Managerial Accounting
Managerial Accounting
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Problem 45
City Racquetball Club (CRC) offers racquetball and other physical fitness facilities to its members.
There are four of these clubs in the metropolitan area. Each club has between 1,800 and 2,500 members.
Revenue is derived from annual membership fees and hourly court fees. The annual membership fees
are as follows:
Individual………………………………………………………………………………… $ 40
Student…………………………………………………………………………………… 25
Family…………………………………………………………………………………….. 95
The hourly court fees vary from $6 to $10 depending upon the season and the time of day (prime
versus nonprime time).
The peak racquetball season is considered to run from September through April. During this
period, court usage averages 90 to 100 percent of capacity during prime time (5:00–9:00 p.m.) and 50 to
60 percent of capacity during the remaining hours. Daily court usage during the off-season (i.e., summer)
averages only 20 to 40 percent of capacity.
Most of CRC’s memberships have September expirations. A substantial amount of the cash receipts
are collected during the early part of the racquetball season due to the renewal of the annual membership
fees and heavy court usage. However, cash receipts are not as large in the spring and drop significantly
in the summer months.
CRC is considering changing its membership and fee structure in an attempt to change its cash
receipts. Under the new membership plan, only an annual membership fee would be charged, rather than
a membership fee plus hourly court fees. There would be two classes of membership as follows:
Individual ………………………………………………………………………………………………. $250
Family …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 400
The annual fee would be collected in advance at the time the membership application is completed.
Members would be allowed to use the racquetball courts as often as they wish during the year under the
new plan.
All future memberships would be sold under these new terms. Current memberships would be honored
on the old basis until they expire. However, a special promotional campaign would be instituted to attract
new members and to encourage current members to convert to the new membership plan immediately.
The annual fees for individual and family memberships would be reduced to $200 and $300,
respectively, during the two-month promotional campaign. In addition, all memberships sold or renewed
during this period would be for 15 months rather than the normal one-year period. Current members
also would be given a credit toward the annual fee for the unexpired portion of their membership fee, and
for all prepaid hourly court fees for league play that have not yet been used.
CRC’s management estimates that 60 to 70 percent of the present membership would continue with
the club. The most active members (45 percent of the present membership) would convert immediately
to the new plan, while the remaining members who continue would wait until their current memberships
expire. Those members who would not continue are not considered active (i.e., they play five or less
times during the year). Management estimates that the loss of members would be offset fully by new
members within six months of instituting the new plan. Furthermore, many of the new members would
be individuals who would play during nonprime time. Management estimates that adequate court time
will be available for all members under the new plan.
If the new membership plan is adopted, it would be instituted on February 1, well before the summer
season. The special promotional campaign would be conducted during March and April. Once the
plan is implemented, annual renewal of memberships and payment of fees would take place as each
individual or family membership expires.
Required: Your consulting firm has been hired to help CRC evaluate its new fee structure. Write a
letter to the club’s president answering the following questions.
- Will City Racquetball Club’s new membership plan and fee structure improve its ability to plan its
cash receipts? Explain your answer.
- City Racquetball Club should evaluate the new membership plan and fee structure completely
before it decides to adopt or reject it.
- Identify the key factors that CRC should consider in its evaluation.
- Explain what type of financial analyses CRC should prepare in order to make a complete
evaluation.
- Explain how City Racquetball Club’s cash management would differ from the present if the new
membership plan and fee structure were adopted.
Problem 46
Patricia Eklund, controller in the division of social services for the state, recognizes the importance of
the budgetary process for planning, control, and motivational purposes. She believes that a properly
implemented participative budgetary process for planning purposes and an evaluation procedure will
motivate the managers to improve productivity within their particular departments. Based upon this
philosophy, Eklund has implemented the following budgetary procedures.
- An appropriation target figure is given to each department manager. This amount is the maximum
funding that each department can expect to receive in the next year.
- Department managers develop their individual budgets within the following spending constraints as
directed by the controller’s staff.
◦ Expenditure requests cannot exceed the appropriation target.
◦ All fixed expenditures should be included in the budget. Fixed expenditures would include
such items as contracts and salaries at current levels.
◦ All government projects directed by higher authority should be included in the budget in
their entirety.
- The controller’s staff consolidates the budget requests from the various departments into a master
budget submission for the entire division.
- Upon final budget approval by the legislature, the controller’s staff allocates the appropriation to the
various departments on instructions from the division manager. However, a specified percentage of
each department’s appropriation is held back in anticipation of potential budget cuts and special funding
needs. The amount and use of this contingency fund is left to the discretion of the division manager.
- Each department is allowed to adjust its budget when necessary to operate within the reduced
appropriation level. However, as stated in the original directive, specific projects authorized by
higher authority must remain intact.
- The final budget is used as the basis of control. Excessive expenditures by account for each department
are highlighted on a monthly basis. Department managers are expected to account for all
expenditures over budget. Fiscal responsibility is an important factor in the overall performance
evaluation of department managers.
Eklund believes her policy of allowing the department managers to participate in the budgetary
process and then holding them accountable for their performance is essential, especially during times
of limited resources. She further believes that the department managers will be positively motivated to
increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their departments because they have provided input into the
initial budgetary process and are required to justify any unfavorable performances.
Required:
- Describe several operational and behavioral benefits that are generally attributed to a participative
budgetary process.
- Identify at least four deficiencies in Patricia Eklund’s participative policy for planning and performance
evaluation purposes. For each deficiency identified, recommend how it can be corrected.
