Deck 2: An Introduction to Cost Terms and Concepts

Question 1

The direct material cost is £10,000 when 2,000 units are produced. What is the direct material cost for 2,500 units produced?

A) £10,000
B) £8,000
C) £15,000
D) £12,500

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Assuming costs are represented on the vertical axis and volume of activity on the horizontal axis, which of the following costs would be represented by a line that is parallel to the horizontal axis?

A) total direct material costs
B) a consultant paid £75 per hour with a maximum fee of £1,200
C) employees who are paid £10 per hour and guaranteed a minimum weekly wage of £200
D) rent on exhibit space at a convention

Answer 2

D

Question 3

A supervisor's salary of £2,000 per month is an example of a

A) fixed cost.
B) variable cost.
C) step cost.
D) mixed cost.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Salaries paid to shift supervisors is an example of a

A) step-variable cost.
B) step-fixed cost.
C) variable cost.
D) mixed cost.

Question 5

If production volume increases from 8,000 to 10,000 units,

A) total costs will increase by 20 percent.
B) total costs will increase by 25 percent.
C) total variable costs will increase by 25 percent.
D) mixed and variable costs will increase by 25 percent.

Question 6

Which of the following statements is TRUE about fixed and variable costs?

A) Both costs are constant when considered on a per-unit basis.
B) Both costs are constant when considered on a total basis.
C) Fixed costs are constant in total and variable costs are constant per unit.
D) Variable costs are constant in total and fixed costs are constant per unit.

Question 7

Which of the following costs is a variable cost?

A) supervisors' salaries
B) research and development
C) materials used in production
D) rent

Question 8

A steep slope in the variable cost line indicates a

A) low variable cost per unit.
B) high influence of activity on total variable costs.
C) low influence of activity on total variable costs.
D) large amount of fixed costs.

Question 9

_____ are costs incurred that provide long-term activity capacity, usually as the result of strategic planning.

A) Discretionary fixed expenses
B) Committed fixed expenses
C) Mixed costs
D) Step-variable costs

Question 10

Adams Ltd. rents a truck for a flat fee plus an additional charge per mile. What type of cost is the rent?

A) fixed cost
B) mixed cost
C) variable cost
D) step cost

Question 11

Fixed cost per unit is £9 when 20,000 units are produced and £6 when 30,000 units are produced. What is the total fixed cost when nothing is produced?

A) £120,000
B) £270,000
C) £15
D) £180,000

Question 12

As the volume of activity increases within the relevant range, the variable cost per unit

A) decreases.
B) decreases at first, then increases.
C) remains the same.
D) increases.

Question 13

Assuming costs are represented on the vertical axis and volume of activity on the horizontal axis, which of the following costs would be represented by a line that starts at the origin and reaches a maximum value and beyond this point the line becomes parallel to the horizontal axis?

A) total direct material costs
B) a consultant paid £100 per hour with a maximum fee of £2,000
C) employees who are paid £15 per hour and guaranteed a minimum weekly wage of £300
D) rent on exhibit space at a convention

Question 14

Cost behaviour analysis focuses on

A) how costs react to changes in profit.
B) how costs change over time.
C) how costs react to changes in activity level.
D) both a and c

Question 15

Holly Ltd. has the following costs for 1,000 units: What is the total amount of direct materials for 100 units?

A) £1.50
B) £3.00
C) £150.00
D) £225.00

Question 16

Mixed costs contain both

A) product and period costs.
B) fixed and variable costs.
C) direct and indirect costs.
D) controllable and noncontrollable costs.

Question 17

Direct materials are an example of a

A) fixed cost.
B) variable cost.
C) step cost.
D) mixed cost.

Question 18

A hospital requires one nurse for each eight patients. This is an example of a

A) fixed cost.
B) variable cost.
C) step cost.
D) mixed cost.

Question 19

Which of the following is an example of a step-fixed cost?

A) cost of disposable surgical scissors, which are purchased in increments of 100
B) cost of soaking solution to clean jewelry (Each jar can soak 50 rings before losing effectiveness.)
C) cost of tuition at £300 per credit hour up to 15 credit hours (Hours taken in excess of 15 hours are free.)
D) cost of disposable gowns used by patients in a hospital

Question 20

An equipment lease that specifies a payment of £5,000 per month plus £8 per machine hour used is an example of a

A) fixed cost.
B) variable cost.
C) step cost.
D) mixed cost.

Question 21

Which of the following cost behaviour patterns are unrelated to unit activity?

A) fixed costs
B) variable costs
C) step costs
D) mixed costs

Question 22

Which of the following expenses is an example of a discretionary fixed expense?

A) investment in production equipment
B) investment in the factory
C) electricity costs
D) employment costs

Question 23

Which item is not an example of a sunk cost?

A) materials needed for production
B) purchase cost of machinery
C) depreciation
D) All are sunk costs.

Question 24

Which of the following expenses is an example of a committed fixed expense?

A) investment in production facilities
B) advertising
C) preventive maintenance
D) employee training programs

Question 25

Which of the following is an example of a possible cost object?

A) a product
B) a customer
C) a department
D) All of these could be possible cost objects.

Question 26

An equipment lease that specifies payment of £1,000 per month plus £5 per machine hour used is an example of a

A) fixed cost
B) variable cost
C) mixed cost
D) step cost

Question 27

Which of the following costs would be classified as variable costs with respect to volume?

A) property taxes on the manufacturing facility
B) the wheels on an automobile
C) the cost of installing production equipment
D) all of the above

Question 28

Sunk costs are

A) future costs that have no benefit.
B) relevant costs that have only short-run benefits.
C) target costs.
D) cannot be avoided.

Question 29

Which of the following is an example of a committed fixed expense?

A) depreciation on a factory building
B) supervisor's salary
C) direct labour
D) insurance on a building

Question 30

Which of the following is an example of a fixed cost?

A) power cost in the machining department
B) wood in the manufacture of furniture
C) labour cost paid on a piece basis
D) lease payments on machinery

Question 31

Which of the following costs would be classified as fixed costs with respect to volume?

A) the salary of the manager of the Research and Development Department
B) the cost of a copy machine in the Human Resource Department
C) the property taxes on the manufacturing facility
D) all of the above

Question 32

Whether a cost is fixed or variable depends on the time horizon. In the long run, all costs are

A) fixed
B) variable
C) mixed
D) step

Question 33

Which one of the following sentences about step costs is true?

A) Step costs increase with each additional unit produced.
B) Step costs have no relation to number of units produced.
C) Step costs are constant within certain ranges of activity but differ outside those ranges of activity.
D) Step costs are variable within narrowly defined ranges of activity, but constant over wider ranges of activity.

Question 34

Which of the following is an example of a variable cost?

A) insurance on the production equipment
B) direct materials
C) the production supervisor's salary
D) depreciation of the factory building

Question 35

Mixed costs

A) are step costs
B) in total, remain constant within a relevant range
C) have a fixed and variable component
D) on a per unit basis, are constant as activity increases or decreases

Question 36

When is direct labour a fixed cost?

A) when a company is subject to union contracts and is prohibited from laying off labour
B) when a company pays employees on a piece-work basis
C) direct labour is always a variable cost
D) when a company can hire and lay off its labour quickly

Question 37

A cost used up in the production of revenues is a(n)

A) unexpired cost.
B) expense.
C) loss.
D) asset.

Question 38

Which statement describes step-cost behaviour?

A) discontinuous
B) displays a constant level of cost for a range of output and then jumps to a higher level at some point
C) must be purchased in chunks
D) all of the above describe step-cost behaviour

Question 39

Variable costs,

A) in total, remain constant within a relevant range
B) on a per unit basis, are constant as activity increases or decreases
C) on a per unit basis, decreases as activity decreases
D) in total, decrease when activity increases

Question 40

A supervisor's salary of £2,000 per month is an example of a

A) fixed cost
B) variable cost
C) mixed cost
D) step cost

Question 41

Which of the following items would NOT be classified as part of factory overhead of a firm that makes sailboats?

A) factory supplies used
B) canvas used in sail
C) depreciation of factory buildings
D) indirect materials

Question 42

All of Jill Enterprise's operations are housed in one building with the costs of occupying the building accumulated in a separate account. The total costs incurred in May amounted to £24,000. The company allocates these costs on the basis of square feet of floor space occupied. Administrative offices, sales offices, and factory operations occupy 9,000, 6,000, and 30,000 square feet, respectively. How much will be classified as a product cost for May?

A) £4,800
B) £3,200
C) £16,000
D) £24,000

Question 43

Which of the following costs incurred by a bus manufacturer would NOT be directly attributable to the finished product?

A) the wages paid to assembly-line production workers
B) the tires for buses
C) the windshields for buses
D) the depreciation on factory building

Question 44

Which of the following costs is NOT a product cost?

A) rent on an office building
B) indirect labour
C) repairs on manufacturing equipment
D) steel used in inventory items produced

Question 45

Product costs are converted from cost to expense when

A) units are completed.
B) materials are purchased.
C) units are sold.
D) materials are requisitioned.

Question 46

Which of the following costs would be included as part of factory overhead?

A) depreciation of plant equipment
B) paint used for product finish
C) depreciation on the corporation's office building
D) paper used in the production of books

Question 47

Which of the following costs incurred by a furniture manufacturer would be a product cost?

A) lumber
B) office salaries
C) commissions paid to sales staff
D) controller's salary

Question 48

If total warehousing cost for the year amounts to £350,000, and 40 percent of the warehousing activity is associated with finished goods and 60 percent with direct materials, how much of the cost would be charged as a product cost?

A) £70,000
B) £140,000
C) £210,000
D) £350,000

Question 49

Selling and administrative costs are classified as

A) product costs.
B) conversion costs.
C) period costs.
D) factory overhead.

Question 50

Which of the following costs is an example of product costs?

A) selling commissions
B) nonfactory office salaries
C) direct materials
D) advertising expense

Question 51

An example of a period cost is

A) insurance on factory equipment.
B) chief executive's salary.
C) property taxes on factory building.
D) wages of factory custodians.

Question 52

Direct costs

A) are incurred for the benefit of the business as a whole.
B) would continue even if a particular product were discontinued.
C) can be assigned to product only by a process of allocation.
D) are those costs that can be easily and accurately traced to a cost objective.

Question 53

In a traditional manufacturing company, product costs include

A) direct materials only.
B) direct materials, direct labour, and factory overhead.
C) direct materials and direct labour only.
D) direct labour only.

Question 54

Which of the following costs is a period cost for a manufacturing company?

A) accountant's salary
B) wages of machine operators
C) insurance on factory equipment
D) fringe benefits on factory employees

Question 55

Which of the following costs incurred by a chair manufacturer would be traced to the product cost through direct tracing?

A) the depreciation on factory equipment
B) the supervisor's salary
C) the insurance on the factory building
D) the woodmaker's salary

Question 56

Which of the following costs is an indirect product cost?

A) property taxes on plant facilities
B) wages of assembly workers
C) materials used
D) president's salary

Question 57

Prime product costs include

A) only factory overhead.
B) only direct labour.
C) direct labour and factory overhead.
D) direct materials and direct labour.

Question 58

The direct costs of operating a university computer centre would NOT include

A) rent paid for computers.
B) a fair share of university utilities.
C) paper used by the centre.
D) computer consultants' salaries.

Question 59

_____ are expensed in the period in which they are incurred.

A) Direct materials
B) Product costs
C) Factory overhead
D) Nonproduction costs

Question 60

_____ are expensed in the period in which they are incurred.

A) Direct materials
B) Product costs
C) Noninventoriable costs
D) Inventoriable costs

Question 61

Which of the following costs is NOT recorded in the company's accounting system?

A) sunk cost
B) opportunity cost
C) direct cost
D) indirect cost

Question 62

Process costing would be most applicable for

A) an electronics producer.
B) custom machining.
C) high rise building construction.
D) Audits undertaken by a firm of accountants.

Question 63

Direct costs

A) can be assigned to cost objects in an economically feasible way
B) are typically assigned to cost objects using a cause-and-effect relationship
C) result in more accurate cost assignments
D) do all of the above

Question 64

Indirect costs are usually allocated rather than traced to cost objects because

A) allocation is required by external reporting requirements
B) overall accuracy is improved by allocation
C) no causal relationship exists between indirect costs and the cost object
D) allocation is more convenient than tracing

Question 65

Which of the following is a product cost?

A) advertising expenditures
B) insurance on the office buildings
C) depreciation of the salesmen's cars
D) depreciation of the production facilities

Question 66

The wages of a production equipment operator would be classified as

A) direct materials
B) direct labour
C) manufacturing overhead
D) selling and administrative costs

Question 67

Classify each of the following costs as variable, fixed, mixed, or step by writing an X under one of the following headings (Sales volume is the cost driver).

Question 68

TEK, Inc., is considering whether to replace a production machine with a newer model of the same machine. If TEK keeps the old machine, the trade-in value of the old equipment is an example of a(n)

A) sunk cost
B) opportunity cost
C) avoidable cost
D) imputed cost

Question 69

Mulholland Company manufactures various wooden furniture products. If the cost object is a product, a chair, what costs would be considered direct?

A) manufacturing supervisor's salary
B) depreciation on the factory building
C) salary of the worker that glues the legs to the seat of the chair
D) insurance on the factory

Question 70

The appropriate cost accounting system to use when inventory items are produced on an assembly line is

A) job-order costing.
B) process costing.
C) weighted average.
D) perpetual method.

Question 71

What system would a manufacturer of unique special orders or batch processes most likely use to accumulate costs?

A) process costing
B) contract costing
C) variable costing
D) job-order costing

Question 72

Unit costs are critical for

A) valuing inventory.
B) determining net income.
C) decisions to enter a new product line.
D) all of the above.

Question 73

Identify each of the following costs as fixed-committed or fixed-discretionary by writing an "X" under one of the following headings:

Question 74

Which of the following is a period cost?

A) the production supervisor's salary
B) direct labour
C) property taxes on the office building
D) property taxes on the production facilities

Question 75

Harry has just received his bachelor's degree and is considering two alternatives. (1) He could obtain an entry-level accounting position paying £30,000 per year. (2) He could obtain his master's degree with one more year of study and work part-time for £8,000 per year. The opportunity cost associated with Harry obtaining his master's degree is

A) £-0-
B) £22,000
C) £30,000
D) £38,000

Question 76

Classify the following costs incurred by a step railing manufacturing company as direct materials, direct labour, factory overhead, or period costs:
a. Wages paid to production workers
b. Utilities in the office
c. Depreciation on machinery in plant
d. Steel
e. Accountant's salary
f. Rent on factory building
g. Rent on office equipment
h. Maintenance workers' wages
i. Utilities in the plant
j. Maintenance on office equipment

Question 77

Which of the following products would NOT use job-order production?

A) houses
B) chemicals
C) ships
D) custom-built furniture

Question 78

The Penang Company has the following information available regarding costs at various levels of monthly production:
Required:

a.
Identify each cost as being variable, fixed, or mixed by writing the name of each cost under one of the following headings:
Variable Costs Fixed Costs Mixed Costs
b.
Develop an equation for total monthly production costs.
c.
Predict total costs for a monthly production volume of 8,000 units.

Question 79

All of the following are product costs EXCEPT

A) direct materials
B) direct labour
C) manufacturing overhead
D) selling and administrative costs
E) none of the above