This Week We Learned That There Are Two Different Ways Of Re

This Week We Learned That There Are Two Different Ways Of Reporting T This week, we learned that there are two different ways of reporting the contribution margins (profitability) – variable and absorption costing. The authors made a point that one method is more useful for internal purposes, and the other is more useful for external reporting. Let’s think about a company that produces dinner ware (plates, bowls, cups and saucers, for example). Some of the dinner ware is intended for daily use (stoneware that is dishwasher and microwave safe), and other dinner ware is for special occasion (fine china or bone china, with gold trim that cannot go in the microwave!) Daily use dinnerware is less expensive than special occasion dinnerware. Imagine that there is consistent demand year-round for the “daily use” dinnerware, but there are seasonal spikes in demand for the “special occasion” dinnerware (i.e., wedding season and the holiday season). Additionally, gold is an important component of special use dinner ware, yet the price of gold varies. 1. Explain how fixed manufacturing overhead costs are shifted from one period to another under absorption costing. Under absorption costing, fixed manufacturing overhead costs are allocated to each unit produced and included in inventory costs; when inventory is sold, these costs are transferred from the balance sheet to the income statement, effectively shifting fixed costs from one period to another. This treatment allows some fixed manufacturing overhead to be deferred in inventory and recognized in cost of goods sold only when the inventory is sold, which can alter net income depending on production levels relative to sales. 2. What arguments are there in favor of treating fixed manufacturing overhead costs as product costs? As period costs? Advocates for treating fixed manufacturing overhead as product costs argue that since these costs are necessary to produce inventory, allocating them to products provides a more accurate picture of production costs and inventory valuation, aligning with the matching principle. Conversely, treating fixed manufacturing overhead as period costs emphasizes their nature as costs of running the organization during specific time periods, which can better reflect operational expenses when production volume is variable or when inventory levels change significantly. 3. Under absorption costing, how is it possible to increase net operating income without increasing sales? Explain.