Gerald is conducting a performance appraisal of the employees in his department, ranking them from the most to the least valuable. he lists the names of the employees to be rated on the left side of a sheet of paper. then he chooses the most valuable employee on the list, crosses that name off the left-hand list, and puts it at the top of the column on the right-hand side of the paper. next, he selects and crosses off the name of the least valuable employee from the left-hand column and moves it to the bottom of the right-hand column. gerald repeats this process for all of the names on the left-hand side of the paper. the resulting list of names in the right-hand column gives a ranking of the employees from the most to the least valuable. identify the ranking method gerald is using.
a. paired comparison ranking
b. central tendency distribution
c. alternation ranking
d. forced distribution

Zachary company produces commercial gardening equipment. since production is highly automated, the company allocates its overhead costs to product lines using activity-based costing. the costs and cost drivers associated with the four overhead activity cost pools follow: activities unit level batch level product level facility level cost $ 64,800 $ 27,730 $ 15,000 $ 154,000 cost driver 2,400 labor hrs. 47 setups percentage of use 11,000 units production of 780 sets of cutting shears, one of the company’s 20 products, took 240 labor hours and 7 setups and consumed 15 percent of the product-sustaining activities. required: (a) had the company used labor hours as a company wide allocation base, how much overhead would it have allocated to the cutting shears? (b) how much overhead is allocated to the cutting shears using activity-based costing? (c) compute the overhead cost per unit for cutting shears first using activity-based costing and then using direct labor hours for allocation if 780 units are produced. if direct product costs are $150 and the product is priced at 30 percent above cost for what price would the product sell under each allocation system? (d) assuming that activity-based costing provides a more accurate estimate of cost, indicate whether the cutting shears would be over- or underpriced if direct labor hours are used as an allocation base. explain how over-or undercosting can affect vaulker's profitability. (e) comment on the validity of using the allocated facility-level cost in the pricing decision. should other costs be considered in a cost- plus pricing decision? if so, which ones? what costs would you include if you were trying to decide whether to accept a special order?

Fortress international, a large conglomerate, procures a few component parts from external suppliers and also manufactures some of the key raw materials in its own subsidiaries. aside from this, the company does not solely depend on outside distributors to reach its customers. in fact, it has its own retail stores to distribute its products. in this scenario, which of the following alternatives to vertical integration is fortress international applying? a. concentric integration b. taper integration c. horizontal integration d. conglomerate integration

Aproduction department's output for the most recent month consisted of 8,000 units completed and transferred to the next stage of production and 5,000 units in ending work in process inventory. the units in ending work in process inventory were 50% complete with respect to both direct materials and conversion costs. calculate the equivalent units of production for the month, assuming the company uses the weighted average method.