Allocating overhead cost among products

O’Brien Hats Inc. manufactures three different styles of hats: Vogue, Beauty, and Deluxe. O’Brien expects to incur $576,000 of overhead cost during the next fiscal year. Other budget information follows:

Vogue

Beauty

Deluxe

Total

Direct labor hours

2,400

4,200

5,400

12,000

Machine hours

1,200

1,400

1,400

4,000

Required

a. Use direct labor hours as the cost driver to compute the allocation rate and the budgeted overhead cost for each product.

b. Use machine hours as the cost driver to compute the allocation rate and the budgeted overhead cost for each product.

c. Describe a set of circumstances where it would be more appropriate to use direct labor hours as the allocation base.

d. Describe a set of circumstances where it would be more appropriate to use machine hours as the allocation base.