Bill French
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BILL FRENCH
Bill French picked up the phone and called his boss, Wes Davidson, controller of DuoProducts Corporation. “Wes, I’m all set for the meeting this afternoon. I’ve put together a set of break-even statements that should really make people sit up and take notice – and I think they’ll be able to understand them, too.” After a brief conversation, French concluded the call and turned to his charts for one last checkout before the meeting. French had been hired six months earlier as a staff accountant. He was directly responsible to Davidson and had been doing routine types of analytical work. French was a business school graduate and was considered by his associates to be quite capable and unusually conscientious. It was this later characteristic that had apparently caused him to “rub some of the working folks the wrong way,” as one of his coworkers put it. French was well aware of his capabilities and took advantage of every opportunity that arose to try to educate those around him. Davidson’s invitation for French to attend an informal manager’s meeting had come as a surprise to others in the accounting group. However, when French requested permission to make a presentation of some break-even data, Davidson acquiesced. Duo-Products had not been making use of this type of analysis in its planning procedures. Basically, what French had done was to determine the level at which the company must operate in order to break even. As he put it, The company must be able at least to sell a sufficient volume of goods so that it will cover all the variable costs of producing and selling the goods. Further, it will not make a profit unless it covers the fixed costs as well. The level of operation at which total costs are just covered is the break-even volume. This should be the lower limit in all our planning. The accounting records had provided the following information that French used in constructing his chart: Plant capacity – 2
BILL FRENCH
Bill French picked up the phone and called his boss, Wes Davidson, controller of DuoProducts Corporation. “Wes, I’m all set for the meeting this afternoon. I’ve put together a set of break-even statements that should really make people sit up and take notice – and I think they’ll be able to understand them, too.” After a brief conversation, French concluded the call and turned to his charts for one last checkout before the meeting. French had been hired six months earlier as a staff accountant. He was directly responsible to Davidson and had been doing routine types of analytical work. French was a business school graduate and was considered by his associates to be quite capable and unusually conscientious. It was this later characteristic that had apparently caused him to “rub some of the working folks the wrong way,” as one of his coworkers put it. French was well aware of his capabilities and took advantage of every opportunity that arose to try to educate those around him. Davidson’s invitation for French to attend an informal manager’s meeting had come as a surprise to others in the accounting group. However, when French requested permission to make a presentation of some break-even data, Davidson acquiesced. Duo-Products had not been making use of this type of analysis in its planning procedures. Basically, what French had done was to determine the level at which the company must operate in order to break even. As he put it, The company must be able at least to sell a sufficient volume of goods so that it will cover all the variable costs of producing and selling the goods. Further, it will not make a profit unless it covers the fixed costs as well. The level of operation at which total costs are just covered is the break-even volume. This should be the lower limit in all our planning. The accounting records had provided the following information that French used in constructing his chart: Plant capacity – 2