Sequential (Step) Method of Support Department Cost Allocation
Chekov Company has two support departments, Human Resources and General Factory, and two producing departments, Fabricating and Assembly.
| Support Departments | Producing Departments | ||||
| Human Resources |
General Factory |
Fabricating | Assembly | ||
| Direct costs | $180,000 | $320,000 | $114,100 | $99,000 | |
| Normal activity: | |||||
| Number of employees | — | 50 | 70 | 170 | |
| Square footage | 1,100 | — | 5,700 | 13,800 | |
The costs of the Human Resources Department are allocated on the basis of number of employees, and the costs of General Factory are allocated on the basis of square footage. Now assume that Chekov Company uses the sequential method to allocate support department costs. The support departments are ranked in order of highest cost to lowest cost.
Required:
1. Calculate the allocation ratios (rounded to six significant digits) for the four departments using the sequential method. If an amount is zero, enter “0”. Use the rounded values for subsequent calculations.
| Proportion of Driver Used by | ||||
| Human Resources | General Factory | Fabricating | Assembly | |
| Human Resources | fill in the blank 1 | fill in the blank 2 | fill in the blank 3 | fill in the blank 4 |
| General Factory | fill in the blank 5 | fill in the blank 6 | fill in the blank 7 | fill in the blank 8 |
2. Using the sequential method, allocate the costs of the Human Resources and General Factory departments to the Fabricating and Assembly departments. If an amount is zero, enter”0″. Round your answers to the nearest dollar.
| Support Departments | Producing Departments | ||||
| Human Resources | General Factory | Fabricating | Assembly | ||
| Direct costs | $fill in the blank 9 | $fill in the blank 10 | $fill in the blank 11 | $fill in the blank 12 | |
| Allocate: | |||||
| General Factory | fill in the blank 13 | fill in the blank 14 | fill in the blank 15 | fill in the blank 16 | |
| Human Resources | fill in the blank 17 | fill in the blank 18 | fill in the blank 19 | fill in the blank 20 | |
| Total after allocation | $fill in the blank 21 | $fill in the blank 22 | $fill in the blank 23 | $fill in the blank 24 | |
Feedback Area
Feedback
1. The sequential method, as well as direct and reciprocal methods, allocates all support department costs to the producing departments.
2. The sequential (or step) method ranks support departments and allocates from top ranking to lower ranking. Some reciprocity is recognized. After allocation, zero cost remains in the support departments. Pre-allocation total overhead must equal post-allocation overhead.
See Example 7.4.