Assessment Task 3 Case Study & Questions

Summary and Purpose of Assessment There are a total of three (3) assessment tasks you need to complete for this unit. This is assessment task three (3) of three (3) that you need to complete satisfactorily, in order to be deemed competent for this unit.  You will be divided in the teams of two (2). They will be given information on “Kevin’s Corporation,” from where each team will be required to write a detailed report on. Each team will prepare answers to specified questions (not in question and answer format) and submit this as part of a comprehensive and detailed report (format given) to the management of “Kevin’s Corporation” indicating their observations.  Each team will also have a 5-10-minute power point presentation based around this report in week 15 class but as a “snap-shot” only. The assessment is competency based and a CA (competent) must be achieved for this assessment to pass this course.  The purpose of the assessment is to check if you have got the skills and knowledge required to gather, record and analyse operating and cost data in accordance with organisational policy and procedures and prepare reports to meet management information requirements. What you must do: Please follow these step by step instructions when working on this assessment: •       Refer to Appendix 1 for the “Case Study” and “Business Report Format” from Assessment 3 folder given in related Canvas shell.  •       Create a Google docs, Google sheets and Google slides file for their group. One of the group member can do this and share it with the other group member and the teacher. It is important that the you work on the assessment through these Google tools. OR •       Create an Excel file, a Word file and a Power point file and share it through “one drive” with other group members and the teacher. You can do this through Microsoft outlook account. •       One of the team member in each group must start preparing minutes of the meetings which will be conducted to discuss the case study. •       Please note that regarding the case study, each group will be required to demonstrate to their teacher their progress from week 12-14, which are referred to as Pitstops. In these Pitstops, each student as part of a team is required to attend, demonstrate and evidence what progress and work on the case study has been
completed to that point.  •       After completing the report and power points, there will be a power point presentation in week 15 •       Please fill the Group peer evaluation form uploaded in Canvas from Assessment 1 folder. After completing the assessment, it is important that each team member uploads the following in Canvas: •       MS Excel file •       Power Points •       Business Report •       Group Peer Evaluation form and •       Minutes of the meeting When and where? You will work on this assessment in your own time from week 3 to 6 and must submit the required documents in Canvas by the end of Week 15 Sunday 11:55pm as outlined above.   How You will be assessed against the criteria listed in the marking guide in Section B of this task. You must achieve a satisfactory result against each of the criteria listed in the marking guide to be deemed satisfactory.
Conditions for assessment
•       This is a group assessment task. You must not copy the work of other groups. (For more information regarding Academic Integrity please refer to RMIT Academic Integrity Guidelines.) •       This is intended as an online assessment.  Please discuss with the assessor as soon as possible if any of them is eligible for special allowance or allowable adjustment to this assessment. •       You can seek clarification from you about this assessment task. •       You must upload MS Excel file, power points, report, minutes of the meetings and group peer evaluation form on Canvas.  •       You will be assessed as satisfactory or not satisfactory. •       You should ensure that they submit assessments on the due date.
Instructions on submitting your project/portfolio/report
You are to submit your final assessment via Canvas by the due date.
Equipment/resources students must supply:	Equipment/resources to be provided by RMIT or the workplace:
•       Access to a laptop or mobile device •       Internet access if not on campus •       Zoom software	•       Access to soft copy of the student version of this assessment task  •       Access to Canvas and internet sites required for study in this course •       Appropriate software as required

Appendix 1 – Case Study & Questions (1 – 7)

Workplace Simulation - Presentation and submission of business report to the management of Kevin’s Corporation

Kevin’s Corporation, a manufacturer of lamps, maintains the same level of inventory each year. The following Information has been provided to you from various sections of the organisations including production, sales and accounts, about expenses anticipated for 2020. 

Production costs:
Direct materials	$4.40 per unit
Direct labour	$4.80 per unit
Other Factory overhead	$375,000 at 50,000 units produced;
	$435,000 at 70,000 units, and
Selling expenses:	$495,000 at 90,000 units produced
Sales salaries	$87,000 per sales person
Sales commissions	$0.65 per unit sold
Advertising	$45,000
Advertising	$1.15 per unit sold
Miscellaneous selling expense                              General expenses:	$16,200
Office salaries	$97,000
Supplies	$12,800
Miscellaneous general expense	$12,000

The selling price of Kevin’s Corporation's single product is $19. In recent years, profits have fallen, and Kevin’s management is now considering several alternatives. For 2020, Kevin’s Corporation wants to have a net income of $200,000, but still expects to sell only 90,000 units unless some changes are made.

REQUIRED:

All workings must be completed in accordance to organisational policy and procedures.

1. Alan Pincus, President and CEO of Kevin’s Corporation, is working on the 2020 budget and has limited knowledge of variable, fixed and mixed costs. He has asked you and your team to establish a range of systems that can be used to record the operating and cost data above. He hopes to use your work to generate similar operating and cost data in the future.

Alan has asked you to:

1. Classify the costs above after identifying the cost behaviour characteristics of various elements;
2. Calculate the company’s projected net income by following absorption costing method (assuming

90,000 units sold) and the sales needed to achieve the company’s net income objective for 2020;  

2020. Calculate Kevin’s contribution margin per unit, contribution margin ratio, and break-even point for 2020.

Note: Alan expects your work to be presented in line with Kevin’s Corporation organisational policy and procedures. As such, you must create an Excel Worksheet and utilise Excel formulas where appropriate to calculate and code your answers. You must prepare the budget worksheets in a professional manner that can be shared with senior management of the company. You must also perform a check on your workings including all raw data you transfer and any calculations you make to ensure data presented is both accurate and reliable.

2. Based on Kevin’s current situation and the analysis of the cost data will it earn its targeted income? If not, how many units need to be sold to achieve the target income? Explain your findings. (Please include this information on the Excel Worksheet created in #1 above)
3. You would like to have a worksheet that displays an income statement in contribution margin format instead of absorption costing format as you believe for management decision making, contribution margin method is better. Use the information in #1 above to prepare a contribution margin income statement using Excel (use same file but prepare on a different worksheet from #1 and #2 above and use Excel formulas where appropriate).

WHAT-IF ANALYSIS

4. Alan Pincus would like to know the effect that each of the following suggestions for improving performance would have on contribution margin per unit, sales needed to break-even, and projected net income for 2020. Each change should be considered independently, and all analysis should be done on a separate worksheet from #1 and #2 above and labelled 4.a, 4.b., etc:
   1. The president suggests cutting the product’s price by 10% and expects this to increase sales volume by 30%.
   2. The sales manager feels that putting all sales personnel on straight commission would increase sales.

This would eliminate $77,000 of sales salaries and sales commissions would increase to $2.00 per unit. This move would be expected to increase sales volume by 40%.

1. Kevin’s head of product engineering wants to redesign the package of the product. This will reduce the direct materials cost by $1.00 per unit and direct labour by $.50 per unit but increase fixed factory overhead by $10,000 total for additional depreciation on the new packaging equipment. This design change will not impact sales volume.
2. The production manager suggests raising quality and raising price. This will increase direct materials cost by $1.00 per unit and direct labour by $.50 per unit, and fixed factory overhead by $40,000 total. The improved quality will allow the company to raise the selling price to $22 per unit and by doubling advertising expenditures, due to improved quality, sales volume is expected to increase by 30%.

5. From the scenarios in #5 above, should Kevin’s use any of the suggestions? Please rank from top-to-bottom each of the proposals a-d above based on profitability. All results in #5 should be presented on a professionally prepared Excel Worksheet.

 

6. Prepare a report (using the approved template provided) for the management of Kevin’s Corporation. The report should not exceed 1200 words. (Please note that graphs and charts are great ways to display comparative numerical information). Your management report should follow the structure and format below and contain the following information in line with management information requirement and organisational practices:

Executive Summary which includes a summary of all the key points

1. Introduction which should say why the report is being written
2. Findings which is the main part of the report and will cover the information you have found. Here you must include a summary of any significant cost-behaviour trends/characteristics for each suggestion and reconciliation (4a-d).

• Conclusions will summarize the findings and should be short and clear which will lead to the recommendations

1. Recommendations based on conclusions and consistent with organisational business performance objectives ($200, 000 net income goal)

Submit your report and PowerPoint. Before uploading to CANVAS, perform checks to ensure all information (above) in included and the data and information is accurate and comprehensive in line with organisational practices. 

7. Summarise your findings in a concise PowerPoint presentation (to be completed in class) which should be approximately 5-10-minutes long. Your PowerPoint should be based on your report (above) but be a “snap-shot” only.

Note: Your PowerPoint must contain details on all staff you consulted with (including questions you asked your assessor during the pitstops in weeks 12-14) as well as key research you did that helped support your findings. 

Your PowerPoint will be presented to senior management of Kevin’s Corporation to help gain support of any recommendations you put forward. As such, your language, including tone and pace should be appropriate.