Guillermo Furniture Store Scenario Essay Example
Guillermo Furniture Store Scenario Essay Example

Guillermo Furniture Store Scenario Essay Example

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After a new competitor from overseas entered Sonora’s furniture market and one of the largest retailer in the nation opened headquarter in Sonora, Guillermo's Furniture store experienced serious business problems. As a result, Guillermo’s profit margins shrink, as prices fell and costs rose. (UOP, 2009) After conducting some research Guillermo came to the conclusion that he has at least three alternative courses of action to proceed:

  • Apply high-tech methods to the production cycle
  • Become a representative for another manufacturer

Differentiate the product by creating a stain-resistant coating that will add value to the furniture In this paper we will examine the following questions:

  • How could Guillermo use budgets and performance reports in his decision-making process?
  • How might ethics influence his accounting decisions?
  • What accounting information is most relevant for Guillermo to consider when making decis
    ...

    ions?

    Budgets are planning and control tools for management and, therefore, help to make proactive decisions about the business.

    Being a financial instrument budget includes all revenues and expenditures and provides spending guidelines for the manager as well as sets performance expectations. Guillermo can use budgets to compare his alternatives and carefully examine all avoidable and unavoidable costs. The key to determining the financial difference between alternatives is to identify the differential costs and revenues. (Horngren et al, 2008) The differential costs and revenues analysis is called incremental analysis.

    By examining all the relevant costs and revenues Guillermo can decide which alternative to choose and, therefore, to obtain the greatest contribution possible. The company will use the contribution to pay the unavoidable costs.

    The unavoidable costs will remain the same regardless of any decision, so the key is picking the alternativ

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that will contribute the most toward paying off these costs. (Horngren et al, 2008) Performance reports are statements that display measurements of actual results of business activity over some time period.

For the effective decision-making process, Guillermo needs to compare the results from his performance reports with budgeted measurements over the same time period. The difference of revenues, costs and profit from the planned amounts called variance and may be favorable or unfavorable.

The reasons for unfavorable variances should be identified by Guillermo and corrective actions must be taken. “The purpose of ethics in business is to direct businessmen and women to abide by a code of conduct that facilitates, if not encourages, public confidence in their products and services. (Smith; Smith, 2003, ¶15) Although the goal of any business is to increase its profits, to do so requires the public’s trust and that trust depends on ethical business practices. From the ethical perspective, Guillermo Furniture Store must clearly, honestly, and accurately represent its product, services, terms, and conditions.

Highly competent, reliable, and objective financial statements will help Guillermo to gain clarity and to make better-informed business decisions. It is also important to remember that non-financial information can influence the decision-making process as well.

For example, if Guillermo will decide to apply new high technologies to his production process or become a representative for another manufacturer, many of his employees will be laid off because their positions will no longer be needed. What will happen to these employees and their families? How it will affect the community? What about customers who might be relying on his customer support in the future? While the non-financial impacts are hard

to determine, they are still factors a company should consider. Any negative impacts on employees, customers, or communities could create future financial problems for the company. Horngren et al, 2008) In an ideal situation, information for decision making should be both perfectly relevant and precisely accurate.

However, in reality, such information is often too difficult or too costly to obtain. The degree to which information is relevant or precise often depends on the degree to which it is qualitative or quantitative. (Horngren et al, 2008) Since primary classification of costs on the income statement are by three major management functions: manufacturing, selling, and administrative, it will be definitely the most relevant accounting information for Guillermo to consider.

Some income statements track fixed and variable costs using the contribution approach, whereas others adopt the absorption approach that considers all direct and indirect manufacturing costs to be product costs. Both, the contribution approach and the absorption approach can be relevant for decision making.

However, the key to decision making is not relying on a hard and fast rule about what to include and what to ignore. (Horngren et al, 2008) Thus, Guillermo will need to analyze all pertinent costs and revenues to determine what is and what is not relevant for his particular decision.

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