Assume That the Accounts Payable Department of a Company Has

question 112

Essay

Assume that the accounts payable department of a company has 10 clerks; each one is paid $25,000 per year ($250,000 total clerical salaries). Six of the clerks spend the following percentages of time on the three activities:
20% of their time 30% of their time matching invoices, receiving documents, and billing statement
50% of their time correcting errors in the various documents
One clerk, the head clerk, spends 50% of her time on administrative duties, and the remainder on error correction. The remaining three clerks spend 30% of their time on processing payments and the remaining 70% of their time on matching documents.
Long distance telephone costs of $1,700 are directly traced to the activity "correcting errors."
on processing payments

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Definitions:

Economic Profits

The surplus remaining after deducting both the explicit and implicit costs from total revenues; represents extra earnings above the next best alternative.

Fair Return

The reasonable profit that a business can expect to make, considering the risk involved.

Pure Monopoly

A market structure where a single firm is the sole producer of a product or service with no close substitutes, giving it significant control over price.

Profit-maximizing Price

The price level at which a company can sell its product or service to maximize its profit, considering cost, demand, and competition.