Budgeted information relating to two departments of Rydons Tables Ltd for the next period is as follows:

Department

Productio overhead  £

Direct

material

cost

£

Direct labour cost

£

Direct labour hours

Machine hours

1

270,000

67,500

13,500

2,700

45,000

2

18,000

36,000

100,000

25,000

300

Individual direct labour employees within each department earn differing rates of pay according to their skills, grade and experience.

Required

(a) Rydons Tables intends to use a production overhead cost rate of £6 per machine hour for absorbing production overhead cost into jobs, based on the budget. Write a short note to the managers of the business commenting on this proposal.

(b) During the past year, Rydons Tables has been using a production overhead cost rate of £5.60 per machine hour. During the year overheads of £275,000 were incurred and 48,000 machine hours worked. Were overheads under absorbed or over absorbed, and by how much?