Thank you for your prompt payment! I am very glad that you found the cost information helpful — are management accountant Williams Company does custom carpentry work and uses job
Business & ManagementGeneralWorked Solution
You are the management accountant for Williams Company. Your company does custom carpentry work and uses a job order cost system. Williams sends detailed job cost sheets to its customers, along with an invoice. The job cost sheets show the date materials were used, the dollar cost of materials, and the hours and cost of labor. A predetermined overhead application rate is used, and the total overhead applied is also listed.
Nancy Kopay is a customer who recently had custom cabinets installed. Along with her check in payment for the work done, she included a letter. She thanked the company for including the detailed cost information but questioned why overhead was estimated. She stated that she would be interested in knowing exactly what costs were included in overhead, and she thought that other customers would, too.
Instructions
Prepare a letter to Ms. Kopay (address: 123 Cedar Lane, Altoona, KS 66651) and tell her why you did not send her information on exact costs of overhead included in her job. Respond to her suggestion that you provide this information.
SOLUTION
Williams Company
Date
Nancy Kopay
123 Cedar Lane
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Altoona, Kansas 66651
Dear Ms. Kopay:
Thank you for your prompt payment! I am very glad that you found the cost information helpful.
Thank you also for your questions about our overhead costs. We do try to provide our customers with as much information as possible, but we cannot give detailed information on overhead costs. The cost of providing such information is prohibitive.
You asked why we do not use actual overhead costs when we bill our customers. We estimate overhead costs, rather than use actual costs, for several reasons. One of the most important reasons for you is that we could not prepare bills in a timely manner if we had to use actual overhead. We would have to wait until we were billed for such things as electricity and telephone service. A second reason is that some costs we include in overhead are only payable once or twice a year, such as insurance and taxes. When we use an estimated rate, we are able to allow for those costs. A third reason is that some costs are fixed, which means that they stay the same in dollar amount from month to month. This category includes items such as rent. If we billed you based on our actual costs, you would be billed a higher amount if your work was done during a slow time (because we would have fewer jobs to spread the costs over). An estimated overhead rate allows us to level out these costs.
I hope this answers some of your questions. I’m glad you are interested in our company and that you took the time to write. I am sending a copy of our annual report under separate cover. It contains some details on the information you asked about.
Thanks again for your letter and for having Williams make your new cabinets!