EXERCISE 5-12 (30 MINUTES)

3. The number of paid days should be used as the activity base rather than the number of units produced. The scattergraphs reveal a much stronger relation (i.e., higher correlation) between direct labor costs and number of paid days than between direct labor costs and number of units produced. Variations in the direct labor costs apparently occur be-cause of the number of paid days in the month and have little to do with the number of units that are produced. It appears that the direct labor costs are basically fixed with respect to how many units are produced in a month. This would happen if the direct labor workers are treated as full-time employees who are paid even if there is insufficient work to keep them busy. Moreover, for planning purposes, the company is likely to be able to predict the number of paid days in the month with much greater accuracy than the number of units that will be produced. Case 5-27 (90 minutes) Note to the instructor: This case requires the ability to build on concepts that are introduced only briefly in the text. To some degree, this case an-ticipates issues that will be covered in more depth in later chapters.