Balanced Scorecard; Strategic Business Units; Ethics Pittsburgh-Walsh Company, Inc. (PWC),...

Balanced Scorecard; Strategic Business Units; Ethics Pittsburgh-Walsh Company, Inc. (PWC), manufactures lighting fixtures and electronic timing devices. The lighting fixtures division assem­bles units for the upscale and mid-range markets. The trend in recent years as the economy has been expanding is for sales in the upscale market to increase while those in the mid-range market have been relatively flat. Over the years, PWC has tried to maintain strong positions in both markets, believing it is best to offer customers a broad range of products to protect the company against a sharp decline in either market. PWC has never been the first to introduce new products but watches its competitors closely and quickly follows their lead with comparable products. PWC is proud of its customer service functions, which have been able to maintain profitable relationships with several large customers over the years.

The electronic timing devices division manufactures instrument panels that allow electronic systems to be activated and deactivated at scheduled times for both efficiency and safety purposes. Both divisions operate in the same manufacturing facilities and share production equipment.

PWC’s budget for the year ending December 31, 2010, follows; it was prepared on a business unit basis under the following guidelines:

• Variable expenses are directly assigned to the division that incurs them.

• Fixed overhead expenses are directly assigned to the division that incurs them.

• Common fixed expenses are allocated to the divisions on the basis of units produced, which bears a close relationship to direct labor. Included in common fixed expenses are costs of the corporate staff, legal expenses, taxes, marketing staff, and advertising.

• The company plans to manufacture 8,000 upscale fixtures, 22,000 mid-range fixtures, and 20,000 electronic timing devices during 2010.

PWC established a bonus plan for division management that provides a bonus for the manager if the division exceeds the planned product line income by 10 percent or more.

Shortly before the year began, Jack Parkow, the CEO, suffered a heart attack and retired. After reviewing the 2010 budget, Joe Kelly, the new CEO, decided to close the lighting fixtures mid-range product line by the end of the first quarter and use the available production capacity to grow the remaining two product lines. The marketing staff advised that electronic timing devices could grow by 40 percent with increased direct sales support. Increasing sales above that level and of upscale lighting fixtures would require expanded advertising expenditures to increase consumer awareness of PWC as an electronics and upscale lighting fixture company. Joe approved the increased sales support and advertising expenditures to achieve the revised plan. He advised the divisions that for bonus purposes, the original product-line income objectives must be met and that the lighting fixtures division could combine the income objectives for both product lines for bonus purposes.

Prior to the close of the fiscal year, the division controllers were given the following preliminary actual information to review and adjust as appropriate. These preliminary year-end data reflect the revised units of production amounting to 12,000 upscale fixtures, 4,000 mid-range fixtures, and 30,000 electronic timing devices.

The controller of the lighting fixtures division, anticipating a similar bonus plan for 2011, is contemplating deferring some revenue into the next year on the pretext that the sales are not yet final and accruing, in the current year, expenditures that will be applicable to the first quarter of 2011. The corporation would meet its annual plan, and the division would exceed the 10 percent incremental bonus plateau in 2010 despite the deferred revenues and accrued expenses contemplated.

Required

1. Did the new CEO make the correct decision? Why or why not?

2. Outline the benefits that an organization realizes from profit center reporting, and evaluate profit center reporting on a variable-cost basis versus a full-cost basis.

3. Why would the management of the electronics timing devices division be unhappy with the current reporting? Should the current performance measurement system be revised?

4. Explain why the adjustments contemplated by the controller of the lighting fixtures division are unethical by citing specific standards in the Institute of Management Accountants’ Standards of Ethical Conduct.

5. Develop a balanced scorecard for PWC, providing three to five perspectives and four to six measures of each perspective. Make sure your measures are quantifiable.