Hammond and Jarrett Provide Tax Consulting for Estates and Trusts

question 66

Essay

Hammond and Jarrett provide tax consulting for estates and trusts. Their job-costing system has a single direct-cost category (professional labor) and a single indirect-cost pool (research support). The indirect-cost pool contains all the costs except direct personnel costs. All budgeted indirect costs are allocated to individual jobs using actual professional labor-hours.
Required:
a.Discuss the reasons a consulting firm might use a normal costing system rather than an actual costing system.
b.What might be some reasons for the firm to change from a one-pool to a multiple-pool allocation concept?

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Definitions:

Distributions of Income

The process by which earned income or profits are paid out to stakeholders, such as dividends to shareholders.

Loss

The negative financial result from operations, investments, or other business activities where expenses exceed revenues.

Closing Entry

Journal entries made at the end of an accounting period to transfer the balances of temporary accounts to permanent ones.

Capital Interest

This is the amount of interest owed on loans used to purchase assets intended for long-term use, reflecting the cost of financing capital investments.