Problem

Littleton Medical CenterLittleton Medical Center (LMC) has three service departments (acco...

Littleton Medical Center

Littleton Medical Center (LMC) has three service departments (accounting, human resources, and janitorial/maintenance) and two patient units: hospital and an outpatient clinic. The following table summarizes the operations of LMC for the last fiscal year.

Service Departments

Service Department Cost (000)

Human resources

$1,200

Accounting

$1,600

Janitorial/Maint.

$2,400

These department costs are allocated to the two patient units (hospital and clinic). The following table summarizes the allocation bases used to allocate each service department and the utilization of each allocation base.

 

 

Service Departments

Patient Units

 

Service Departments

HR

Acctg

Jan/Maint

Clinic

Hospital

Allocation Base

Human resources

 

50

150

2,000

3,000

Employees

Accounting

50

 

100

6,000

4,000

Transactions(000)

Janitorial/Maint.

8,000

9,000

 

150,000

400,000

Square feet

Required:

a. Allocate the three service departments’ costs (HR, Accounting, and Janitorial/Maintenance) to the two patient units (Clinic and Hospital) using the direct allocation method.


b. Allocate the three service departments’ costs (HR, Accounting, and Janitorial/Maintenance) to the two patient units (Clinic and Hospital) using the step-down allocation method. The order of the three departments is: first, HR; second, Accounting; and third, Janitorial/Maintenance.


c. What are the primary advantages of the step-down method compared to the direct allocation method?

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Solutions For Problems in Chapter 8