Expenditure
3 X Y X2 Y2 XY
4 1.2 132.5 1.44 17556.25 159
5 0.9 98.5 0.81 9702.25 88.65
6 1.6 154.3 2.56 23808.49 246.88
7 2.1 201.4 4.41 40561.96 422.94
8 1.6 161.0 2.56 25921.00 257.6
9 7.4 747.7 11.78 117549.95 1175.07
The cell E9 shows the total of the XY values. Which of the following would be a correct entry for this
cell?
A =A9*B9
B =SUM(E4:E8)
C =SUM(A9:D9)
D =C9*D9 (2 marks)

9.12 The following statements relate to spreadsheet formulae


I The formula =C4*5 multiplies the value in C4 by 5
II The formula =C4*117.5% reduces the value in C4 by 17.5%
III The formula =C4*B10-D1 multiplies the value in C4 by that in B10 and then subtracts the value
in D1 from the result
Which statements are correct?
A I and II only
B I and III only
C II and III only
D I, II and III (2 marks)

58
QUESTIONS

Question 9.13 refers to the spreadsheet shown below


A B C
1 Monthly production
2
3 Month Units
4 Jan 149
5 Feb 247
6 Mar 382
7 Apr 451
8 May 300
9 Jun 298
10 Jul 187
11 Aug 361
12 Sep 85
13 Oct 394
14 Nov 322
15 Dec 400
16
17 Total 3576
18
19 Average 298

9.13 Which of the following formulae would not produce the correct answer in cell B19?

A =AVERAGE(B4:B15)
B =AVERAGE(B4:B16)
C =SUM(B4:B15)/12
D =SUM(B4:B16)/13 (2 marks)

9.14 Which of the following statements is true regarding the automatic positioning of items within a cell,
before any editing?
A Text is right aligned
B Numbers are right aligned
C Text is centred
D Numbers are centred (2 marks)

9.15 If a cell contains ####, what does this mean?


A There is not enough room to display the required number in the cell
B There is not enough room to display the required text in the cell
C There is not enough room to display either the required number or text in the cell
D The result of the formula cannot be displayed as the formula is nonsensical (2 marks)

9.16 A cell in a spreadsheet is displaying #VALUE!


Which of the following may have caused this?
A A formula is attempting to divide by zero
B The cell is too small to display the required text or number
C A formula refers to a cell containing text
D A formula is referring to a cell that is not valid (2 marks)

59
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

9.17 A cell in a spreadsheet is displaying #DIV/0!


Which of the following may have caused this?
A A formula is attempting to divide by zero
B The cell is too small to display the required text or number
C A formula refers to a cell containing text
D A formula is referring to a cell that is not valid (2 marks)

9.18 Which of the following steps will correct a #NULL! error?


A Checking that the formula does divide by zero
B Making the column wider
C Check that the formula doesn’t refer to cells containing text
D Ensure that the cell references in the formula are separated properly (2 marks)

9.19 Which of the following are ways in which numbers can be formatted in a spreadsheet?
I Commas
II Percentages
III Currency
A I and II only
B I and III only
C II and III only
D I, II and III (2 marks)

9.20 A spreadsheet cell contains the formula =C4*B10-D1.


What does this formula do?
A Multiplies the value in C4 by B10 and then subtract the value in D1.
B Multiplies the value in C4 by the value of D1 subtracted from the value of B10.
C Divides the value in C4 by B10 and then subtract the value in D1.
D Displays the value of D1 subtracted from B10 in cell C4. (2 marks)

9.21 The following spreadsheet shows net sales figures for a three month period.
A B C D E
1 January February March Total
2 Net sales 375 418 390 1,183
3 Tax
4 Gross sales
What formula can you use to calculate the sales tax for January sales (assume the sales tax rate is
17.5% and is applied to sales before tax)?
A =B2*0.175
B =375*0.0175
C =B2*17.5
D =C2*0.175 (2 marks)

9.22 If a cell contains a formula that includes an invalid cell reference, what will be displayed in the cell?
A #VALUE!
B #REF!
C ####
D #NULL (2 marks)

60
QUESTIONS

9.23 Which spreadsheet facility allows the column and row reference to remain the same when the formula is
copied to another cell?
A Absolute cell referencing
B Highlighted cell referencing
C Relative cell referencing
D Range cell referencing (2 marks)

9.24 When you copy a formula in a spreadsheet, the program automatically changes the reference to any
cells affected by this. What is this function known as?
A Absolute cell referencing
B Relative cell referencing
C A macro
D An ‘IF’ statement (2 marks)

9.25 There are a number of printing options than can be used to make a spreadsheet more visually appealing.
Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
A The default printing option in Excel is to print with a landscape orientation on A4 paper
B Altering the print margins will affect how much of a spreadsheet will fit onto a single page
C Under the default printing option in Excel, gridlines from the spreadsheet are not shown on the
printout
D Page breaks show where the content of the spreadsheet will be split onto another page
(2 marks)

9.26 Company Y will qualify for a 5% bulk purchase discount when material purchases exceed $1,600 in any
month. The following is part of a spreadsheet used to produce the cash budget for Company Y.

Which of the following is a correct formula for cell E72?


A =IF(E70<1600,(0·05*E70),0)
B =IF(E70>1600,0,(0·05*E70))
C =IF(E70<1600, 0,(0·05*E70))
D =IF(E70>1600,(0·05*E70),0) (2 marks)

61
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

9.27 The following spreadsheet is used to calculate the cost of material usage. There are 1,000 kg in a tonne.

To calculate the total cost of material, the accountant uses the formula:
=B43*C43+B44*C44+B45*C45*B47/1000
Which amendment will correct the error in the formula?
A Place an absolute reference ($) in all of the C column
B Place brackets ( ) around B43 to C45
C Remove division by 1000 ( /1000)
D Place brackets ( ) around B47/1000 (2 marks)

Questions 9.28 and 9.29 refer to the spreadsheet shown below


A company offers its customers a 5% discount on orders of 1000 units or more of material P.

A B C D
1 Sales of material P
2
3 Customer Order Price Sales
4 quantity $ $
5
6 Smith 500 245.00 1225.00
7 Brown 1200 232.75 2793.00
8 Jones 1000 232.75 2327.50
9 Hamdy 2000 232.75 4655.00
10 Campbell 400 245.00 980.00
11 11980.50
12
13 Price per hundred units $245.00
14 Bulk discount% 5
15

9.28 Which of the following formulae is in cell C6?


A =IF(B6>=1000,$B$13,$B$13*0.05)
B =IF(B6<1000,$B$13,$B$13*0.05)
C =IF(B6>=1000,$B$13,$B$13*(100-$B$14)/100)
D =IF(B6<1000,$B$13,$B$13*(100-$B$14)/100) (2 marks)

62
QUESTIONS

9.29 Which of the following formulae is in cell D8?


A =B8/100*B13
B =B8*245
C =(C8/100)*B8
D =C8*B8 (2 marks)

(Total = 58 marks)

63
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

64
QUESTIONS

Do you know? – The spreadsheet system

Check that you can fill in the blanks in the statements below before you attempt any questions. If in doubt,
you should go back to your BPP Interactive Text and revise.
 Spreadsheet packages permit the user to work with multiple sheets that refer to each other. This is also
known as …….. …………….. ……………. .
 Spreadsheets can be l………… to, and exchange data with, word processing documents – and vice
versa.
 Spreadsheets can be used in a variety of accounting contexts. You should practise using spreadsheets,
h………– o… experience is the key to spreadsheet proficiency.
 Management accountants will use spreadsheet software in activities such as budgeting, forecasting,
reporting performance and variance analysis. They are often used to perform w….. i.. analysis so that
different scenarios can be investigated.
 There are a number of printing options that can be used to make a spreadsheet more ………. ………. .
Spreadsheet output will often be printed. Printed output should be inspected before circulation to ensure
it contains what was intended and presents information clearly.
 …………… and …………… and tables are often excellent ways of communicating information.
 Spreadsheet packages permit the user to work with ……….. …………. that refer to each other.

TRY QUESTIONS 10.1 TO 10.21


 Possible pitfalls. Write down examples of mistakes you should avoid.

65
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Did you know? – The spreadsheet system

Could you fill in the blanks? The answers are in bold. Use this page for revision purposes as you approach
the exam.
 Spreadsheet packages permit the user to work with multiple sheets that refer to each other. This is also
known as three dimensional spreadsheets.
 Spreadsheets can be linked to, and exchange data with, word processing documents – and vice versa.
 Spreadsheets can be used in a variety of accounting contexts. You should practise using spreadsheets,
hands-on experience is the key to spreadsheet proficiency.
 Management accountants will use spreadsheet software in activities such as budgeting, forecasting,
reporting performance and variance analysis. They are often used to perform what if analysis so that
different scenarios can be investigated.
 There are a number of printing options that can be used to make a spreadsheet more visually appealing.
Spreadsheet output will often be printed. Printed output should be inspected before circulation to ensure
it contains what was intended and presents information clearly.
 Charts and graphs and tables are often excellent ways of communicating information.
 Spreadsheet packages permit the user to work with multiple sheets that refer to each other.

TRY QUESTIONS 10.1 TO 10.21


 Possible pitfalls include the following (you may have thought of others).
– Not knowing the causes of spreadsheet errors
– Failing to learn and understand the workings of spreadsheets
– Insufficient knowledge of appropriate formatting techniques
– Being unable to recommend the best graph to show particular information
– Confusion over the most appropriate types of charts to use for particular data

66
QUESTIONS

10 Using spreadsheets to present information 50 mins


10.1 Which of the following tasks is a spreadsheet not able to perform?
A The presentation of numerical data in the form of graphs and charts
B The application of logical tests to data
C The application of 'What If' scenarios
D Automatic correction of all data entered by the operator into the spreadsheet (2 marks)

10.2 Which of the following statements about spreadsheets is not true?


A Spreadsheets can import information from documents created in other applications
B A spreadsheet cannot contain more than one worksheet
C It is possible to use a spreadsheet to sort data in a variety of ways
D Spreadsheet packages usually include a facility to graph numeric data (2 marks)

Questions 10.3 – 10.5 refer to the following spreadsheet


A B C D E F G
1
2 Analysis of markers: Information Systems Development – 20X3
3
4 Marker Marker Highest Lowest Range Average
Code Name mark mark
5
6 1 Field 76 13 63 41.22
7 7 Warhurst 79 5 74 42
8 9 Singh 60 23 37 41.14
9 12 Lang 75 21 54 44
10 14 Yip 58 13 45 43.5
11 15 El Gerouge 75 15 60 45.4
12 17 Finley 69 30 39 50
13 19 Chen 87 32 55 46.4
14 23 Holmes 67 40 27 45.43
15 25 Chan 87 7 80 45.67
16 27 Cameron 90 30 60 42
17 29 Walsh 89 15 74 39
18 31 Menzies 70 20 50 43.7
19 32 Smith 70 9 61 43
20 35 Yonnie 67 30 37 43.7
21 36 Zammett 78 25 53 41.3
22 37 Caragher 70 30 40 43.6
23 38 O'Doyle 60 3 57 40
24 40 Blair 59 15 44 43.6
25 52 Craig 65 12 53 42.76
26
27
28 Number of markers 20
29 Highest mark 90
30 Lowest mark 3

67
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

10.3 Column F shows the range between the highest and lowest marks for each marker. The value in cell F6
(column F row 6) is a formula.
What is the likely formula in cell F6?
A =E6–D6
B =D6–E6
C =76–13
D =E6+D6 (2 marks)

10.4 A chart showing each marker and the range of their marks is to be produced in Excel. Which of the
following chart would be suitable for this purpose?
A Simple bar chart
B Scatter chart
C Component bar chart
D Pie chart (2 marks)

10.5 The examiner wishes to arrange the markers on the spreadsheet into descending order of average mark.
What should the command used be? On the Data tab then
A FILTER
B FORM
C TABLE
D SORT (2 marks)

10.6 A chart wizard can be used to generate graphs.


Which type of chart would be best used to track a trend over time?
A A pie chart
B A line graph
C A multiple bar chart
D A radar chart (2 marks)

68
QUESTIONS

Questions 10.7 to 10.9 refer to the spreadsheet shown below


The cost card below shows how the cost of producing each unit of the component 214X is built up. Each
individual cost in the total column is found by multiplying the quantity (kg or hours) by the cost per kg or hour.
In other words column D cells contain formulae of the type =BX*CX, except for the total in D16 which is a sum
of the cells above in column D.
A B C D
1 Cost Card : Component 214X
2
3 Total
4 Material kg $ $
5
6 mat A 2 2.80 5.60
7 mat S 3 3.60 10.80
8
9 Labour hours $
10
11 skilled 2.4 9.40 22.56
12 unskilled 5.3 6.35 33.66
13
14 Overheads 2.4 12.40 29.76
15
16 Total cost per unit of component 214X 102.38
17
18
19 Rates per hour: $
20 -skilled labour 9.40
21 -unskilled labour 6.35
22 -overhead 12.40
23 absorption

10.7 If the skilled labour rate were to change from $9.40 to $9.50 per hour, the values in which cells would
change?
A C20 only
B C20 and C11
C C20, C11 and D11
D C20, C11, D11 and D16 (2 marks)

10.8 Overheads are absorbed into product costs by charging $12.40 for each skilled labour hour worked on
the component.
If the skilled labour hours needed for each unit increased to 2.5 hours, the values in which cells would
change?
A B11 and B14 only
B B11, C11 and D16
C B11, B14, D11, D14 and D16
D B11, B14, C11, C14, D11, D14 and D16 (2 marks)

69
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

10.9 The text in cells A22 and A23 currently occupies two lines. Which of the following options would keep
the text on one line within cell A22?
I Use a smaller font size
II Increase the row height
III Increase the column width
A I only
B I and II
C I and III
D I, II and III (2 marks)

10.10 Which of the following would a management accountant not use a spreadsheet for?
A Reconciliations
B What if analysis
C Cost coding
D Calculating depreciation (2 marks)

10.11 Peter works in a confectionery firm. He has cost data that shows total costs for each of the four different
chocolate bars produced by the company during the period.
Which type of chart or graph is most suitable for the presentation of Peter’s data?
A Line graph
B Scatter graph
C Pie chart
D Tablet (2 marks)

10.12 A spreadsheet includes the following pie chart to analyse a company’s total manufacturing costs for a
period. The company’s direct materials cost in the period was $63,000.

What are the direct labour costs?


A $15,750
B $31,500
C $51,660
D $87,500 (2 marks)

70
QUESTIONS

10.13 Which of the following statements about bar charts is correct?


A Bar charts are used to identify trend lines.
B Bar charts are used to show data to compare the way in which two variables vary with each
other.
C Bar charts cannot be produced in Excel.
D Bar charts are useful for demonstrating and comparing amounts or numbers of items.
(2 marks)

10.14 Which of the following are common applications of spreadsheets used by management accountants?
I Variance analysis
II Cash flow budgeting and forecasting
III Preparation of financial accounts
A I and II only
B I and III only
C II and III only
D I, II and III (2 marks)

10.15 Which of the following statements is incorrect?


A Spreadsheets make the calculation and manipulation of data easier and quicker.
B Spreadsheets are very useful for word processing.
C Spreadsheets can be used to produce management accounts.
D Spreadsheets can be used for budgeting and forecasting. (2 marks)

10.16 The following data extract from a spreadsheet is shown below.


1 A B C D
2 January February March
3 Sales 18,000 17,500 21,000
4 Cost of sales 12,500 14,750 16,700
5 Gross profit 5,500 2,750 4,300
6 Expenses 3,250 1,875 2,805
7 Net profit 2,250 875 1,495
Which formula can be used to get the net profit for February?
A C5-C6
B =C5-C6
C =SUM(C3:C6)
D =SUM(C5:C6) (2 marks)

10.17 The following spreadsheet is used to investigate the relationship between advertising expenditure and
sales.
A B C D E
1 Monthly Sales
advertising
2 expenditure
3 X Y XX YY XY
4 1.1 123 1.21 15,129 135.3
5 0.8 90 0.64 8,100 72
6 0.9 97 0.81 9,409 87.3
7 1.2 131 1.44 17,161 157.2
8 1.3 143 1.69 20,449 185.9
9 5.3 584 5.79 70,248 637.7

71
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

The cell E9 shows the total of the XY values. Which of the following formulae would be a correct entry
for this cell?
A =SUM(E9)
B =SUM(E4:E8)
C =SUM(A9:D9)
D =SUM(E5:E8) (2 marks)

10.18 A spreadsheet is unlikely to be used for which of the following tasks?

A Cashflow forecasting
B Monthly sales analysis by market
C Writing a memo
D Calculation of depreciation (2 marks)

Question 10.19 and 10.20 refer to the spreadsheet shown below.

72
QUESTIONS

10.19 The cell F5 (column F row 5) shows the opening position for month 3. The value in this cell is a
formula.
Which of the following would not be a correct entry for this cell?
A =E7-E30+D32
B =E5+E7-E30
C =E32
D =2860 (2 marks)

10.20 The formula in D17 (column D row 17) adds a percentage national insurance charge to the sub total of
staff costs. Which of the formulae shown below would be the best formula for cell D17?
A =SUM(D11:D16)*0.1
B =SUM(D11:D16)*$C17
C =SUM(D11:D16)*10%
D =SUM(D11:D16)*C17 (2 marks)

10.21 Excel can be used to generate graphs. Which type of chart would be best used to show the relative size
of component elements of a total?
A A pie chart
B A line graph
C A simple bar chart
D A component bar chart (2 marks)

(Total = 42 marks)

73
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

74
QUESTIONS

11 Mixed bank 55 mins


11.1 What is the scientific term for facts, figures and measurement?
A Analysis
B Data
C Processing
D Statistics (2 marks)

11.2 In a spreadsheet, which of the following is data entered into?


A A column
B A row
C A cell
D A formula (2 marks)

11.3 Passwords can be set to protect which of the following?


A An individual cell on a spreadsheet
B A worksheet
C A workbook
D A cell, a worksheet or a workbook (2 marks)

11.4 What is the most appropriate definition of an office?


A A centre for exchanging information between businesses
B A centre for information and administration
C A place where information is stored
D A room where many people using IT work (2 marks)

11.5 What is the main purpose of prime entry records?


A To calculate the cash received and spent by a business
B To prevent a large volume of unnecessary detail in the ledgers
C To provide a monthly check on the double-entry bookkeeping
D To separate the taxable and exempt sales tax transactions (2 marks)

11.6 Which of the following departments is not a service cost centre in a manufacturing company?
A Accounting
B Assembly
C Maintenance
D Personnel (2 marks)

11.7 A diagram/chart showing how production costs vary with levels of output is to be drawn in Excel. Which
of the following would be suitable for this purpose?
A Simple bar chart
B Scatter diagram
C Component bar chart
D Pie chart (2 marks)

75
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

11.8 A company employs 20 direct production operatives and 10 indirect staff in its manufacturing
department. The normal operating hours for all employees is 38 hours per week and all staff are paid a
basic rate of $5 per hour. Overtime hours are paid at time and a half. During a particular week all
employees worked for 44 hours to meet the company’s general production requirements.
What amount would be charged to production overhead?
A $300
B $450
C $2,350
D $2,650 (2 marks)

11.9 When different parts of a worksheet need to be viewed at the same time, which of the following Excel
tools is most appropriate?
A Ranking
B Filtering
C Splitting screen
D Linking (2 marks)

11.10 The purchase price of raw materials is increasing. The company uses the LIFO method of valuing
inventory.
Which of the following statements about the value of closing inventory is correct?
A Close to current purchase prices
B Higher than current purchase prices
C Based on the prices of the latest items received
D Based on the prices of the earliest items received (2 marks)

11.11 Business X hires a machine which is used in the final packaging process in its warehouse. A basic fixed
monthly amount is paid for the machine with an additional charge for each unit packaged. The number
of units packaged varies from period to period.
Which of the following is/are true about the cost of the machine hire to Business X?
(1) The total cost per unit packaged will vary from period to period
(2) The total cost per unit packaged will increase as packaging activity rises
(3) The total cost per unit packaged will decrease as packaging activity rises
A 2 only
B 3 only
C 1 and 2
D 1 and 3 (2 marks)

11.12 The following purchases and issues from inventory occurred in September.
1 September Opening inventory 500 units $5.10
3 September Receipts 150 units $5.60
9 September Issue 325 units
14 September Receipts 204 units $5.25
26 September Issue 175 units
What is the value of the closing inventory under the periodic weighted average method?
A $1,805
B $1,848
C $1,911
D $1,982 (2 marks)

76
QUESTIONS

11.13 A pie chart will be created from the following data in Excel showing number of faults discovered in
batches of produced goods.
A B C D
1 Number of faults Frequency
2 0 52
3 1 84
4 2 150
5 3 76
6 More than 3 32
7 Total 394

Which range should be selected to create the pie chart?


A B2:B7
B B2:C7
C B2:C6
D None of the above (2 marks)

11.14 Which of the following are features of an efficient and effective coding system?
(1) Codes need to be complex to include all items.
(2) Each code must have a combination of alphabetic and numeric characters.
(3) Codes for a particular type of item should be consistent in length and structure.
A 1 only
B 3 only
C 1 and 2
D 2 and 3 (2 marks)

11.15 A company produces goods in batches. One batch produced in May was batch B6, to which the
following information relates:
Direct material P: 500 litres were issued from stores at a cost of $4.50 per litre.
Direct material Q: 750 litres were issued from stores at a cost of $5.50 per litre.
70 litres of material Q were returned.
320 labour hours were worked at a cost of $8 per hour.
What is the direct materials cost of batch B6?
A $8,935
B $5,990
C $6,375
D $8,550 (2 marks)

11.16 The cost accounts of a business are kept separate from the financial accounts, but the two sets of
accounts are reconciled each period.
Which accounting system is being described?
A Cost control accounts
B Cost ledger accounts
C Integrated accounts
D Interlocking accounts (2 marks)

77
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

11.17 A company produced 6,200 units of a product in a period. The product uses 0.8 kg of material per unit
of output. The inventory of the material fell by 380 kg in the period.
How much of the material was purchased in the period?
A 4,580 kg
B 4,960 kg
C 5,340 kg
D 7,370 kg (2 marks)

11.18 The following documents are used in the process of purchasing and using materials:
(1) Purchase order
(2) Goods received note
(3) Purchase requisition
(4) Materials requisition
(5) Delivery note
Which of the documents would be used to update the stores ledger accounts?
A (2), (3) and (5)
B (1) and (2)
C (2) and (4)
D (3), (4) and (5) (2 marks)

11.19 In which of the following would job costing be most appropriate?


A College
B Hospital
C Car repairer
D Chemical manufacturer (2 marks)

11.20 An extract from the list of accounts of a car manufacturer are as follows.
Cost codes
Direct materials 1000 - 1999
Indirect materials 2000 - 2999
Direct labour 3000 - 3999
Indirect labour 4000 - 4999
Which of the following items is coded incorrectly?
Description Code
A Wages of canteen staff 4131
B Wages of stores supervisor 4252
C Car engines 1536
D Cleaning material 1786 (2 marks)

11.21 Which of the following is a reason why profit for a period for a manufacturer will differ depending upon
whether absorption costing or marginal costing is used?
A Changes in raw material inventory during the period
B Over-absorption of fixed production overhead
C Closing finished goods inventory higher than opening inventory
D Expenditure on variable manufacturing costs in excess of budget (2 marks)

78
QUESTIONS

The following information relates to questions 11.22 and 11.23


A B C D
1 Product List price (net) Sales tax Gross
2 Line $ $ $
3
4 Buster 294.00 51.45 345.45
5 Crusty 362.50 63.44 425.94
6 Dibble 88.20 15.44 103.64
7

11.22 Which of the following formulae would calculate the sales tax in cell C4?
A =B4*1.175
B =B4+17.5%
C =B4+0.175
D =B4*0.175 (2 marks)

11.23 Which of the following formulae would not calculate the gross figure in cell D5?
A =B5*1.175
B =B5+C5
C =B5*0.175
D =SUM(B5:C5) (2 marks)

(Total = 46 marks)

79
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

12 Mixed bank II 48 mins


12.1 Which type of chart would be most appropriate for comparing numbers of things?
A Pie chart
B Bar chart
C Scatter graph
D Line graph (2 marks)

12.2 Which of the following is a disadvantage of office manuals?


A Strict interpretation of instructions creates inflexibility
B The quality of service received from suppliers is reduced
C They create bureaucracy and demotivate staff
D They do not facilitate the induction and training of new staff (2 marks)

12.3 The following relate to batch processing or to real-time processing of data:


(1) Audit trails are easily made since the processing of data occurs at pre-determined times.
(2) Customer queries can be responded to immediately.
(3) Processing can be performed during the evening when the computer is not being used
interactively.
(4) The data is always up-to-date.
Which of the above are advantages of real-time processing?
A 1 and 2 only
B 1 and 3 only
C 2 and 4 only
D 1, 3 and 4 only (2 marks)

12.4 A company operates a retail supermarket chain selling a range of grocery and household products. It has
branches throughout the country and is reviewing the range of goods to be stocked in each of these
branches.
How might the company best analyse its profitability for this purpose?
A By area of the country
B By contract with each supplier
C By customer payment method
D By product line stocked (2 marks)

12.5 Which of the following items is most likely to be treated as an indirect cost by a furniture manufacturer?
A Fabric to cover the seat of a chair
B Metal used for the legs of a chair
C Staples to fit the fabric to the seat of a chair
D Wood used to make the frame of a chair (2 marks)

12.6 With which costs is absorption costing concerned?


A Direct labour costs only
B Direct material costs only
C Fixed costs only
D Variable and fixed costs (2 marks)

12.7 Which of the following is not a formatting option available in Excel?


A Use of colour or shading
B Multisheet (3D) spreadsheets
C Formatting numbers
D Alignment of text or values within cells (2 marks)

80
QUESTIONS

12.8 The following is an extract from a list of data concerning production overheads in a factory.

Output (units) 35,000 40,000 45,000 50,000


Management cost ($) 75,000 80,000 80,000 85,000
Utilities cost ($) 31,000 34,000 37,000 40,000
What cost behavioural types are indicated by the above data?
Management Utilities
A Fixed Semi-variable
B Fixed Variable
C Stepped-fixed Semi-variable
D Stepped-fixed Variable
(2 marks)

12.9 Which of the following documents records the issuing of materials to production?
A Goods received note
B Materials returned note
C Materials requisition
D Quotation (2 marks)

12.10 A company has sales in a period of $10,000 and cost of sales of $6,000.
What is the gross profit margin?
A 40%
B 60%
C 67%
D 167% (2 marks)

12.11 The following purchases and issues from inventory occurred in July.
1 July Opening inventory 250 units $3.00
5 July Purchase 100 units $3.05
9 July Issue 50 units
14 July Purchase 100 units $3.08
26 July Issue 200 units
What is the value of the closing inventory under the cumulative weighted average method?
A $600
B $606
C $609
D $610 (2 marks)

12.12 A job cost estimate includes 630 productive labour hours. In addition, it is anticipated that idle time will
be 10% of the total hours paid for the job. The wage rate is $12 per hour.
What is the total estimated labour cost?
A $6,804
B $7,560
C $8,316
D $8,400 (2 marks)

81
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

12.13 An extract from the list of accounts of a chemical processor is shown below.
Cost codes
Direct materials 001 - 099
Direct labour 100 - 199
Indirect materials 200 - 299
Indirect labour 300 - 399
Which of the following items is coded incorrectly?
Description Code
A Chemical used in process 058
B Wages of process supervisor 103
C Chemicals used for cleaning 238
D Wages of maintenance engineer 368 (2 marks)

12.14 Which of the following describes the term ‘cost unit’?


A A basis for cost classification
B A production or service department
C A unit of product or service
D The cost of a unit of output (2 marks)

12.15 In a factory, a team of six maintenance staff are paid a guaranteed salary.
Which of the following is the most appropriate cost classification for their labour cost?
A Direct labour cost
B Indirect labour cost
C Semi-variable cost
D Variable overhead cost (2 marks)

12.16 Production cost centre X absorbs overheads on a machine hours basis and the following data is available
for the most recent period.
Budget Actual
Overheads $24,760 $18,950
Machine hours 450 400
What is the predetermined production overhead absorption rate (to two decimal places)?
A $42.11
B $47.38
C $55.02
D $61.90 (2 marks)

12.17 Which of the following best describes a profit centre?


A Part of a business where management makes investment decisions
B Part of a business that provides a service to other parts of the business
C Part of a business where finished products are manufactured
D Part of a business where management is responsible for revenues and costs (2 marks)

12.18 A company manufactures a finished product from one raw material. 5 kg of the raw material are
required per unit of output. Opening inventory at the start of a period was 1,250 kg. During the period
3,000 units were produced and closing inventory of the raw material was 1,500 kg.
How much material was purchased in the period?
A 3,250 kg
B 14,750 kg
C 15,000 kg
D 15,250 kg (2 marks)

82
QUESTIONS

12.19 What is an interlocking bookkeeping system?


A A single, combined system containing both cost accounting and financial accounting records
B A system combining cost accounting and management accounting
C A system supported by prime entry records
D A system where separate accounts are kept for cost accounting and financial accounting
(2 marks)

12.20 Which of the following are uses for a multi-sheet (3D) spreadsheet?
I Construction of a model with separate input and output sheets
II Consolidation of data from different sources
III Constructing different views of the same data
A I only
B I and II only
C II and III only
D I, II and III (2 marks)

(Total = 40 marks)

83
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

84
Answers

85
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

86
ANSWERS

1 Business organisation and accounting


1.1 C
1.2 C Employees would be expected to have read the parts of the policy manual relevant to their role in
the organisation.
1.3 B
1.4 C
1.5 A
1.6 C
1.7 B An integrated system is one where the cost accounting and financial accounting functions are
combined in one set of ledger accounts. An interlocking system is one where separate ledgers are
kept for cost accounting and for financial accounting.
1.8 C
1.9 A
1.10 A Information is not up to date under a batch processing system.
1.11 C Statement (i) is correct because only one set of accounts is kept in an integrated system.
Statement (ii) is incorrect because in a system of integrated accounts the financial and cost
accounts are combined in one set of accounts. Statement (iii) is correct because profit
differences do not arise with an integrated system.
1.12 B Goods on credit (either purchased or returned) are recorded in the purchases day book
1.13 D Authority is shown by an organisation chart.
1.14 C If all decisions are made in the same place then it will be easier for the decision-makers to see
the ‘bigger picture’ and therefore understand the consequences of their decisions.
1.15 B The question describes interlocking accounts, where the cost accounts are distinct from the
financial accounts.
With integrated accounts, option D, a single set of accounting records provides both financial and
cost accounts.
1.16 B
1.17 B Option A does not describe how management controls transactions, but merely rephrases the
question. Options C and D are examples of particular areas where controls are needed, not
descriptions of how transactions in general should be controlled.

2 Introduction to management information


2.1 C
2.2 C
2.3 B
2.4 D
2.5 C
2.6 D
2.7 C Comparison of actual costs with budgeted costs allows management to control the operations of
the business.
2.8 D The other three are all internally generated.

87
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

2.9 D Management accounts are not a legal requirement whereas financial accounts are. Management
accounts look at past data as well as future data.
2.10 A
2.11 A
2.12 D All information should bring greater benefits than the cost of producing it – otherwise it is not
worth producing.
2.13 D Management accounts are usually prepared to be used internally by the company management.
2.14 A Options B, C and D are specific requests for information, which the trainee accountant should be
able to extract from the accounting records. Option A, however, requires the use of judgement
about a matter that would not normally fall within the trainee accountant’s role – it is a decision
that is more likely to be taken by senior management.

3 Cost units, cost classification and profit reporting


3.1 C This is a cost centre not a cost unit.
3.2 B
3.3 C
3.4 D
3.5 B A fixed cost
3.6 D
3.7 D
3.8 C
3.9 B Telephone costs are most likely to consist of a fixed standing charge and a variable element for
the usage.
3.10 B
$
Direct material cost A 3 kg  $6.20 18.6
B 4 kg  $5.60 22.40
Direct labour – 2 hours  $7.40 14.80
Packaging costs ($22/10) 2.20
Prime cost 58.00

3.11 C $
Prime cost 58.00
Fixed production overheads ($60,000/15,000) 4.00
Production cost 62.00

3.12 B $
Production cost 62.00
Selling, distribution etc costs ($24,000/15,000) 1.60
Total cost 63.60

3.13 B
3.14 D Fixed production costs are not included in product costs in marginal costing. They are deducted
from contribution instead.
3.15 D As inventory levels rise absorption costing profit will be higher than marginal costing profit.

88
ANSWERS

3.16 B Absorption cost


$
Direct materials (2 kg  $3.80) 7.60
Direct labour (2.5 hours  $7.80) 19.50
Production costs ($6,000/2,000) 3.00
30.10
Closing inventory (400 units  $30.10) $12,040

3.17 A Marginal cost


$
Direct materials (2 kg  $3.80) 7.60
Direct labour (2.5 hours  $7.80) 19.50
27.10
Closing inventory (400 units  $27.10) $10,840

3.18 C The maintenance assistant is not working directly on the organisation's output but is performing an
indirect task. All the other three options describe tasks that involve working directly on the output.
3.19 D The salary is part fixed ($650 per month) and part variable (5 cents per unit). Therefore it is a
semi-variable cost and answer D is correct.
If you chose options A or B you were considering only part of the cost.
Option C, a step cost, involves a cost which remains constant up to a certain level and then
increases to a new, higher, constant fixed cost.
3.20 D A cost unit is a unit of product or service to which costs can be related. A cost unit is not always
a single item, however. It may be a batch of 1,000 units, if that is how the individual items are
made. The finance department and a member of the sales team are examples of cost centres.
3.21 B A person employed in the hotel spa is not considered to be a cost unit. If the employee provided
a spa treatment, then that spa treatment would be the relevant cost unit.

4 Management responsibility and performance measurement


4.1 D
4.2 C
4.3 D
4.4 A
$51,068
Cost per unit in May = $0.34
150,200
$67,821
Cost per unit in June = $0.37
183,300
Increase $0.03

If you got 51c you divided the increase in costs by the increase in units.
If you got 5c you worked out the increase from May to July.
If you got 58c you divided the increase in costs by the increase in units from May to July.
4.5 A Gross profit is $51,000  $42,500 = $8,500, which is 16.67% of $51,000.
4.6 B
% $
Sales 100 2,400
Cost of sales 66 2/3 1,600
Gross profit 33 1/3 800
Expenses 28 1/3 680
Net profit 5 120

89
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

$150,000  50,000  120,000


4.7 D Gross profit margin =  100
$150,000  50,000
= 40%
4.8 A Operating profit = $150,000 + 50,000 – 120,000 – 35,000 – 25,000
= $20,000
$20,000
Operating profit margin =  100
$150,000  50,000
= 10%
4.9 B Sales = $240,000  100/30
= $800,000
$240,000  $106,000
Net profit =  100
$800,000
= 16.75%

4.10 D
X 2,000  1 hour 2,000
Y 800  1.5 hours 1,200
Z 1,400  1.75 2,450
5,650

4.11 A
Standard hours produced
4.12 B Efficiency ratio =  100
Actual hours worked

10,800
=  100
11,400
= 94.7%
Actual hours worked
4.13 C Capacity ratio =  100
Budgeted hours

11,400
=  100
12,000
= 95.0%
Standard hours produced
4.14 A Activity ratio =  100
Budgeted hours

10,800
=  100
12,000
= 90.0%
4.15 C
Pr ofit before tax
4.16 C Return on investment =  100
Capital employed

40,000
=  100
340,000
= 11.8%
4.17 C Options A, B and D are all profit centres, as the managers would be responsible for both revenues
and costs. Only the manager in option C is responsible for costs only.

90
ANSWERS

5 Source documents and coding


5.1 C
5.2 B
5.3 C
5.4 A The cash or settlement discount is not deducted until payment is made.
5.5 C
5.6 B
5.7 D
5.8 D The warehouse clerk is the person who can confirm receipt of the goods and therefore will raise
the goods received note.
5.9 D The first two digits in the code refer to the cost centre and the last three digits are the type of
expense. Thus for (14) maintenance and (460) depreciation of non-production equipment the
code is 14460. The correct answer is D.
Option A has an incorrect cost centre code.
Options B and C have the wrong type of expense.
5.10 A For (10) machining department use of (410) indirect materials the code is 10410.
Option B has an incorrect expense type.
Options C and D have the incorrect cost centre code. The code indicates the cost centre incurring
the cost, ie receiving the materials.
5.11 B When goods are returned a credit note should be supplied to the customer.
5.12 D The sale of chairs means it will be coded to a profit centre not a cost centre.
5.13 B The sale of the wardrobe means it will be coded to a profit centre not a cost centre.
5.14 C This is a sequential coding system.
5.15 C This is a block coding system.
5.16 B This is a hierarchical coding system.
5.17 A
5.18 B
5.19 D Inventory + orders – committed for use = 7,500 + 3,000 – 1,250 = 9,250.
5.20 C Recording employee time is a function of a job card or a time sheet.
5.21 B A jobcard is not used for agreeing a labour rate.
5.22 A
5.23 A
5.24 C The delivery note is provided by the supplier, the goods received note is the important document
from the point of view of the purchasing cycle.
5.25 D Timesheets are not used for authorising holidays, but could be used for authorising overtime
payments.

91
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

6 Materials and labour costs


6.1 D
Units
Sales (500 + 600 + 540) 1,640
Less: opening inventory (120)
Add: closing inventory 150
Order quantity 1,670

6.2 B
6.3 B
$
100 units @ $2.40 240.00
20 units @ $2.70 54.00
2 units @ $3 6.00
300.00

6.4 D
$
Basic wage 24  38 hours  $6.00 5,472
Overtime 24  4 hours  $9.00 864
6,336
Labour cost per unit ($6,336/2,500) $2.53

6.5 C
$
25 units  $7.40 185.00
4  $8.20 32.80
217.80
Unit labour cost $217.80/29 $7.51

100  42 hours
6.6 C Current number of units =
4 hours per unit
= 1,050 units
100  42 hours
New number of units =
3.5 hours per unit
= 1,200 units
Increase (1,200 – 1,050) = 150 units
6.7 C
$
Gross pay: basic (40 hours  $6.80) 272.00
overtime (5 hours  $6.80  1.5) 51.00
323.00
PAYE (58.00)
Employee's benefit contributions (31.00)
Net pay 234.00

6.8 D
$
Gross pay: basic (40 hours  $6.80) 272.00
overtime (5 hours  $6.80  1.5) 51.00
Gross pay 323.00
Employer's benefit contributions 34.00
357.00

6.9 A
6.10 A

92
ANSWERS

6.11 A
kg
Material required for production (3,800 × 4.5kg) 17,100
Less: opening inventory (1,100)
Add: closing inventory (200 × 4.5kg) 900
16,900 kg

6.12 C $
Direct production workers basic hours
(2,300 + 500 – 100)  $7.20 19,440

6.13 D $
Indirect workers: (760 – 90)  $7.60 5,092
90  $7.60  1.5 1,026
Direct workers: overtime premium
(250  (8.00  0.5)) 1,000
Idle time hours (80  $8.00) 640
7,758

6.14 C
6.15 D
6.16 B $
Direct production workers – basic
(740 – 50)  $8.40 5,796

6.17 C $
Indirect workers: basic (200  $6) 1,200
overtime premium
(40  $6/3) 80
Direct workers: overtime premium
(110  $8.40/3) 308
Idle time (50  $8.40) 420
2,008

6.18 B The entries for the return of direct material to stores are the reverse of those made when the
material is first issued to production. The work in progress account is credited to 'remove' the
cost of the material from the production costs. The stores account is debited to increase the
value of inventory. Therefore the correct answer is B.
If you selected option A you identified the correct accounts but your entries were reversed.
Option C represents the entries for the return of indirect materials to stores. Option D represents
the entries for the transfer of the cost of completed production to finished goods inventory.
6.19 C The cost of indirect materials issued is credited to the stores account and 'collected' in the
overhead control account pending its absorption into work in progress. Therefore the correct
answer is C.
Option A represents the entries for the issue to production of direct materials.
If you selected option B you identified the correct accounts but your entries were reversed.
Option D is not correct. The issue of materials should not be charged direct to cost of sales. The
cost of materials issued should first be analysed as direct or indirect and charged to work in
progress or the overhead control account accordingly.

93
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

6.20 A With LIFO, if newer inventories cost more to buy from suppliers than older inventories, the costs
of material issued and used will be higher. It follows that the cost of sales will be higher and the
profit lower.
Closing inventories with LIFO will be priced at the purchase price of earlier items that were
received into inventory. In a period of rising prices, this means that closing inventories will be
valued at old, out-of-date and lower prices. Therefore the correct answer is A.
If you chose option B you were correct about the profits but your reasoning concerning the
inventory values was wrong.
6.21 A Under FIFO, the items in inventory will be valued at the most recent purchase prices. Since
inventory turnover is high the inventory prices are presumably close to current prices. Therefore
the correct answer is A.
Option C applies if inventory is very old or LIFO is used. Option B relates to LIFO, and option D
relates to the average price method.
Workings for both questions 6.22 and 6.23
FIFO LIFO
Value Value
Units $/unit $ Units $/unit $
Purchase 1/1 4,000 2.50 10,000 4,000 2.50 10,000
31/1 1,000 2.00 2,000 1,000 2.00 2,000
5,000 12,000 5,000 12,000
Sales 15/2 (3,000) 2.50 (7,500) (1,000) 2.00 (2,000)
(2,000) 2.50 (5,000)
2,000 4,500 2,000 5,000
Purchase 28/2 1,500 2.50 3,750 1,500 2.50 3,750
3,500 8,250 3,500 8,750
Sales 14/3 (500) 2.50 (1,250) (500) 2.50 (1,250)
3,000 7,000 3,000 7,500

6.22 C See workings above. If you selected the wrong option then check your workings carefully against
the above table.
6.23 C See workings above. If you selected the wrong option then check your workings carefully against
the above table.
6.24 B
Totall
Date Received Issued Balance inventory value Unit cost
$ $
1 June 100 500 5.00
3 June 300 1,440 4.80
400 1,940 4.85 *
5 June 220 180 (1,067) 4.85
873 4.85
12 June 170 884 5.20
350 1,757 5.02 *
24 June 300 (1,506) 5.02
Closing inventory 50 251 5.02

* A new weighted average price is calculated every time there are receipts into inventory.
From the above records, it can be seen that the cost of material issued on 5 June was $1,067.
Therefore the correct answer is B.

94
ANSWERS

Cost of opening inventory  total cos t of receipts


6.25 B Periodic weighted average (per unit) =
Units of opening inventory  total units received

 300 × $5  + 1,200 + 1,040 + 392


Periodic weighted average =
300 + 250 + 200 + 80

4,132
= = $4.98 per unit
830
Total inventory cost = $4.98 × (300 + 250 – 400 + 200 + 80) = $2,141
6.26 B Present cost per unit = $2,550 / 500 units = $5.10 per unit
Proposed system
Number of Number of Rate per Total cost
employees units unit
$ $
First 40 units 12 40 4.10 1,968
More than 40 units 12 5 4.70 282
Total labour cost 2,250

Number of units = 12 × 45 = 540


Labour cost per unit = 2,250 / 540 = $4.17
Change in unit labour cost = $5.10 – $4.17 = $0.93 decrease.
6.27 C Current system
Number of Number of Rate per Total cost
employees hours hour
$ $
Basic pay 50 35 5.50 9,625
Overtime 50 4 7.50 1,500
Total labour cost 11,125

Number of units (50 × 39 hours / 3) = 650 units


Cost per unit = $17.12
Proposed system
Number of Number of Rate per Total cost
employees hours hour
$ $
Total labour cost 50 35 5.50 9,625
Number of units (50 × 35 hours / 2.5) = 700 units
Cost per unit = $13.75
Difference = $17.12 – $13.75 = $3.37 decrease
6.28 B Piecework system
Number of Number of Rate per Total cost
employees units unit
$ $
First 50 units 25 50 3.50 4,375
More than 50 units 25 10 4.00 1,000
Total labour cost 5,375
Number of units = 25 × 60 = 1,500
Labour cost per unit = 5,375 / 1,500 = $3.58
New system
Number of Number of Rate per Total cost
employees hours per hour
employee
$ $
Basic wage 25 36 5.00 4,500
Overtime 25 2 7.40 370
Total labour cost 4,870

95
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Labour cost per unit = 4,870 / 1,500 = $3.25


Change in labour cost = $3.58 – $3.25 = $0.33 decrease
6.29 A Depreciation is an indirect cost because it does not relate directly to the number of units produced.
Items (ii) and (iii) can be traced directly to specific cost units therefore they are direct expenses.

7 Overhead costs
7.1 A Over-absorbed overhead means that the overhead charged to production was too high therefore
there must be a credit to income statement. The debit entry is made in the overhead control
account. Therefore the correct answer is A.
If you selected option B you identified the correct accounts but your entries were reversed. These
entries represent those that would be made for under-absorbed overhead.
Options C and D are incorrect because the only overhead charge made to work in progress (WIP)
is the overhead absorbed into production based on the predetermined rate. Under or over
absorption does not affect WIP.
7.2 A $
Overhead absorbed 81,000
Overhead incurred 85,000
Under-absorbed overhead 4,000

This means that the overhead charged to production was too low therefore there must be a debit
to income statement. The credit entry is made in the overhead control account.
Option B demonstrates the entries for over-absorbed overhead.
Options C and D are incorrect because under or over absorption of overhead does not affect work
in progress (WIP). The only overhead charge made to WIP is the overhead absorbed based on
the predetermined rate.
7.3 C Total reapportionment to Cost Centre Y
$
60% × $42,000 25,200
45% × $57,600 25,920
51,120

7.4 A
7.5 B
7.6 B Rent and rates = $40,000/5,000 sq m  1,000 sq m
= $8,000
7.7 C
7.8 D
$
Assembly costs 52,400
Reapportion stores (15,200 × 140/(140 + 60)) 10,640
Reapportion maintenance (18,590 × 400/(400 + 250)) 11,440
74,480

$245,600
7.9 B OAR =
80,000
= $3.07 per machine hour
$185,400
7.10 A OAR =
88,000
= $2.11 per labour hour

96
ANSWERS

7.11 D
$
Assembly 3  $2.66 7.98
Packaging 2  $1.75 3.50
11.48

7.12 D
$
Direct materials 4.20
Direct labour 4.65
Assembly ($4.80  ½) 2.40
Packaging ($3.60  ¼) 0.90
12.15
7.13 D Some expenses may be direct expenses of a product or job. Overheads are indirect expenses.
7.14 D
Gant $
Manufacturing 6  $1.47 8.82
Finishing 2  $3.04 6.08
14.90

7.15 D Assembly OAR = $104,300/50,000 = $2.09 per machine hour


Packaging OAR = $64,500/30,000 = $2.15 per labour hour

8 Job, batch and process costing

8.1 D Statement A is correct. Job costs are identified with a particular job, whereas process costs (of
units produced and work in progress) are averages, based on equivalent units of production.
Statement B is correct. The direct cost of a job to date, excluding any direct expenses, can be
ascertained from the documents mentioned.
Statement C is correct, because without data about units completed and units still in process,
losses and equivalent units of production cannot be calculated.
8.2 A Job costing is a costing method applied where work is undertaken to customers' special
requirements. Option B describes process costing, C describes marginal costing and D describes
absorption costing.
8.3 A Statement (i) is correct. The materials requisition note specifies the job number to be charged
with the cost of the materials issued.
Statement (ii) is incorrect. A job cost will contain actual costs for material and labour, and non-
production overheads are often added as a percentage of total production cost. However,
production overheads are usually charged to jobs using a pre-determined overhead absorption
rate because it is not possible to identify the actual overhead cost of each job.
Therefore the correct answer is A.
8.4 D
Dept A Dept B Total
$ $ $
Direct materials 5,000 3,000 8,000
Direct labour ($4/$5 per hour) 1,600 1,000 2,600
Production overhead ($4 per hour) 1,600 800 2,400
Absorption production cost 13,000
Other overheads 2,600
Cost of the job 15,600
If you selected option A you forgot to add administration overhead.
If you selected option B you forgot to add the production overhead.
If you selected option C you used a labour rate of $4 per hour for department B.

97
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

8.5 C Overhead = 984  $126,000


984+140+580
= 984  $126,000
1,704
= $72,761
Option A is the overhead that should be added to Job AA10.
Option B is the overhead that should be added to Job BB15.
Option D is the total overhead for the period, but some of this cost should be charged to the other
two jobs.
8.6 C Job BB15
$
Opening WIP 42,790
Labour for period 3,500
Overheads ( 140  126,000) 10,352
1,704
Total costs 56,642

If you selected option A you forgot to add on opening WIP.


If you selected option B you forgot to add on overheads.
If you selected option D you added the overhead for CC20 instead.
8.7 C Job number WIP
AA10 $
Opening WIP 26,800
Material added 17,275
Labour for the period 14,500
Overhead ( 580  126,000) 42,887
1,704
101,462
Option A is the direct cost of job AA10, with no addition for overhead.
Option B is the opening WIP plus the overhead for job AA10 only.
Option D omits the labour cost.
8.8 C Total labour cost = $12,500 + $23,000 + $4,500 = $40,000
$140,000
Overhead absorption rate =  100% = 350% of direct labour
$40,000
cost
Closing work in progress valuation
Job 1 Job 2 Total
$ $ $
Costs given in question 38,150 52,025 90,175
Overhead absorbed
($12,500  350%) 43,750 ($23,000  350%) 80,500 124,250
214,425
Option A is the costs given in the question, with no overhead absorbed. If you selected option B
you calculated the correct amount for overhead absorbed, but forgot to add the costs given in the
question. If you selected option D you added all of the overhead to the jobs in progress, but some
of the overhead must be absorbed by the completed job 3.

98
ANSWERS

8.9 C $
Opening WIP 46,000
Labour for period 4,500
Overhead absorbed ($4,500  350%) 15,750
Total production cost 66,250
Unit cost per circuit board = $66,250  2,400 $27.60
Option B is the cost per unit without the inclusion of any overhead absorbed. If you selected
option A you excluded the opening WIP cost.
8.10 C Since wages are paid on a piecework basis they are a variable cost which will increase in line
with the number of binders. The machine set-up cost and design costs are fixed costs for each
batch which will not be affected by the number of binders in the batch.
For a batch of 300 binders:
$
Direct materials (30 × 3) 90.00
Direct wages (10 × 3) 30.00
Machine set up 3.00
Design and artwork 15.00
Production and selling overhead (30 × 20%) 6.00
Total cost 144.00
If you selected option A you treated all of the costs as fixed costs.
If you selected option B you absorbed on 20% of materials costs.
If you selected option D you treated all of the costs as variable costs.
8.11 B $
Salary costs: senior consultant (86  $20) 1,720
junior time (220  $15) 3,300
Overhead absorbed (306 hours  $12.50) 3,825
Total cost 8,845
If you selected option A you did not include any absorbed overhead in your total cost. Option C is
the result if you confused senior consultant and junior time hours, and if you selected option D
you used 682 senior consultant hours rather than 86.
8.12 B An equivalent unit calculation is used in process costing to value any incomplete units within
work in progress and losses.
Option A describes the output from any process, where all completed units are identical.
Option C describes a cost unit, and D describes a standard hour.
8.13 C Cost per unit in closing inventory = $(4.50 + 1.25 + 2.50) = $8.25
Number of units in closing inventory = 13,500 – 11,750 = 1,750 units
 Value of closing inventory = 1,750 units  $8.25 = $14,437.50
Option A applies a unit rate of $3.75, ie omitting the cost of the raw material transferred into the
process. Option B applies a unit rate of $7, omitting the additional material added. Option D
applies a unit rate of $14.50, ie all of the unit rates supplied in the question. The work in
progress should be valued at the rate per incomplete unit in respect of labour and overheads.
8.14 C Work in progress = 300 litres input – 250 litres to finished goods
= 50 litres
Equivalent litres for each cost element are as follows.
Material Conversion costs
% Equiv. % Equiv.
litres litres
50 litres in progress 100 50 50 25

99
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Option A is incorrect because it assumes that the units in progress are only 50 per cent complete
with respect to materials. Option B has transposed the information concerning the two cost
elements. If you selected option D you calculated the correct number of litres in progress but you
did not take account of their degree of completion.
8.15 C Calculate the cost per equivalent unit
Input Equivalent
production Cost per
Cost in units unit
$ $
Materials 9,000 500 18
Labour 11,520 480 24
42

Calculate total cost of output


Cost of completed units = $42 × 400 units = $16,800
If you selected option B you did not allow for the fact that the work in progress was incomplete.
Option D is the total process cost for the period, some of which must be allocated to the work in
progress. Option A results from treating both labour and materials as having equivalent units of 480
units.
8.16 C 340 litres represents 90% of the input. 340/0.9 = 378 litres to the nearest litre.
8.17 C
Total Materials Conversion costs
Kgs Kgs Kgs
Output 150 150 (100%) 150 (100%)
WIP 400 300 (75%) 200 (50%)
550 450 350

8.18 B Raw materials per unit = $12,800/(3,600 + 400) = $3.20


Conversion costs per unit = $18,430/((3,600 + (70%  400)) = $4.75
Total production cost per unit = $3.20 + $4.75 = $7.95
8.19 B If the percentage completion of WIP is understated, when corrected, it will have to be increased,
increasing the total value of WIP. Costs will be shared between more units so cost per unit will
decrease.
8.20 D
Total
kgs
Output 950
Loss (5%) 50
Input 1,000

The total cost of the inputs is $30,000 + $6,000 = $36,000


Cost per kg = 36,000 / 950 = $37.89
8.21 B
Total
Units
Output 425
Loss (15%) 75
Input 500

The total cost of the inputs is $27,800


Cost per unit = $27,800/425 units = $65.41
8.22 C Option A is a definition of job costing. Option D is a definition of process costing. Option B does
not define any particular costing method – it is a mixture of process and batch costing. Option C
is the definition of batch costing.

100
ANSWERS

8.23 B Overhead absorption rate for production departments:

Welding = $6,000 = $5 per labour hour


1,200
Assembly = $8,000 = $8 per labour hour
1,000

Total cost – Batch no 8008


$ $
Direct material 10,000
Direct labour 100  $7 = 700
250  $10 = 2,500
3,200
Direct expense 600
Prime cost 13,800
Overheads 100  5 = 500
250  8 = 2,000
2,500
Production cost 16,300
Selling and administrative cost (20% of production cost) 3,260
Total cost 19,560

$19,560
Cost per unit = = $78.24
250
8.24 C Option C would be suited to batch costing. The other three options are all suitable for process
costing.

9 The basics of using spreadsheets


9.1 C There is no point in devising a spreadsheet if you are not prepared to let it work for you, so
answers A and B are not appropriate.
9.2 C Answer B adds across the monthly net profit figures. Answer A subtracts the costs listed from fee
income in the year-to-date column. Answer D is effectively the same calculation as answer A.
Answer C is wrong: Excel requires an '=' sign to show that it is a formula.
9.3 A Answer B is incorrect because the formula overlooks the fact that operations in brackets are
performed first. Answer C would give the correct number, but does not make best use of the
spreadsheet because the cell would not be formatted to include a % sign. Answer D contains an
incorrect formula. Answer A contains the correct formula and the correct cell format.
9.4 D Putting a value in the cell, such as 2860, would mean that the cell was not updated to reflect
later changes to the spreadsheet.
9.5 C Options A and D would create a circular reference. Option B would not calculate 10% of the
subtotal of staff costs. Option C would calculate 10% of the subtotal.
9.6 A The correct formula is =D28+D18. Although D18+D28 looks the same, because it has no =
sign it is not treated as a formula. Both of the other options count sub totals as well as the cost
items.
9.7 B Formulae, text and numbers can be entered onto a spreadsheet.
9.8 A Cell C11 contains a total so AVERAGE is not a suitable function. Option D will create a circular
reference.
9.9 B Multisheet spreadsheets are not a formatting option.
9.10 B The formula bar displays the location of the active cell and the formula in the active cell.
9.11 B =SUM(E4:E8)
This formula will add up the values of XY in the column above to give a total.

101
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

9.12 B I and III only


=C4*117.5% adds 17.5% to the value in C4
9.13 D Both of the AVERAGE formulae (Options A and B) will give the same answer because the
AVERAGE function ignores blank cells. Option C is also a correct calculation of the average of a
12 month period. Option D will return a #VALUE! error.
9.14 B
9.15 A B and C are incorrect as if there is too much text for the size of the cell, it will spill into adjacent
cells if they are empty, or will be hidden by the contents of the adjacent cell. If a nonsensical
formula is entered into a cell, a different response will be given. For example, if your formula
results in a value being divided by 0, #DIV/0! will appear.
9.16 C
9.17 A
9.18 D
9.19 D All three are ways in which numbers can be formatted in spreadsheets.
9.20 A The multiplication will occur first before the subtraction of the value in D1.
9.21 A =B2*0.175. This formula multiplies the value in cell B2 by 0.175 (17.5%).
9.22 B #REF! will be displayed if a cell contains a formula that includes an invalid cell reference.
9.23 A Absolute cell referencing.
9.24 B Relative cell referencing.
9.25 A The default printing option in Excel is to print with a portrait orientation on A4 paper.
9.26 D =IF(E70>1600,(0.05*E70),0)
9.27 B Placing brackets around B43 to C45 will correct the error – without the brackets, the total cost of
the material used will be calculated incorrectly.
9.28 D A and B are incorrect as they calculate the price at 5%, rather than deducting the discount from
the price. C is incorrect as the discount is applied to orders below 1000 units by using the >
sign incorrectly.
9.29 C A and B are incorrect as they ignore the discount that this order qualifies for. D is incorrect as it
applies the price as though it were a price per unit when, in fact, the price given is per hundred
units.

102
ANSWERS

10 Using spreadsheets to present information


10.1 D No computer system knows exactly what you intended so can not make 100% accurate
connections.
10.2 B Spreadsheets can contain more than one worksheet, these are known as multi-sheet or 3D
spreadsheets.
10.3 B
10.4 A A simple bar chart will show this information, a component bar chart will not work as there are
no components of a total to be displayed, a pie chart is inappropriate as it is not intended to
show a proportion of a total. Comparing different ranges is not easily shown on a scatter graph.
10.5 D A sort, based on column G, should be performed.
10.6 B A line graph is the best way of illustrating a trend over time.
10.7 D Whilst only one figure needs to be re-entered: the new labour rate in C20, the figures in the other
cells will all change to reflect the new rate.
10.8 C B11 and B14 would have to be amended to the new value of 2.5. The values in D11 and D14
would then change as a result, as would the total, D16. The rate per hour referred to in cells C11
and C14 are unaffected.

10.9 C A smaller font size and a wider cell would allow more text to be included in the cell. Increasing
the row height will have no effect on the amount of text that can be included on one line.
10.10 C A spreadsheet would not be used for cost coding.
10.11 C Peter’s data would be best depicted in a pie chart as this will clearly show the production costs
for each of the products in the previous year.
10.12 D If materials costs are 18% of the total, then the total costs must be 100/18 × 63,000 =
350,000. Direct labour costs must therefore be 25% × 350,000 = $87,500.
10.13 D Bar charts are useful for demonstrating and comparing amounts or numbers of items.
10.14 A Spreadsheets are commonly used by management accountants to produce management
accounts, not financial accounts.
10.15 B Spreadsheets are not used for word processing.
10.16 B The net profit is the gross profit less expenses so the formula =C5-C6 can be used to get this
figure. Remember, the formula must always start with an equals sign.
10.17 B The SUM function in Excel is used to calculate totals. Formula =SUM(E4:E8) will give the total
XY value.
10.18 C A spreadsheet is unlikely to be used for writing a memo.
10.19 D Putting a value in the cell, such as 2860, would mean that the cell was not updated to reflect
later changes to the spreadsheet.
10.20 B In Excel, placing the $ sign in front of a cell reference makes that reference absolute. When you
move or copy a formula absolute cell references do not change.
10.21 A Pie chart.

103
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

11 Mixed bank I
11.1 B
11.2 C Data is entered into a cell.
11.3 D Passwords can be set to protect a cell, a worksheet or a workbook.
11.4 B This is the best definition of an office.
11.5 B Prime entry records exist to reduce the amount of detail recorded in the ledgers.
11.6 B The assembly department would be directly involved in production and therefore is not a service
cost centre.
11.7 B A scatter diagram will show the way in which the two variables vary with each other. The x axis
of the diagram would represent the independent variable (level of output) and the y axis would
represent the dependent variable (production cost).
11.8 D
$
Indirect workers – 38 hours  $5  10 1,900
6 hours  $7.50  10 450
Direct workers – overtime premium 6 hours  $2.50  20 300
2,650

11.9 C Splitting screen allows different parts of a worksheet to be viewed at the same time. Worksheets
can be split horizontally or vertically.
11.10 D LIFO will price closing inventory using the values of the earliest items received.
11.11 D The cost per unit will vary from period to period, and will decrease as activity rises. This is
because part of the period cost is fixed and will therefore decrease per unit as the level of activity
increases.
11.12 B
$
Cost of opening inventory (500 × $5.10) 2,550
Cost of purchases (150 × $5.60) + (204 × $5.25) 1,911
Total cost 4,461

Total units (opening inventory + purchases) = 500 + 150 + 204 = 854


Periodic weighted average = $4,461 / 854 = $5.22
Closing inventory (units) = 500 + 150 – 325 + 204 – 175 = 354
Closing inventory (value) = $5.22 × 354 = $1,848
11.13 C B2:C6 is the correct range as the total should be excluded.
11.14 B Codes do not need to be complex or a mix of numbers and letters, but they should be consistent.
11.15 B
$
Direct material P (500 litres × $4.50) 2,250
Direct material Q (750 – 70 litres × $5.50) 3,740
Total cost 5,990

11.16 D Periodic reconciliations are a feature of interlocking accounts.


11.17 A Material used in production = 6,200 × 0.8 kg = 4,960 kg
But inventory has been reduced by 380 kg, so material purchased
= 4,960 – 380 = 4,580 kg
11.18 C Only materials requisitions and goods received notes would be used for this purpose.

104
ANSWERS

11.19 C A car repairer will have separate jobs and so job costing would be appropriate.
11.20 D Cleaning materials should be coded as indirect materials.
11.21 C Changes in raw material or expenditure on variable manufacturing costs in excess of budget
would not affect reported profit under absorption costing relative to marginal costing.
Over-absorption of fixed production overhead would not affect the total amount of costs charged,
but only they are charged.
11.22 D Option A would calculate the gross sales price, option D calculates the sales tax of 17.5% of the
net price.
11.23 C This option would calculate the sales tax, not the gross sales price.

12 Mixed bank II
12.1 B Bar chart.
12.2 A Inflexibility can be a disadvantage particularly in a changing environment.
12.3 C Real-time systems are updated immediately, so are always up to date.
12.4 D Looking at profit per product line stocked would mean the range of goods can be evaluated and
decisions made as to whether to continue to stock them.
12.5 C Small consumables such as staples are often treated as indirect costs.
12.6 D
12.7 B Multisheet (3D) spreadsheets.
12.8 C
12.9 C A materials requisition is used.
12.10 A Gross profit is $10,000 - $6,000 = $4,000.
Gross profit / Sales = 4,000 / 10,000 = 40%
12.11 B
Total
Date Received Issued Balance inventory value Unit cost
Units Units Units $ $
Opening inventory 250 750 3.00
5 July 100 305 3.05
350 1,055 3.01
9 July 50 (151) 3.01
300 904 3.01
14 July 100 308 3.08
400 1,212 3.03
26 July 200 (606) 3.03

Closing inventory 200 606 3.03


value

12.12 D (630 hours ÷ 0.9) × $12 per hour = $8,400


12.13 B The process supervisor should be coded as indirect labour.
12.14 C Of all the options this is the best description of a cost unit.
12.15 B Maintenance staff would be an indirect labour cost.
12.16 C Budgeted overheads / budgeted machine hours = 24,760 / 450 = $55.02
12.17 D A profit centre is a part of the business which has both revenues and costs, but does not make
investment decisions.

105
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

12.18 D Purchases = (number of units produced × 5kg) + Increase in inventory


Purchases = 3,000 × 5kg + 250 kg = 12,250kg
12.19 D An interlocking bookkeeping system is where separate accounts are kept for cost accounting and
financial accounting with regular reconciliations between the two.
12.20 D All of these are uses for multi-sheet (3D) spreadsheets.

106
Mock Exams

107
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

108
Foundations in Accountancy
MA1
Management Information

Mock Examination 1
(Specimen Exam June 2014)

Question Paper

Time allowed 2 hours

ALL FIFTY questions are compulsory and MUST be answered

DO NOT OPEN THIS PAPER UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO START UNDER
EXAMINATION CONDITIONS

109
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

110
MOCK EXAM 1 (SPECIMEN EXAM JUNE 2014) // QUESTIONS

1 Which of the following may be a cost centre?


A One of the hotels owned by a leisure company
B The accountancy department in a business
C The direct material cost of a product
D The total depreciation expense of a business (2 marks)

2 All of a company’s workers are paid the same hourly rate.


The following spreadsheet is to be used to calculate wages earned by different workers each week. A
formula is entered in cell B4 and then a fill command is used to copy this formula into cells C4 to G4.

Which of the following formulae should be entered into cell B4 prior to using the fill command to make
sure that the correct formulae is used for cells C4 to G4?
A =B1*B3
B =$B$1*B3
C =B1*$B$3
D =$B$1*$B*$3 (2 marks)

3 There was no work-in-progress in a manufacturing process at the start of a period. 18,000 units of a
product commenced processing in the period during which completed output was 16,100 units. The
work-in-progress was 75% complete for conversion costs which were $4.60 per equivalent unit. There
were no losses or gains in the process
What amount was included in the closing work-in-progress for conversion costs?
A $6,555
B $8,740
C $11,653
D $18,515 (2 marks)

4 Which of the following statements is true?


A Information consists of raw facts that have not been processed
B Data consists of information
C Data consists of processed information
D Information consists of data which has been processed in a predefined way (2 marks)

5 For which of the following tasks would a computer spreadsheet be most useful?
A Cost coding structure
B Product listing
C Staff appraisal
D Cost analysis (2 marks)

111
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

6 Receipts and issues of a raw material for a period were:


units $ per unit cumulative total $
Day 1 balance 160 3.70 592
Day 3 receipt 230 3.60 1,420
Day 5 issue 110
Day 8 issue 150
Using the LIFO inventory pricing method, what is the total cost of the issue on Day 8?
A $540
B $543
C $545
D $555 (2 marks)

7 Product X is manufactured by Y Co. Direct materials cost $6.10 and prime costs total $9.60 per unit of
product. Production overheads are absorbed at a rate of $13.40 per machine hour. Two units of product
X are manufactured per machine hour.
Using absorption costing, what is the total production cost per unit of product X?
A $16.30
B $22.40
C $23.00
D $29.10 (2 marks)

8 Which of the following is a major advantage of the use of computer spreadsheets in management
accounting?
A Formulas are consistent in that they usually appear as numbers
B They can be printed and hard copies filed
C They can be used to record the cost coding structure
D What-if analysis can be carried out easily and quickly (2 marks)

9 Product X requires 1.8 kg of a raw material per finished unit. The material has a weight loss of 10% in
preparation for manufacture. Inventory of the material is currently 420 kg but needs to be increased to
500 kg. 2,000 units of Product X are to be manufactured.
How many kg of the raw material need to be purchased to satisfy the above requirements?
A 3,880
B 3,920
C 4,040
D 4,080 (2 marks)

10 At the end of a period the percentage completion of the work-in-progress in a continuous manufacturing
process was over estimated.
What effect would correction of the error have on the cost per equivalent unit and the total cost of
output completed in the period?
Unit cost Cost of output
A Decrease Decrease
B Decrease Increase
C Increase Decrease
D Increase Increase (2 marks)

11 What is the purpose of prime entry records?


A Assist the preparation of a trial balance
B Prevent unnecessary detail in the ledgers
C Provide a check on the double-entry bookkeeping
D Provide a list of outstanding payments (2 marks)

112
MOCK EXAM 1 (SPECIMEN EXAM JUNE 2014) // QUESTIONS

12 The following scatter graph plots nine observed sets of data from a factory.

Which term would BEST describe the behaviour of total labour cost?
A Fixed cost
B Stepped – fixed cost
C Semi-variable cost
D Variable cost (2 marks)

13 A production operative is paid $11.00 per hour for a basic 35-hour week. Overtime is paid at 40% over
the basic rate. The operative worked for 38 hours in week 9. Income tax deducted was $76.40 and
benefit contribution payments were:
Employer $40
Employee 10% of gross pay
What was the net pay of the operative in week 9?
A $271.68
B $311.68
C $316.30
D $319.29 (2 marks)

14 No losses or gains occur in a manufacturing process. There was no work-in-progress at the start of a
period during which 9,600 litres of a raw material were input to the process. 8,700 litres of finished
product were output from the process in the period. The stage of completion of the work-in-progress
was:
Materials 100%
Conversion costs 60%
What were the equivalent units of production in the period?
Materials Conversion costs
A 8,700 8,700
B 8,700 9,060
C 9,600 9,240
D 9,600 9,600 (2 marks)

15 Using marginal costing, what is the basis for valuing inventory goods in a manufactured business?
A Direct + indirect production costs
B Prime costs + total variable costs
C Prime costs + variable production overheads
D Production costs + variable non-production costs (2 marks)

113
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

16 Which is a time sheet used for?


A To calculate pay only
B To charge cost centres for work done only
C To record attendance time
D To calculate pay and to charge cost centres for work done (2 marks)

17 Which of the following documents will MOST help a sales manager to monitor the effectiveness of a
sales team?
A A monthly report comparing sales targets with actual results
B The sales department’s organisational chart
C A monthly report analysing the reasons for customer complaints
D The completion of appraisal interview forms (2 marks)

18 The following financial figures relate to Jolly Co for a year:


20X2
$
Sales 50,000
Cost of sales (10,000)
Gross profit 40,000
Expenses (15,000)
Net profit 25,000
Capital employed 100,000
What is the asset turnover rate for 20X2?
A 0.8 times
B 0.4 times
C 2 times
D 0.5 times (2 marks)

19 The following spreadsheet shows a company’s budgeted income statement for the coming period.
A B C D E
1 Budgeted Income
Statement
2 Period 2
3 Division A Division B Division C Total
4 Sales Revenue 5,000 6,000 8,000 19,000
5 Variable costs 1,500 1,800 2,400 5,700
6 Contribution 3,500 4,200 5,600 13,300
7 Fixed cost 2,000 3,000 4,000 9,000
8 Profit 1,500 1,200 1,600 4,300
9
10
Which of the following formulae is correct for calculating the value of cell E8?
A =Sum(B8:D8)
B Sum(B8:D8)
C =Sum (E4:E7)
D Sum (E4:E7) (2 marks)

20 Which activity is LEAST likely to be the responsibility of the accounting function of a large organisation?
A Calculation of wages
B Control of trade receivables
C Dispatch of customer orders
D Payment of trade payables (2 marks)

114
MOCK EXAM 1 (SPECIMEN EXAM JUNE 2014) // QUESTIONS

21 A spreadsheet includes the following pie chart to analyse a company’s total manufacturing cost for a
period. The company’s production overhead in the period was $124,700.

What are the total direct costs?


A $43,645
B $52,374
C $53,750
D $90,300 (2 marks)

22 A business has the following results


$
Sales 100,000
Cost of sales (20,000)
Gross profit 80,000
Expenses (30,000)
Net profit 50,000
What is the net profit margin for the business?
A 50%
B 80%
C 62.5%
D 200% (2 marks)

23 What is the effect of using brackets in a spreadsheet formula?


A Division and multiplications are calculated before additions and subtractions
B Additions and subtractions are calculated before divisions and multiplications
C The contents of the brackets are calculated first
D The contents of the brackets are calculated first (2 marks)

24 A differential piecework payment scheme applies to direct workers in a production cost centre, subject to
a guaranteed minimum wage of $50 per day. The differential rates for output each day are:
up to 100 units $0.50 per unit
excess over 100 units $0.60 per unit
A worker produced the following over a three-day period:
Day 1 100 units
Day 2 90 units
Day 3 110 units (2 marks)

115
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

What is the worker’s total wages for the three days?


A $151
B $156
C $161
D $166 (2 marks)

25 What is the purpose of an organisation chart?


A To demonstrate formal relationships and communication flows
B To demonstrate the filling and coding systems used
C To map where each department and function is located
D To set out production schedules for a period (2 marks)

26 A manufacturer absorbs production overheads into the cost of jobs as a percentage of actual direct
labour cost. Two jobs were worked on during a period:
Job 1 ($) Job 2 ($)
Opening work-in-progress 5,269 -
Direct materials in the period 10,726 4,652
Direct labour in the period 4,360 2,940
Production overheads of $9,855 were incurred in the period. Job 2 was completed in the period.
What is the value of work in progress at the end of the period?
A $20,972
B $24,941
C $26,241
D $20,355 (2 marks)

27 A Management Accountant wishes to present the following spreadsheet information in a chart.


Direct cost Production Non-production Total cost
overheads overheads
Factory 1 80 30 30 140
Factory 2 200 50 40 290
Factory 3 70 20 40 130
She is considering using the following charts:
(i) Scatter diagram
(ii) Line chart
(iii) Stacked (compound) bar chart
Which chart(s) would be most appropriate?
A (i) and (iii)
B (ii)
C (iii)
D (i) and (ii) only (2 marks)

116
MOCK EXAM 1 (SPECIMEN EXAM JUNE 2014) // QUESTIONS

28 The following indirect costs were incurred in a factory in a period:


Rental of premises $80,000
Utilities $25,000
There are two cost centres, A and B, in the factory which between them occupy the 20,000 square
metres (sq m) of floor space (cost centre A, 8,000 sq m; cost centre B, 12,000 sq m).
What is the total indirect cost apportionment to cost centre B in the period if floor space is used as the
basis of apportionment?
A $42,000
B $52,500
C $63,000
D $105,00 (2 marks)

29 You have been asked to write a report outlining the qualities of good information.
Which of the following would you not include in the report?
A The information should be complete
B The information should be communicated via an appropriate channel
C The information should be understandable
D The information should be communicated to everyone in the organisation (2 marks)

30 In an interlocking accounting system what would be the entry for the issue of indirect material?
A Dr Raw material inventory Cr Work in progress
B Dr Raw material inventory Cr Production overhead
C Dr Work in progress Cr Raw material inventory
D Dr Production overhead Cr Raw material inventory (2 marks)

31 A coding system uses a combination of letters and numbers to classify costs. The first two digits of each
code represent the cost centre, the third and fourth digits represent the type of expense and the fifth and
sixth digits represent the detail of the expense.
Relevant codes for a particular expense are:
code
Selling expense 24
Northern division ND
Commission SC
What is the correct code for the above expense?
A SC24ND
B NDSC24
C ND24SC
D 24SCND (2 marks)

32 Which of the following are reasons for formatting data in a spreadsheet?


(1) To get data into the correct order for analysis
(2) To make labels visually interesting
(3) To make numbers more descriptive of what they represent
(4) To make the data appear as plain text
A 1 and 3 only
B 2 and 3 only
C 2 and 4 only
D 1, 2 and 3 (2 marks)

117
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

33 Direct operatives in a factory are paid on a time rate basis for a 35-hour week.
If productivity can be improved what will happen to direct labour costs per unit of output?
A Decrease
B Increase
C No change
D Not possible to determine from the information provided (2 marks)

34 Which of the following statements concerning spreadsheet cells are correct?


(1) A formula in a particular cell may calculate numbers for several cells
(2) Clicking on a particular cell, and then entering a number or text, will enter data into that single
cell
(3) Each cell can contain a number, a label or a formula
(4) Press Shift and Enter to select the cell below in the same column
A 1, 2 and 4
B 1, 3 and 4
C 2 and 3 only
D 3 and 4 only (2 marks)

35 Which of the following statements concerning the recording and analysis of sales are TRUE?
(1) The sales figure that should be taken from an invoice is net of both trade discount and sales tax
(2) Sales may be analysed in a number of different ways for management accounting purposes
A Both 1 and 2
B 1 only
C 2 only
D Neither 1 nor 2 (2 marks)

36 Which of the following are features of useful management information?


(1) Communicated to the right person
(2) Provided whatever the cost
(3) Sufficiently accurate for its cost
A (1) only
B (1) and (3) only
C (2) and (3) only
D (1), (2) and (3) (2 marks)

37 Which item would most likely be treated as an indirect cost by a furniture manufacturer?
A Fabric to cover the seat of a chair
B Metal used for the legs of a chair
C Staples to fit the fabric to the seat of a chair
D Wood used to make the frame of a chair (2 marks)

38 Which of the following is TRUE about the effect of different methods of pricing raw materials from
inventory in a period of consistently rising prices?
(1) Production costs will be higher using FIFO rather than LIFO
(2) Closing inventory values will be lower periodic weighted average rather than cumulative weighted
average
A 1 only
B 2 only
C Both statements
D Neither statement (2 marks)

118
MOCK EXAM 1 (SPECIMEN EXAM JUNE 2014) // QUESTIONS

39 In an inventory control system, what is normally meant by free inventory?


A Inventory which is available for new orders from customers
B Inventory which is available for promotional offers
C Inventory which is in transit from supplier to warehouse
D Inventory which is in transit from warehouse to customer (2 marks)

40 What is the charging of an overhead cost directly to a cost centre known as?
A Overhead absorption
B Overhead allocation
C Overhead apportionment
D Overhead assignment (2 marks)

41 Which of the following states the responsibility of the manager of a profit centre?
A Responsibility for revenues but not costs
B Responsibility for costs but not revenues
C Responsibility for revenues and costs
D Responsibility for revenues, costs (2 marks)

42 Which of the following defines cost classification?


A The grouping of costs according to their common characteristics
B The allotment of items of cost to cost centres
C The sum of all costs incurred
D The use by several companies of the same costing methods (2 marks)

43 Which of the following are correct descriptions applied to computer spreadsheets?


(1) An entire page of rows and columns is called a workbook
(2) Each row is identified by a letter
(3) Data is organised in rows and columns
(4) The intersection of each row and column defines a cell
A 1 and 2 only
B 2 and 4 only
C 3 and 4 only
D 1, 2, 3 and 4 (2 marks)

44 Production labour costs incurred during a period included the following items:
(1) Salary of factory manager $2,400
(2) Training of direct workers $1,660
(3) Normal idle time $840
(4) Overtime premiums of direct workers $2,760
(5) Overtime hours of direct workers at basic rate $9,200
What total amount would usually be charged to production overhead for the above items?
A $4,060
B $4,900
C $7,660
D $16,860 (2 marks)

119
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

45 Which of the following are features of an efficient and effective coding system?
(1) Each item should have a unique code
(2) Each code should contain a combination of letters and numbers
(3) Each code should completely disguise the item being coded
(4) Codes should not be uniform in length and structure
A 1 only
B 1 and 2 only
C 1, 3 and 4 only
D 2, 3 and 4 only (2 marks)

46 Which of the following is normally treated as a direct labour cost?


A Controllable idle time
B Uncontrollable idle time
C Overtime premium due to a temporary backlog in production
D Overtime premium at the specific request of a customer (2 marks)

47 25,000 units of a company’s single product are produced in a period during which 28,000 units are
sold. Opening inventory was 7,000 units. Unit costs of the product are:
$ per unit
Direct costs 16.20
Fixed production overhead 7.60
Fixed non-production overhead 2.90
What is the difference in profit between absorption and marginal costing?
A $22,800
B $30,400
C $31,500
D $42,000 (2 marks)

48 A sales representative earns a basic salary of $10,000 per annum, a guaranteed end-of-year bonus of
$5,000 and 5% commission on the value of sales.
What cost classification is appropriate for the sales representative’s salary?
A Direct Cost
B Product cost
C Semi-fixed cost
D Prime cost (2 marks)

49 Consider the following tasks:


(1) Setting selling prices for products and services
(2) Analysing departmental expenditure for control purposes
(3) Calculating the quantity of raw materials in store
(4) Calculating wages for employees working on special shifts
Which tasks are likely to be carried out by a trainee accountant?
A 1 and 2 only
B 1, 3 and 4 only
C 2, 3 and 4 only
D 1, 2, 3 and 4 (2 marks)

120
MOCK EXAM 1 (SPECIMEN EXAM JUNE 2014) // QUESTIONS

50 TRS CONSULTANTS Co
31 Oxford Avenue
Milton Mewbury
Lincolnshire
Invoice number: 9911
Date: 25 February 20X1
Customer:
Jacqueline Smith
ACCA
2 Central Quay
Glasgow
G3 8BW
Item:
Accountancy training $1,500 00
In the integrated computerised accounts of TRS Consultants Co, which of the following is correct?
A The bank account will be credited
B The sales account will be debited
C Trade payable control account will be debited
D Trade receivable control account will be debited (2 marks)

121
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

122
Answers to
Specimen Exam June 2014

123
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

124
MOCK EXAM 1 (SPECIMEN EXAM JUNE 2014) // ANSWERS

1 B Expenses and costs cannot be cost centres and a hotel is likely to be broken down into several
cost centres.
2 B
3 A (18,000 -16,100) × 0.75 = 1,425 equivalent units
1,425 × $4.60 = $6,555
4 D Information is processed data.
5 D
6 B ((230 – 110) × $3.60) + (150 – (230 – 110)) × $3.70 = $543
7 A $9.60 + ($13.40 / 2) = $16.30 (Prime cost includes direct material costs)
8 D
9 D Due to 10% loss 2 kg are require per unit of product × (2 kg – (0.1 × 2 kg)) = 1.8 kg
2,000 units to be produced = 2,000 × 2 = 4,000 kg
Inventory to be increased by (500 – 420) = 80 kg
Total to purchase = 4,000 + 8 = 4,080 kg
10 D Correcting the error means less units were produced, therefore cost per unit increases. This
means the cost of output will also increase.
11 B
12 C At low output there is still a cost, suggesting a fixed charge as well as a variable element as costs
increase, in total, with output.
13 B
$
Basic pay (35 × 11) 385.00
Overtime (3 × 11 × 1.4) 46.20
Gross pay 431.20
Income tax (76.40)
Benefit contribution (0.1 × 431.20) (43.12)
Net pay 311.68

14 C
Material cost Conversion costs
Finished goods 8,700 8,700
WIP 900 100% complete 540 (900 × 0.6) as
60% complete
Total 9,600 9,240

15 C
16 D Time sheets have more than one purpose
17 A
18 D Asset turnover = (Sales / Capital employed)
Asset turnover = (50,000 / 100,000) = 0.5
19 A The space in option C means the formula would not work.
20 C Customer orders are more likely to be dispatched from a warehouse.
21 D 124,700/0.58 = 215,000
215,000 × (0.23 + 0.12 + 0.07) = 90,300

125
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

22 A Net profit margin = (Net profit / Sales)


Net profit margin = 50,000/100,000 = 0.5 or 50%
23 C
24 B
$
Day 1 (100 × 0.5) = $50 50
Day 2 (90 × 0.5) = $45 but $50 minimum 50
Day 3 (100 × 0.5) + (10 × 0.6) 56
Total 156

25 A
26 C Apportion the production overhead by direct labour cost
Overhead for Job 1
$9,855 × 4,360/(4,360 + 2,940) = $5,886
Cost of Job 1
$5,886 + $5,269 + $10,726 + $4,360 = $26,241
27 C Only the compound bar chart will show this information in a meaningful way.
28 C
$
Rent (12,000/20,000) × 80,000 48,000
Utilities (12,000/20,000) × 25,000 15,000
Total 63,000

29 D
30 D The issue of indirect material should be debited to production overhead.
31 C
32 B

33 A If productivity improves, more products are produced in the same time and therefore direct labour
costs per unit of output will decrease.

34 C A formula in a cell will only calculate a value for that cell. Pressing shift and enter together will
select the cell above in the same column.
35 A Both statements are true.
36 B
37 C
38 B Under FIFO the older and cheaper units are used in production first so production costs are lower
than under LIFO.
Under periodic weighted average method, since issues to production are not considered, this will
give a lower value of inventory in a period of rising material prices.
39 A
40 B
41 C
42 A
43 C Rows are identified by numbers.
44 C Overtime at the basic rate would not be charged to production overheads. All other items would.

126
MOCK EXAM 1 (SPECIMEN EXAM JUNE 2014) // ANSWERS

(2,400 + 1,660 + 840 + 2,760) = $7,660


45 A Codes do not have to be a combination of letters and numbers (although it may be useful to aid
memory) and codes should not disguise the item. Codes should be uniform in length to help
prevent errors in coding.
46 D
47 A
48 C This is a cost with a fixed and variable element and so is a semi-fixed cost.
49 C A trainee accountant would not set a selling price.
50 D The issuing of a sales invoice will lead to the accounting double entry
Dr Receivables
Cr Sales

127
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

128
Mock Exam 2

129
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

130
Foundations in Accountancy
MA1
Management Information

Mock Examination 2

Question Paper

Time allowed 2 hours

ALL FIFTY questions are compulsory and MUST be answered

DO NOT OPEN THIS PAPER UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO START UNDER
EXAMINATION CONDITIONS

131
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

132
MOCK EXAM 2 // QUESTIONS

1 What is a cost unit?


A The cost per hour of operating a machine
B The cost per unit of electricity consumed
C A unit of product or service in relation to which costs are ascertained
D A measure of work output in a standard hour (2 marks)

2 Gross wages incurred in department 1 in June were $54,000. The wages analysis shows the following
summary breakdown of the gross pay.
Paid to Paid to
direct labour indirect labour
$ $
Ordinary time 25,185 11,900
Overtime: basic pay 5,440 3,500
premium 1,360 875
Shift allowance 2,700 1,360
Sick pay 1,380 300
36,065 17,935

What is the direct wages cost for department 1 in June?


A $25,185
B $30,625
C $34,685
D $36,065 (2 marks)

3 Why is the process of cost apportionment carried out?


A Costs may be controlled
B Cost units gather overheads as they pass through cost centres
C Whole items of cost can be charged to cost centres
D Common costs are shared among cost centres (2 marks)

4 For which of the following would a production line manager be responsible?


A Labour hours worked and raw material prices
B Labour hours worked and raw material usage
C Labour rates and raw material prices
D Labour rates and raw material usage (2 marks)

5 Which of the following items are contained in a typical job cost?


(i) Actual material cost
(ii) Actual manufacturing overheads
(iii) Absorbed manufacturing overheads
(iv) Actual labour cost
A (iii) and (iv) only
B (i), (ii) and (iv) only
C (i), (iii) and (iv) only
D (i) and (iv) only (2 marks)

6 Which of the following statements does not apply to real time systems?
A Output can be simultaneous with input
B Updates are via batch processing
C On-line input, queries and processing are possible
D Continually changing data is received (2 marks)

133
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

7 Which of the following options is not a number format available in Excel?


A Currency
B Accounting
C General
D Fixed (2 marks)

8
A B C D
1 Unit selling price $65 Annual volume 10,000
2
3 Seasonal variations
4 Quarter 1 -20%
5 Quarter 2 -35%
6 Quarter 3 10%
7 Quarter 4 45%
8
Quarterly Quarterly
9 Sales budgets Seasonal variations (units) volume turnover
10 Quarter 1 2,500
11 Quarter 2 3,000
12 Quarter 3 2,000
13 Quarter 4 2,500
14
In the above spreadsheet the cell D10 shows the turnover in Quarter 1.
Which of the following would be a suitable formula for this cell?
A =D1*B1
B =C10-B10
C =C10*B1
D =(C10+B10)*B1 (2 marks)

9 The following information is contained in a spreadsheet.

A B C D
1 Product List price (net) Sales tax Gross
2 line $ $ $
3
4 Buster 294.00 51.45 345.45
5 Crusty 362.50 63.44 425.94
6 Dibble 88.20 15.44 103.64
7
A trainee accountant wants to produce a bar chart containing the sales tax and gross sales price
information.
Which range of cells needs to be selected to do this?
A B4:C6
B B4:D6
C C4:D4
D C4:D6 (2 marks)

134
MOCK EXAM 2 // QUESTIONS

10 In a manufacturing process, 8,800 kg of a raw material were input in a particular period. There are no
losses or gains from the process. 7,700 kg of finished output are completed in the period. There was no
opening work in progress. The work-in progress at the end of the period had the following stage of
completion.
Materials 100%
Conversion costs 45%
What were the equivalent units of production in the period?
Materials Conversion costs
A 7,700 7,700
B 7,700 8,195
C 8,800 8,800
D 8,800 8,195 (2 marks)

11 Employee H works a basic 37-hour week and is employed on product manufacture. He is paid at a rate
of $11 per hour for the basic hours with a premium of 30% for any overtime hours. Employee H worked
5 overtime hours in Week 7 to satisfy sales demand.
What amount, out of the total gross wages for Employee H in Week 7, should be charged as direct
labour cost?
A $407.00
B $462.00
C $478.50
D $423.50 (2 marks)

12 What type of cost is a production supervisor salary, where one supervisor is needed for every ten
production workers?
A Variable cost
B Fixed cost
C Semi-variable cost
D Stepped fixed cost (2 marks)

13 Which of the following statements concerning the difference between management accounts and
financial accounts is incorrect?
A Financial accounts are governed by strict accounting rules and regulations, management accounts
are not
B There is a legal requirement for management accounts
C Management accounts are often required for individual divisions and/or products whereas
financial accounts usually cover the whole company
D Management accounts are mainly for internal purposes whereas financial accounts are mainly for
external purposes (2 marks)

14 Which of the following options shows three key purposes of management accounting?
A Planning, control and decision making
B Publication, control and decision making
C Decision making, negotiating and resourcing
D Planning, negotiation and resourcing (2 marks)

15 Which of the following is not true of good management information?


A Must be as accurate as required for its purpose
B Must be computerised
C Must be cost-effective
D Must be relevant (2 marks)

135
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

16 Which of the following would be data rather than information?


A Salesman's commission as a percentage of total sales
B Total sales per product as a percentage of total sales
C Sales increase/decrease per product in the month
D Total sales value per day (2 marks)

17 Which of the following options is not a reason for having a policy manual for an organisation?
A To eliminate thought and flexibility
B To help new employees understand policies and procedures
C To record health and safety procedures
D To set out authorisation policies (2 marks)

18 How would facts and figures that have been processed, analysed and communicated to another party be
properly described?
A Information
B Data
C Neither Information nor Data
D Both Information and Data (2 marks)

19 Which of the following is internal information within a purchasing function or department?


A Supplier's price list
B Purchase invoices
C Purchase requisitions
D Delivery notes (2 marks)

20 When deciding on an appropriate channel or format for communication, which factors should be
considered?
(i) Cost
(ii) Speed of delivery
(iii) Complexity
(iv) Number of recipients
A (i) and (ii) only
B (ii) and (iv) only
C (ii), (iii) and (iv) only
D (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) (2 marks)

Questions 21 to 23 refer to the spreadsheet shown below


A B C D
1 Unit selling price $65 Annual volume 10,000
2
3 Seasonal variations
4 Quarter 1 -20%
5 Quarter 2 -35%
6 Quarter 3 10%
7 Quarter 4 45%
8
Quarterly Quarterly
9 Sales budgets Seasonal variations (units) volume turnover
10 Quarter 1
11 Quarter 2
12 Quarter 3
13 Quarter 4
14

136
MOCK EXAM 2 // QUESTIONS

21 The cell B10 shows the seasonal variation in units for quarter 1.
Which of the following would be a suitable formula for this cell?
A =$D$1/4*B4
B =(D1/4)*B4
C =$D$1/4*B1
D =D1/4*$B$4 (2 marks)

22 The cell C10 shows the sales volume in units for Quarter 1.
Which of the following would be a suitable formula for this cell?
A =$D$4/1+B10
B =D1/4+$B$10
C =D1+B10
D =($D$1/4)+B10 (2 marks)

23 The cell D10 shows the turnover in Quarter 1.


Which of the following would be a suitable formula for this cell?
A =D1*$B$1
B =C10-B10
C =C10*$B$1
D =(C10+B10)*$B$1 (2 marks)

24 Which of the following is not normally a function of a purchasing department?


A Negotiating prices with suppliers
B Raising purchase orders
C Recording goods received into inventory
D Ensuring only authorised purchases are made (2 marks)

25 What is the double entry for the sale of goods on credit?


A Debit Sales
Credit Payables
B Debit Payables
Credit Sales
C Debit Sales
Credit Receivables
D Debit Receivables
Credit Sales (2 marks)

26 A telephone bill has been received with a line rental of $25 per month, and a charge per call of 5c.
Which is the best description of this telephone cost?
A A fixed cost
B A variable cost
C A stepped–fixed cost
D A mixed cost (2 marks)

27 A company has 3,050 litres of a raw material in inventory. It has a further 2,275 litres on order from its
supplier. 750 litres will be needed for a special job that has already been agreed with the customer.
What is the free inventory?
A 1,525 litres
B 3,050 litres
C 4,575 litres
D 6,075 litres (2 marks)

137
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

28 Which of the following departments is a production cost centre in a company producing milk in cartons?
A Stores
B Accounts
C Packaging
D Maintenance (2 marks)

29 A manager has responsibility for costs incurred, revenues earned and investment in non-current assets in
one area of a business.
This manager is responsible for which of the following?
A A cost centre
B A revenue centre
C A profit centre
D An investment centre (2 marks)

30 A company purchases and sells a range of bathroom accessories through a number of outlets throughout
a country. Management are considering the removal of some product lines.
Which of the following is most likely to be useful for this purpose?
A Sales by area of the country
B Sales by product line
C Contribution by area of the country
D Contribution by product line (2 marks)

31 Bloomsbury Co sell men's clothes through three different stores in London.


Bloomsbury use a seven character account coding convention – comprising the three digit store location,
followed by underscore, followed by the three digit product type. An extract from Bloomsbury's coding
list shows the following:
110 Sales: Holborn store
120 Sales: Kings Cross store
130 Sales: Waterloo store
001 Sales: jumpers
002 Sales: shirts
003 Sales: trousers
Which of the following is the code for sales of trousers at Holborn?
A 110_001
B 110_003
C 120_003
D 130_003 (2 marks)

32 Which of the following documents contains details of a payment being made?


A Goods received note
B Despatch note
C Sales invoice
D Remittance advice (2 marks)

33 A factory employs 25 direct production workers and 10 indirect staff. The standard working week is 40
hours. All staff are paid at the basic rate of $8 per hour with overtime paid at time and a half.
Last week all employees worked for 45 hours to meet general production requirements.
What is the direct labour charge for the week?
A $320
B $8,000
C $9,000
D $9,500 (2 marks)

138
MOCK EXAM 2 // QUESTIONS

34 What would be the most appropriate basis for apportioning the insurance costs of plant and machinery
to departments within a factory?
A Floor space (m2) occupied by each department
B Number of employees in each department
C Number of machines in each department
D Value of machines in each department (2 marks)

35 Which of the following is not a purpose of a jobcard?


A Providing information on the whereabouts of employees
B Authorising overtime payments
C Assisting coding of labour costs
D Ensuring time is recorded accurately (2 marks)

36 A sales invoice should be checked against which documents?


A Purchase requisition and goods received note
B Advice note and delivery note
C Goods received note and order form
D Sales order and despatch note (2 marks)

37 A manufacturing company has 20 employees, each paid a basic rate of $5 an hour. A standard working
week is 35 hours; overtime is paid at time and a quarter. Last week all employees worked 37 hours,
producing 3,000 units.
What is the total unit labour cost?
A $1.23/unit
B $1.25/unit
C $0.06/unit
D $1.54/unit (2 marks)

38 Which of the following are the elements of gross pay?


A Cash paid to employees
B Cash paid to employees plus income tax plus employer's benefit contribution
C Cash paid to employees plus income tax plus employee's benefit contribution
D Cash paid to employees plus income tax plus employee's and employer's benefit contribution
(2 marks)

39 A manufacturing company operates a piecework wage system. Each employee is paid $6.00 per unit for
the first 30 units they produce each week and $7.00 per unit for units in excess of this amount. There
are 50 employees.
Assuming each employee produces 37 units per week, what is the total unit labour cost?
A $6.00
B $6.05
C $6.19
D $7.00 (2 marks)

40 Under absorption costing, allocation is most likely to be used for which of the following overheads?
A Rent
B Department supervisor's salary
C Insurance
D Electricity (2 marks)

139
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

41 Each finished unit of Product X contains 1.4 litres of Material Y. 10% of material Y used is lost in
processing. Sales and production of Product X in a period were 21,000 and 20,200 units respectively.
What was the usage of Material Y in the period?
A 31,108 litres
B 31,422 litres
C 32,667 litres
D 28,280 litres (2 marks)

42 What is the double-entry, in an interlocking accounting system, for the purchase of raw materials on
credit?
Debit Credit
A Raw materials inventory Trade payables
B Trade payables Raw materials inventory
C Raw materials inventory Cost ledger control
D Cost ledger control Raw materials inventory
(2 marks)

43 The inventory record for Component C2 for a month shows:


Day Movement kg $ per kg
1 Balance 86 11.20
12 Receipt 200 11.90
14 Issue 174
18 Receipt 200 12.00
The periodic weighted average method is used to price the issue of materials. Each average price is
rounded to the nearest $0.01.
What is the cost of the issue in the month?
A $2,070.60
B $2,034.06
C $2,056.68
D $2,079.30 (2 marks)

44 The Wages Control Account for a period in the integrated accounting system of a business is:

$ $
Wages payable 85,000 Work in progress 80,000
Tax 25,000 Production overhead 30,000
110,000 110,000
What is the direct labour cost for the period?
A $30,000
B $80,000
C $85,000
D $110,000 (2 marks)

140
MOCK EXAM 2 // QUESTIONS

45 All of the following statements about Excel spreadsheets are true except for which one?
A Spreadsheets can be used to perform what if analysis
B Changing a value in cell C5 will automatically update cells with formulae referring to C5
C If a cell displays ####, then the cell it not wide enough to display the full contents
D Default printing options include printing gridlines (2 marks)

46 The following is a graph of cost against level of activity

To which of the following costs does the graph correspond?


A Telephone bills made up of a standing charge and a variable charge
B Bonus payment to employees when production reaches a certain level
C Salesman's commissions payable per unit up to a maximum amount of commission
D Bulk discounts on purchases, the discount being given on all units purchased (2 marks)

47 Over which of the following is a profit centre manager responsible?


A Costs only
B Costs and revenues only
C Cost, revenues and investment
D None of the above (2 marks)

48 A company uses process costing. At the start of the year there were no unfinished products, but at the
end of January of the 4,000 products that were started there were 250 which were only 70% complete.
There were no losses in the period and the process costs were $2,355.
What is the value of the finished output shown in the process account?
A $2,208
B $2,465
C $2,250
D $2,355 (2 marks)

49 Which of the following statements about predetermined overhead absorption rates are true?
(i) Using a predetermined absorption rate avoids fluctuations in unit costs caused by abnormally
high or low overhead expenditure or activity levels
(ii) Using a predetermined absorption rate offers the administrative convenience of being able to
record full production costs sooner
(iii) Using a predetermined absorption rate avoids problems of under/over absorption of overheads
because a constant overhead rate is available.
A (i) and (ii) only
B (i) and (iii) only
C (ii) and (iii) only
D All of them (2 marks)

141
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

50 Which of the following would be classed as indirect labour?


A Plumbers in a construction company
B A stores assistant in a factory store
C A senior consultant in a firm of management consultants
D Machine operators in a company manufacturing washing machines (2 marks)

142
Answers to
Mock Exam 2

143
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

144
MOCK EXAM 2 // ANSWERS

1 C
2 B The only direct costs are the wages paid to direct workers for ordinary time, plus the basic pay for
overtime.
$25,185 + $5,440 = $30,625.
If you selected option A you forgot to include the basic pay for overtime of direct workers, which
is always classified as a direct labour cost.
If you selected option C you have included overtime premium and shift allowances, which are usually
treated as indirect costs. However, if overtime and shiftwork are incurred specifically for a particular
cost unit, then they are classified as direct costs of that cost unit. There is no mention of such a
situation here.
Option D includes sick pay, which is classified as an indirect labour cost.
3 D Costs are controlled using budgets and other management information, therefore option A is not
correct. Option B describes overhead cost absorption and option C describes cost allocation.
4 B A production line manager would be responsible for labour efficiency and usage rather than rates
and prices. A production manager would not be responsible for purchases and therefore cannot
be responsible for raw material prices.
5 C Actual manufacturing overheads for a job cannot be determined, so are not included in job
costing. The others are all included.
6 B Transactions are input and processed immediately, not in batches.
7 D Fixed is not a number format in Excel, fixing decimals can be done using the number, accounting
or currency formats.
8 C This formula will multiply the quarterly volume in units from cell C10 by the unit selling price in
cell B1.
9 D The range of cells containing the information for the chart is C4:D6.
10 D
Material cost Conversion
costs
Finished goods 7,700 7,700
WIP 1,100 100% 495 (1,100 × 0.45) as
complete 45% complete
Total 8,800 8,195

11 B 42 hours × $11 per hour = $462.00


Option C charges the overtime premium as a direct labour cost {[(37 hours × $11 per hour) +
(5 hours × $11 per hour × 1.3)] = $478.50}.
Option A ignores the cost of the overtime hours completely in the direct labour cost (37 hours ×
$11 per hour = $407.00).
Option D includes the overtime premium, instead of the overtime hours at basic rate, in the direct
labour cost {[(37 hours × $11 per hour) + (5 hours × $11 per hour × 0.3)] = $423.50}.
12 D This is a step cost as costs only increase when more than 10 employees are added.
13 B There is a legal requirement for financial accounts but not for management accounts.
The other three statements are all valid differences between management and financial accounts.
14 A Management accounting helps managers plan, control and make decisions.
15 B In some situations, good management information could be hand-written rather than
computerised eg a note from a telephone conversation.
Accuracy, cost effectiveness and relevance are all qualities required in good management
information.

145
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

16 D The other three options have been processed in the same way to provide meaningful information,
whereas total sales value per day is the basic data that will require further processing.
17 A A policy manual does not aim to eliminate thought and flexibility – it provides guidelines to be
followed.
The other three options are all reasons for having a policy manual.
18 A Information is data that has been processed and communicated to another party.
19 C Requisition forms are produced internally by the company detailing the purchases they want made.
All of the other three options would be produced externally, by the supplier.
20 D All of the factors of cost, speed of delivery, complexity of the message to be conveyed and the
number of recipients of the message should be considered in determining the appropriate
communication format.
21 A =$D$1/4*B4
This formula will divide the annual turnover by 4 and multiply the result by the seasonal
variation. The $ signs show that the cell reference for D1 is absolute so the reference will stay the
same when the formula is copied into the cells below.
22 D =($D$1/4)+B10
This formula will divide the annual turnover by 4 and add the result to the seasonal variation
found in cell B10. The $ signs show that the cell reference for D1 is absolute so the reference
will stay the same when the formula is copied into the cells below. Brackets are needed so that
Excel does the multiplication before the addition.
23 C =C10*$B$1
This formula will multiply the quarterly volume in units from cell C10 by the unit selling price in
cell B1. The $ signs show that the cell reference for B1 is absolute so the reference will stay the
same when the formula is copied into the cells below.
24 C Recording goods received into inventory would be a function of the stores department.
Options A, B, and D are useful functions of the purchasing department.
25 D A sale of goods on credit is recorded as:
Debit: Receivables
Credit: Sales
26 D The line rental is a fixed cost and the per call charge is a variable cost, making the overall bill a
mixed (or semi-variable) cost.
27 C 3,050 + 2,275 - 750 = 4,575 litres
28 C All production units will have to flow through packaging to be ready for sale. They do not have to
flow through any of the other departments, making these service centres.
29 D The manager has responsibility for investment as well as costs and revenues – this is therefore an
investment centre.
30 D The company will want to consider contribution (sales revenue less variable costs) per product
line as this is what will be lost if the product line is removed
31 B Sale by Holborn store 110
Sale of trousers 003
Correct code 110_003
32 D A remittance advice contains details of a payment being made.

146
MOCK EXAM 2 // ANSWERS

33 C Direct production workers basic pay $


25 workers  40 hours  $8 per hour 8,000
Direct production workers overtime
25 workers × 5 hours × $8 per hour 1,000
Direct labour charge 9,000

The overtime premium cost is an indirect cost. The indirect workers basic pay is also an indirect
cost.
34 D Number of machines could be used, but as the insurance premiums payable are driven by the
value of the items being insured, the value of the machines is the most appropriate basis.
35 A Jobcards are not used for monitoring the current whereabouts of employees as they are signed
and authorised after completing the job, by which time the information relates to the past.
36 D The sales invoice should be checked to the sales order to confirm only prices agreed on the order
are being used, and to the delivery note to ensure the items being invoiced are the items that
have been delivered to the customer.
37 B Basic pay $
20 employees  $5 per hour  35 hours 3,500
Overtime
20 employees  $5 per hour  1.25  2 hours 250
Total labour cost 3,750
Total units 3,000
Labour cost per unit 1.25

38 C Employer's benefit contributions are part of total labour cost, but not part of gross pay.
39 C 1st 30 units $
30 units  $6 per unit 180
Next 7 units
7 units  $7 per unit 49
Total labour cost 229
Total units 37
Labour cost per unit (229/37) 6.19

40 B Overheads are allocated where they relate to only one department/cost centre. This is most likely
to be the case for a department supervisor's salary.
41 B 20,200 units × 1.4 litres/unit ÷ 0.9 = 31,422 litres.
Option C was based on the sales, rather than the production, quantity (21,000 units × 1.4
litres/unit ÷ 0.9 = 32,667 litres).
Option A multiplied the 1.4 litres by a factor of 1.1 (ie added 10% to the amount required per
finished unit) rather than divided by 0.9 (20,200 units × 1.4 litres/unit × 1.1 = 31,108 litres).
Option D made no allowance for wastage thus assuming that the 1.4 litres was the required
material input per unit rather than the amount required in each unit of output (20,200 units ×
1.4 litres/unit = 28,280 litres.
42 C The entry in the raw materials inventory account is a debit because the entry in the inventory
account is for a purchase of materials.
In an interlocking accounting system, the cost will include the detailed inventory accounts (as
opposed to a purchases account in the financial accounts) along with details of sales and
expenses. These financial accounting aspects of transactions are posted to a cost ledger control
account in order for the cost accounts to balance.
43 C [(86 kg × $11.2/kg) + (200 kg × $11.9/kg) + (200 kg × $12/kg)] ÷ (86 + 200 + 200 kg)
= $11.82/kg (to the nearest $0.01).
The cost of the issue is $2,056.68 (174 kg × $11.82/kg).
44 B The charge to work in progress is the direct labour cost, because it can be allocated to individual
products.

147
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

45 D Default printing options in Excel do not include printing gridlines.


46 A The depicted cost has a basic fixed element which is payable even at zero activity. A variable
element is then added at a constant rate as activity increases. Therefore the correct answer is A.
47 B A profit centre manager will be responsible for costs and revenues only.
48 C
Equivalent units of closing WIP 175 (250 × 0.7)
Products completed 3,750 (4,000 – 250)
Total equivalent units 3,925
Cost per equivalent unit $0.60 (2,355 / 3,925)
Value of finished output $2,250 (0.6 × 3,750)

49 A Statement (i) is correct because a constant unit absorption rate is used throughout the period.
Statement (ii) is correct because 'actual' overhead costs, based on actual overhead expenditure
and actual activity for the period, cannot be determined until after the end of the period.
Statement (iii) is incorrect because under/over absorption of overheads is caused by the use of
predetermined overhead absorption rates.
50 B The stores assistant's wages cannot be charged directly to a product, therefore the stores
assistant is part of the indirect labour force.

148
NOTES
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
NOTES
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
NOTES
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION (03/16)

REVIEW FORM

Name: Address:

Date:
How have you used this Practice & Revision During the past six months do you recall
Kit? seeing/receiving any of the following?
(Tick one box only) (Tick as many boxes as are relevant)
On its own (book only) Our advertisement in ACCA Student
Accountant
On a BPP in-centre course
Our advertisement in Teach Accounting
On a BPP online course
Other advertisement
On a course with another college
Our brochure with a letter through the post
Other
ACCA E-Gain email
Why did you decide to purchase this Practice BPP email
& Revision Kit? (Tick one box only)
Our website www.bpp.com
Have used complementary Interactive Text
Have used BPP Texts in the past Which (if any) aspects of our advertising do
you find useful?
Recommendation by friend/colleague (Tick as many boxes as are relevant)
Recommendation by a lecturer at college Prices and publication dates of new editions
Saw advertising Information on Practice & Revision Kit
content
Other
Facility to order books
None of the above

Have you used the companion Interactive Text for this subject? Yes No

Your ratings, comments and suggestions would be appreciated on the following areas
Very useful Useful Not useful

Introductory section (How to use this Practice &


Revision Kit)

'Do You Know' checklists

'Did You Know' checklists

Possible pitfalls

Questions

Answers

Mock exams

Structure & presentation

Icons

Excellent Good Adequate Poor

Overall opinion of this Kit

Do you intend to continue using BPP products? Yes No

Please note any further comments and suggestions/errors on the reverse of this page.
The author of this edition can be emailed at: [email protected]
Please return this form to: Head of ACCA & Foundations in Accountancy Programmes, BPP
Learning Media Ltd, FREEPOST, London, W12 8AA
MA1 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION (03/16)

REVIEW FORM (continued)


Please note any further comments and suggestions/errors below

You might also like