Question

Service Department Charges and Activity Bases

Middler Corporation, a manufacturer of electronics and communications systems, uses a service department charge system to charge profit centers with Computing and Communications Services (CCS) service department costs. The following table identifies an abbreviated list of service categories and activity bases used by the CCS department. The table also includes some assumed cost and activity base quantity information for each service for October.

CCS Service Category	Activity Base	Budgeted Cost		Budgeted Activity Base Quantity
Help desk	Number of calls	$131,400		3,000
Network center	Number of devices monitored	627,300		10,200
Electronic mail	Number of user accounts	61,050		5,550
Smartphone support	Number of smartphones issued	168,960		9,600

One of the profit centers for Middler Corporation is the Communication Systems (COMM) sector. Assume the following information for the COMM sector:

• The sector has 3,000 employees, of whom 60% are office employees.

• All the office employees have been issued a smartphone, and 70% of them have a computer on the network.

• 90 percent of the employees with a computer also have an e-mail account.

• The average number of help desk calls for October was 1 call per individual with a computer.

• There are 230 additional printers, servers, and peripherals on the network beyond the personal computers.

a. Determine the service charge rate for the four CCS service categories for October. Round your answers to two decimal places.

CCS Service Category	Service Charge Rate
Help desk	$ Per call
Network center	$ Per device monitored
Electronic mail	$ Per user or e-mail account
Smartphone support	$ Per smartphone issued

b. Determine the charges to the COMM sector for the four CCS service categories for October. Round your answers to the nearest dollar amount.

October charges to the COMM sector:
Help desk charge	$
Network center charge	$
Electronic mail charge	$
Smartphone support charge	$

Answer 1

Solution: a Calculation of service charge rate for the four CCS service categories for October. CCS Service Category Service Charge Rate Help desk = $131,400 - 3,000 = $43.80 per Call Network center = $627,300 + 10,200 = $61.50 Per device monitored Electronic mail = $61,050 = 5,550 = $11.00 Per user or e-mail account Smartphone support = $168,960 + 9,600 = $17.60Per smartphone issued b October charges to the COMM sector: Help desk charge : (3,000 x 60% x 70% x 1.00) < $43.80 per call = $55,188 Network center charge: [(3,000 x 60% x 70%) + 230] $61.50 per device = $91,635 Electronic mail: (3,000 60% x 70% 90%) < $11.00 per user or e-mail account = $12,474 Smartphone support: (3,000 x 60%) < $17.60 per smartphone = $31,680