Jackson County Senior Services is a nonprofit organization devoted to providing
ID: 2461879 • Letter: J
Question
Jackson County Senior Services is a nonprofit organization devoted to providing essential services to seniors who live in their own homes within the Jackson County area. Three services are provided for seniors—home nursing, Meals On Wheels, and housekeeping. Data on revenue and expenses for the past year follow:
The head administrator of Jackson County Senior Services, Judith Miyama, is concerned about the organization’s finances and considers the net operating income of $5,000 last year to be razor-thin. (Last year's results were very similar to the results for previous years and are representative of what would be expected in the future.) She feels that the organization should be building its financial reserves at a more rapid rate in order to prepare for the next inevitable recession. After seeing the above report, Ms. Miyama asked for more information about the financial advisability of perhaps discontinuing the housekeeping program.
The depreciation in housekeeping is for a small van that is used to carry the housekeepers and their equipment from job to job. If the program were discontinued, the van would be donated to a charitable organization. None of the general administrative overhead would be avoided if the housekeeping program were dropped, but the liability insurance and the salary of the program administrator would be avoided.
What is the impact on net operating income by discontinuing housekeeping program?
Would a segmented income statement format be more useful to management in assessing the long-run financial viability of the various services.
Jackson County Senior Services is a nonprofit organization devoted to providing essential services to seniors who live in their own homes within the Jackson County area. Three services are provided for seniors—home nursing, Meals On Wheels, and housekeeping. Data on revenue and expenses for the past year follow:
Explanation / Answer
No, the housekeeping program should not be discontinued. It is actually generating a positive program segment margin and is, of course, providing a valuable service to seniors. Computations to support this conclusion follow:
Contribution margin lost if the housekeeping program is dropped......................................
$(80,000)
Fixed costs that can be avoided:
Liability insurance.........................................
$15,000
Program administrator’s salary.......................
37,000
52,000
Decrease in net operating income for the organization as a whole.................................
$(28,000)
Depreciation on the van is a sunk cost and the van has no salvage value since it would be donated to another organization. The general administrative overhead is allocated and none of it would be avoided if the program were dropped; thus it is not relevant to the decision.
The same result can be obtained with the alternative analysis below:
Current Total
Total If House-keeping Is Dropped
Difference: Net Operating Income Increase or (Decrease)
Revenues.................................
$900,000
$660,000
$(240,000)
Variable expenses......................
490,000
330,000
160,000
Contribution margin...................
410,000
330,000
(80,000)
Fixed expenses:
Depreciation*.........................
68,000
68,000
0
Liability insurance....................
42,000
27,000
15,000
Program administrators’ salaries
115,000
78,000
37,000
General administrative overhead..........................................
180,000
180,000
0
Total fixed expenses...................
405,000
353,000
52,000
Net operating income (loss)........
$ 5,000
$(23,000)
$ (28,000)
*Includes pro-rated loss on disposal of the van if it is donated to a charity.
To give the administrator of the entire organization a clearer picture of the financial viability of each of the organization’s programs, the general administrative overhead should not be allocated. It is a common cost that should be deducted from the total program segment margin. Following the format introduced in Chapter 12 for a segmented income statement, a better income statement would be:
Total
Home Nursing
Meals on Wheels
House-keeping
Revenues.........................
$900,000
$260,000
$400,000
$240,000
Variable expenses..............
490,000
120,000
210,000
160,000
Contribution margin...........
410,000
140,000
190,000
80,000
Traceable fixed expenses:
Depreciation...................
68,000
8,000
40,000
20,000
Liability insurance............
42,000
20,000
7,000
15,000
Program administrators’ salaries........................
115,000
40,000
38,000
37,000
Total traceable fixed expenses.......................
225,000
68,000
85,000
72,000
Program segment margins.
185,000
$72,000
$105,000
$8,000
General administrative overhead.......................
180,000
Net operating income (loss)
$5,000
Would a segmented income statement format be more useful to management in assessing the long-run financial viability of the various services.
Contribution margin lost if the housekeeping program is dropped......................................
$(80,000)
Fixed costs that can be avoided:
Liability insurance.........................................
$15,000
Program administrator’s salary.......................
37,000
52,000
Decrease in net operating income for the organization as a whole.................................
$(28,000)
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