After reading an article about activity-based costing in a trade journal for the furniture industry, Santana Rey wondered if it was time to critically analyze the overhead costs at Business Solutions. In a recent month, Rey found that setup costs, inspection costs, and utility costs made up most of its overhead. Additional information about overhead follows.

Activity

Cost

Driver

Setting up machines

2,000

25 batches

Inspecting components

7,500

5,000 parts

Providing utilities

10,000

5,000 machine hours

Overhead has been applied to output at a rate of 50% of direct labor costs. The following data pertain to Job 6.15.

Direct materials 2,500 Number of parts

Direct labor 3,500 Machine hours

Batches 2 batches

Required:

1. What is the total cost of Job 6.15 if Business Solutions applies overhead at 50% of direct labor cost? 2. What is the total cost of Job 6.15 if Business Solutions uses activity-based costing?

3. Which approach to assigning overhead gives a better representation of the costs incurred to produce Job 6.15? Explain.