• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Free ACCA & CIMA online courses from OpenTuition

Free ACCA & CIMA online courses from OpenTuition

Free Notes, Lectures, Tests and Forums for ACCA and CIMA exams

  • ACCA
  • CIMA
  • FIA
  • OBU
  • Books
  • Forums
  • Ask AI
  • Search
  • Register
  • Login
  • ACCA PM:
  • PM Notes
  • PM Lectures
  • Practice Questions
  • PM Flashcards
  • Revision Lectures
  • PM Mock Exam
  • PM Forums
  • Ask the Tutor
  • Ask AI (New!)

20% off ACCA & CIMA Books

OpenTuition recommends the new interactive BPP books for March and June 2025 exams.
Get your discount code >>

PM Chapter 1 Questions Activity based costing

VIVA

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. guimatsia says

    July 5, 2017 at 4:02 pm

    it was great

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      July 6, 2017 at 8:47 am

      Good 🙂

      Log in to Reply
  2. chanhldv says

    June 19, 2017 at 6:30 am

    How useful it is!

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      June 19, 2017 at 12:47 pm

      🙂

      Log in to Reply
  3. jankey says

    May 23, 2017 at 12:39 pm

    The test is great, thank you its helpful as a practice to all F5 student

    Log in to Reply
  4. jankey says

    May 23, 2017 at 12:38 pm

    The test is great, thank you its really helpful

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      May 23, 2017 at 2:33 pm

      You are welcome 🙂

      (But make sure that you do buy a Revision Kit from one of the ACCA approved publishers – you need to practice as many questions as possible, and the Revision Kits contain lots of exam-standard questions.)

      Log in to Reply
  5. akua1 says

    May 23, 2017 at 3:25 am

    please i didnt understand how to calculate for the overhead costs absorbrsd on the basis of labour hours

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      May 23, 2017 at 8:33 am

      I don’t know which of the questions you are referring to. I assume that you watched my free lectures on the absorption of overheads before attempting the test?

      Log in to Reply
  6. bonnokutlwano1991 says

    April 20, 2017 at 5:41 pm

    Thank you the quiz it was really helpful

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      April 21, 2017 at 5:52 am

      Great 🙂

      Log in to Reply
  7. Samuel Koroma says

    March 27, 2017 at 5:31 pm

    Thanks for the quiz. Very helpful

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      March 28, 2017 at 7:46 am

      You are welcome 🙂

      Log in to Reply
  8. kagofedguel says

    August 4, 2016 at 11:56 am

    Why is that in question 3 when we are suppose to say 230400/ (96000+19200)=2 then 2*19200=38400 coz we dealing Q but in the answer you have done the opposite…details for product P where used on the other overheads item….

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      August 4, 2016 at 2:02 pm

      The answer is correct. There are 9,600 Q’s and each takes 10 hours, which is 96,000 hours in total.

      Log in to Reply
  9. arshadconsultant1 says

    May 28, 2016 at 4:10 pm

    Where else could we try more of such questions ?

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      May 29, 2016 at 7:35 am

      You must buy a Revision Kit from one of the ACCA approved publishers, as we recommend throughout this website.

      Log in to Reply
  10. Samuel Koroma says

    May 5, 2016 at 12:20 pm

    With regards question 2 why is it that traditional absorption costing systems tend to over cost high volume products and under cost low volume products? I know the opposite applies to ABC because overhead costs are now are larger proportion of overall or total cost in modern manufacturing and as a result the proportion of indirect costs is much higher than direct costs.

    Log in to Reply
    • Samuel Koroma says

      May 5, 2016 at 12:27 pm

      I can see my comment has already been answered below. Thanks

      Log in to Reply
      • John Moffat says

        May 5, 2016 at 1:46 pm

        I am glad you found the answer 🙂

      • meme86 says

        June 1, 2016 at 8:41 pm

        Dear John,
        where is the answer for the above inquire regards question 2?

      • John Moffat says

        June 2, 2016 at 5:41 am

        It is below.

  11. tola2016 says

    March 17, 2016 at 6:17 pm

    In regards to question 3 I understand how the answer came about but I was wondering how did you get the 115,200 in regards to working out other overheads

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      March 17, 2016 at 7:37 pm

      The total labour hours are (2,400 x 8) + (9,600 x 10) = 115,200

      I do suggest that you watch our free lecture on ABC!

      Log in to Reply
      • tola2016 says

        March 18, 2016 at 7:29 am

        thank you

      • John Moffat says

        March 18, 2016 at 3:12 pm

        You are welcome 🙂

  12. madihakhan18 says

    March 9, 2016 at 10:52 am

    hi,

    i would appreciate if you explain how absorption costing under allocates costs to low volume products??

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      March 9, 2016 at 12:06 pm

      Here is a very simple example to explain:

      Suppose we make 100 units of A and 1,000 units of B.

      Using absorption costing (it is on a per unit bases) would absorb the same amount per unit. Therefore in total B would be given 10 times as much overheads as A.

      However, it could be that the overheads all related to setting up the machines for production and that they only need to set up the machines once for each product (regardless of how many they produce). Therefore using ABC an equal amount of overheads (in total) should be given to each product.

      As a result using absorption costing is giving much lower overheads in total than if we used ABC.

      (Again, this is only a very simple example to try and illustrate the point, and it will not necessarily always be the case, but for that sort of reason absorption will tend to end up giving lower overheads to low volume products than ABC.)

      Log in to Reply
      • tasya999 says

        July 15, 2020 at 9:25 pm

        greetings john,
        by looking at this scenario, why we didnt say that low volume product (A) is over-allocated ,not under ;and vice versa.

        for example, the overhead cost is $1000, so we`ll allocate the cost by A-$10 and B-$1

        but yes, still, the fact that it said to be under-allocated still true,but why cant we say it is also can be called over-allocated

  13. duaa123 says

    February 13, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    I didn’t get the general overheads part . I calculated the overhead absorption rate by the formulae TOTAL BUDGETED OH COST DIVIDE IT BY TOTAL BUDGETED LAB/MACHINE HOURS . 230400/115200 . I didn’t get the rest of the part . how and y did u multiply it with 96000 :/

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      February 13, 2016 at 2:07 pm

      It would help if you said the number of the question you are referring to!!

      The absorption rate for ‘other overheads’ is 230,400/115,200, based on labour hours because the question said to use labour hours. (Machine hours are nothing to do with it).

      The total labour hours used for product Q are 96,000 and therefore the total overhead for product Q is 96,000 x 230,400/115,200.

      I do suggest that you watch the free lecture on absorption costing before attempting the test.

      Log in to Reply
    • barvince says

      March 5, 2016 at 4:16 pm

      The questions says that the budgeted production units for Product Q is 9600; it then says that the Labour hours per unit for Product Q are 10. Therefore in order to make the budgeted 9600 units you would need to multiply (9600 x 10) = 96000. This gives the total labour hours that would be required to meet the budgeted production. Therefore when you are calculating the “Cost Per Other Overheads” you would then take (96000x$2.00 per unit) = $192,000

      This is what I understood from working it out based on the example I had previously done in the lecture. Hope this helps.

      Log in to Reply
  14. lethanhthuy says

    December 1, 2015 at 9:25 am

    Thank you for your great lecture and question!

    Could you please help to explain the answer for the question about ‘NOT the advantage of the ABC base costing’?

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      December 1, 2015 at 11:24 am

      The fact that for some overheads it might be impossible to identify a cost driver (and therefore be unable to apply ABC to those overheads) is not going to be an advantage of using ABC.

      Forcing us to understand what drives an overheads is an advantage (because we can then try and use it more efficiently); the fact it deals with all overheads is an advantage; the fact that is can lead to a reduction in overheads is an advantage (because of using whatever is causing the overheads more efficiently)

      Log in to Reply
      • lethanhthuy says

        December 1, 2015 at 12:52 pm

        In my so far understanding, total overhead doesn’t change, just allocation amount will change in accordance with the identified cost driver? And now we just find different ways to distribute incurred cost to activities more reasonably.

      • John Moffat says

        December 1, 2015 at 4:25 pm

        The main benefit of using ABC is that identifying what causes overheads can lead to using resources more efficiently and therefore lead to a reduction in the total overheads in the future.
        I do suggest that you watch our free lecture on ABC where this is explained.

      • nindi says

        April 25, 2020 at 5:16 pm

        WHAT DOES THIS LINE MEAn=the Choice of Both activities and cost drivers might be inappropriate????
        Benefit obtained from ABC might Not justifiy the cost????

  15. smcn says

    November 23, 2015 at 10:15 pm

    Hi

    I am looking at the MCQ

    A company manufactures two products, P and Q for this the following information is available:-

    Budgeted production: P (2,400 units) Q (9,600 units)
    Labour hours per unit: P (8) Q (10)
    # of production runs required: P (13) Q (15)
    # of inspections during production;: P (5) Q (3)

    Total production set-up costs $336,000
    Total inspection costs $192,000
    Total overhead costs $230,400

    Other overhead costs are absorbed on the basis of labour hours.

    I have done the following

    Production set up $336K/28 ie the # of production runs then I multiply by 15 = 180K
    Inspections $192K/8 ie total # of inspections the multiply by 3 = 72K
    General overhead $230,400K/18 Labour hours by *10 = 96K

    180K+72K+96K = 380K/9.6K = €39.58

    Could you tell me where I have gone wrong?

    Thanks

    Log in to Reply
    • yvonne ang says

      November 24, 2015 at 7:51 am

      General overhead should be $230000 / (2400x8hrs)+(9600x10hrs) divided by 96000 units = $192000

      # 180k + 72k + 192k = 444k / 9.6k = $46.25

      Log in to Reply
      • smcn says

        November 25, 2015 at 7:57 am

        Thanks

      • John Moffat says

        November 25, 2015 at 8:42 am

        You are welcome 🙂

  16. smcn says

    November 23, 2015 at 10:15 pm

    Hi

    I am looking at the MCQ

    A company manufactures two products, P and Q for this the following information is available:-

    Budgeted production: P (2,400 units) Q (9,600 units)
    Labour hours per unit: P (8) Q (10)
    # of production runs required: P (13) Q (15)
    # of inspections during production;: P (5) Q (3)

    Total production set-up costs $336,000
    Total inspection costs $192,000
    Total overhead costs $230,400

    Other overhead costs are absorbed on the basis of labour hours.

    I have done the following

    Production set up $336K/28 ie the # of production runs then I multiply by 15 = 180K
    Inspections $192K/8 ie total # of inspections the multiply by 3 = 72K
    General overhead $230,400K/18 Labour hours by *10 = 96K

    180K+72K+96K = 380K/9.6K = €39.58

    Could you tell me where I have gone wrong?

    Thank

    Log in to Reply
  17. Erica says

    November 23, 2015 at 7:50 am

    Sir, this question :

    A company manufactures two products, P and Q for this the following information is available:-

    Budgeted production: P (2,400 units) Q (9,600 units)
    Labour hours per unit: P (8) Q (10)
    # of production runs required: P (13) Q (15)
    # of inspections during production;: P (5) Q (3)

    Total production set-up costs $336,000
    Total inspection costs $192,000
    Total overhead costs $230,400

    Other overhead costs are absorbed on the basis of labour hours.

    The way I calculate it is: i multiply the budgeted production units of the 2 productsnd total them up together becoming 115,200 with its respective labour hours per unit and total them up together becoming 115,200. then divided it with the total overhead costs and got $2. I do not know where have I gone wrong.

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      November 23, 2015 at 9:47 am

      That bit of the answer is correct.
      However, two problems:
      One is that set-up costs and inspection costs are also overheads.
      Second is that the question wants to know the overhead cost per unit of Product Q.

      Log in to Reply
      • Erica says

        November 23, 2015 at 12:46 pm

        and Sir, traditional costing tends to OVER or UNDER allocate costs to low-volume product? Coz here, the correct answer mentioned are both statements true but the answer at the back of your F5 lecture course notes is written as only statement 2 is true. Which is which?

      • John Moffat says

        November 23, 2015 at 1:37 pm

        I don’t know if you are using an old set of the Lecture Notes – maybe there was a typing error that was later corrected.

        However, both the lecture notes and this test give the same correct answer which is that both statements are true.

        Traditional costing tends to under-allocate costs to low-volume products.

      • Erica says

        November 23, 2015 at 1:46 pm

        Why does it tend to under-allocate costs to low products?

      • John Moffat says

        November 23, 2015 at 2:07 pm

        Here is a very simple illustration.
        Suppose a business produces 100 units of product A and 1000 units of product B.
        The total overheads are $1,100.
        Tradition costing will absorb the overheads at $1 per unit. So a total of $100 for product A and a total of $1,000 for product B.

        Suppose now that the overheads of $1100 are set-up costs, and each product needs 1 set-up regardless of how many are produced (so 2 set-ups in total).
        Since the cost per set-up is $550, the total overheads should (under ABC) be $550 for A and $550 for B.

        The problem does not always exist, but traditional absorption does tend to under allocate costs to low volume products as I have illustrated above.

      • Erica says

        November 23, 2015 at 2:59 pm

        But with ABC, costs will not be under-allocated to low volume products (fair allocation of costs), is that what you were trying to say?

      • John Moffat says

        November 23, 2015 at 5:53 pm

        I repeat, absorption costing does tend to under-allocate costs to low volume products (as compared to ABC).

      • gonko says

        December 3, 2015 at 2:03 pm

        I do not understand this one either.

        My workings:

        P Hours 19200 and Q 96000
        Runs 13 @ 185units per run and Q 15 runs at 640units per run
        Inspections 5 and 3 respectively, with Q (3 inspections per run, each run 640 units)

        So Runs are 12000 each (336k/28), divide by 640 to get a per unit value = 18.75
        Inspections (192k/8) = 24000. Q has 3. 24000*3 / 9600units = 7.50
        Labour/other hrs (230400/115200 total hours) = 2 per hour. Q needs 8 hours, therefore 16.00 per unit.

        Q = $42.25?

        Please help.

    • gonko says

      December 3, 2015 at 2:04 pm

      I do not understand this one either.

      My workings:

      P Hours 19200 and Q 96000
      Runs 13 @ 185units per run and Q 15 runs at 640units per run
      Inspections 5 and 3 respectively, with Q (3 inspections per run, each run 640 units)

      So Runs are 12000 each (336k/28), divide by 640 to get a per unit value = 18.75
      Inspections (192k/8) = 24000. Q has 3. 24000*3 / 9600units = 7.50
      Labour/other hrs (230400/115200 total hours) = 2 per hour. Q needs 8 hours, therefore 16.00 per unit.

      Q = $42.25?

      Please help.

      Log in to Reply
  18. pumulokrebby1992 says

    November 12, 2015 at 1:01 pm

    Yes please add the answer working, its easier and quicker to follow up that way. upon submission if the answer is incorrect the correct working should also pop up..even in an event that the answer is right the working should still show for the sake of comparison

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      November 20, 2015 at 3:17 pm

      We provide this website free of charge and the current software does not allow the workings to appear.
      When we can afford it we will upgrade but until then you should ask here if you have a problem.

      Log in to Reply
  19. Leonis Nyuma Sesay says

    November 9, 2015 at 1:44 am

    What is the solution to question 5?

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      November 20, 2015 at 3:19 pm

      I am afraid that until now the questions have been appearing in a random order (this has now been corrected).

      But it does mean that what you got as question 5 could appear as question 1 for other people.
      So I don’t know which question you mean.

      Please say a bit more about what was in the question and then I will help you 🙂

      (As I say – the problem has now been corrected, and so it won’t be a problem in future).

      Log in to Reply
  20. afazel says

    November 6, 2015 at 11:54 am

    Please add the answers working for students to work out the answers in MCQ questions

    Log in to Reply
    • John Moffat says

      November 20, 2015 at 3:20 pm

      We provide this website free of charge and the current software does not allow the workings to appear.
      When we can afford it we will upgrade but until then you should ask here if you have a problem.

      (I assume, of course, that you have watched the relevant lectures on this website.)

      Log in to Reply
Newer Comments »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Copyright © 2025 · Support · Contact · Advertising · OpenLicense · About · Sitemap · Comments · Log in