3. The average cost per diner differs from party to party under the activity-
based costing system for two reasons. First, the cost of serving a party
($5.50) does not depend on the number of diners in the party. There-
fore, the average cost per diner of this activity decreases as the number
of diners in the party increases. With only one diner, the cost is $5.50.
With two diners, the average cost per diner is cut in half to $2.75. With
five diners, the average cost per diner would be only $1.10. And so on.
Second, the average cost per diner differs also because of the differ-
ences in the number of drinks ordered by the diners. If a party does not
order any drinks, as was the case with the party of two, no costs of
serving drinks are assigned to the party.
The average cost per diner differs from the overall average cost of $16
per diner for several reasons. First, the average cost of $16 per diner in-
cludes organization-sustaining costs that are excluded from the compu-
tations in the activity-based costing system. Second, the $16 per diner
figure does not recognize differences in the diners’ demands on re-
sources. It does not recognize that some diners order more drinks than
others nor does it recognize the economies of scale in serving larger
parties. (The batch-level costs of serving a party can be spread over
more diners if the party is larger.)
We should note that the activity-based costing system itself does not
recognize all of the differences in diners’ demands on resources. For ex-
ample, there are undoubtedly differences in the costs of preparing the
various meals on the menu. It may or may not be worth the effort to
build a more detailed activity-based costing system that would take such
nuances into account.
Bạn đang xem 3. - SOLUTIONS TO QUESTION MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING CH08 ACTIVITY BASED COSTING