EXERCISE 6-17 (30 MINUTES)

30,000 balls currently being sold) to earn the same amount of net oper-

ating income as last year. The computations above and in part (2) show

quite clearly the dramatic effect that increases in variable costs can have

on an organization. The effects on Northwood Company are summarized

below:

Present Expected

Combination margin ratio... 40% 28%

Break-even point (in balls) ... 21,000 30,000

Sales (in balls) needed to earn a $90,000 profit .... 30,000 42,857

Note particularly that if variable costs do increase next year, then the

company will just break even if it sells the same number of balls

(30,000) as it did last year.

Problem 6-24 (continued)