Assignment Expense Forecasting and Benchmarking
Assignment: Expense Forecasting and Benchmarking
Looking Ahead: Application Assignment: Expense Forecasting and Financial Analysis Cycle
You will begin this assignment in Week 9 and it will be due by Day 7 of Week 10.
Throughout this course, you’ve examined the importance of anticipating financial fluctuations that may impact your organization’s ability to provide services. While financial managers have no time machines or crystal balls, they do have expense forecasts. Expense forecasting is one of the preeminent tools that financial managers can use to prepare their organizations for future fiscal turbulence. In this Assignment, you will examine a scenario and generate a corresponding expense forecast in Excel.
Before pursuing an opportunity or making a major purchase, financial decision makers must first ascertain if the expenditures are justified. Determining whether a new process, system, or purchase will yield worthwhile returns is no easy task. However, managers have a variety of tools to help them decide whether the new expenditure is warranted. Analyzing a venture’s benefit/cost ratio, marginal profit and loss statement, and break-even points enable nurse managers to make educated decisions about how they choose to commit their funds.
Note: For those Assignments in this course that require you to perform calculations you must:Use the Excel spreadsheet template for the Week 3 assignment
Show all your calculations and formulas in the spreadsheet.
Answer any questions included with the problems (as text in the Excel spreadsheet).
A title and reference page are NOT needed in this assignment. Put your name and assignment at the top of the Excel spreadsheet.
For those not comfortable with the use of Microsoft Excel, this week’s Optional Resources suggest several tutorials.
To prepare:
- Review the information in the Week 9 and 10 Learning Resources dealing with expense forecasting, profit and loss, break-even analysis, and benefit and cost ratio analysis. Focus on how they are calculated and how they can be used in decision making.
- View the following tutorial videos, provided in this week’s Learning Resources.
- Week 10 Application Assignment Tutorial: Benefit Cost Ratio
- Week 10 Application Assignment Tutorial: Breakeven Analysis
- Week 10 Application Assignment Tutorial: Expense Forecasting
- Week 10 Application Assignment Tutorial: Profit and Loss Scenario
Assignment Expense Forecasting and Benchmarking
Use the Week 10 Application Assignment Template, provided in this week’s Learning Resources, to complete this assignment. Carefully examine the information in each of the scenarios and provide the necessary calculations. Using this information will help you answer the questions. Note: All the scenarios will be submitted as one document. Each scenario will be on a different tab in the spreadsheet.
Expense Forecasting
In this Application Assignment you calculate scenarios focusing on benefit/cost ratio analysis, marginal profit and loss statements, and break-even analysis. For these scenarios, you will utilize the provided figures to perform calculations and then make recommendations about the viability of the investment opportunities
Expense Forecasting Scenario
Your department has performed 20,000 procedures during the first six months (January–June) of 20X1. Spending during that period of time was $210,000 for fixed expense items and $1,200,000 for variable expense items. Of those amounts, $50,000 of fixed expense money was spent on preparing for a Joint Commission survey. Volume is anticipated to be 10% higher in the second half of the year. On November 1st, two new procedure technicians will begin work. The salary and fringe benefit costs for each are $96,000/year. Based on the information provided, prepare an expense forecast for 20X1.
Annualization for Fixed: (Adjusted Total for Year to Date Expense/6) * 12 =Total Annualized Amounts
Annualization for Variable (Adjusted Total for Year to Date Expense/ 20,000) * 40,000 =Total Annualized Amounts.
Financial Analysis Cycle
Marginal Profit and Loss Statement Scenario
You are examining a proposal for a new business opportunity – a new procedure for which demand is expected to be 1,400 units the first year, growing by 600 units a year thereafter. The price charged per procedure is $1,000. The collection rate is anticipated to be 80%. Each procedure consumes $300 of supplies. Salary cost is estimated to cost $540,000 each year, fringe benefits are 25% of salaries, rent for the facility is $55,000/yr and operating cost are $120,000/yr.
Questions:
- Develop a marginal profit and loss statement for this business opportunity.Based on that analysis, should this opportunity be pursued?
Break-Even Analysis Scenario
You can charge $1,075 for a new service. Demand is anticipated to be 8,000 units a year. Your business is able to handle up to 16,500 units annually, so capacity should not be a problem. The average collection rate is 80%. The new service has annual fixed costs of $4,700,000. Variable cost per unit of service is $420.
Assignment: Expense Forecasting and Benchmarking
Question: Use break-even analysis to determine if this new service is financially viable. If the business is not financially viable, what steps could you take to make a case to proceed with implementation? Explain your decision.
Benefit/Cost Ratio Analysis Scenario
You are considering the acquisition of a new piece of equipment with a useful life of five years. This new technology will make your clinical operation more efficient and allow for a reduction of 10 FTEs. The equipment purchase price is $4,500,000 plus 10% installation fee. The purchase price includes service for the first year, an item that has an annual cost of $10,000. There is a potential for additional volume of 150,000 units in the first year, growing by 30,000 each year thereafter. The price charged per unit is $15.00 with a 50% collection rate. The staff being eliminated are paid $12.50 per hour. The fringe benefits rate is 20%. The hurdle rate is 7.5%.
Questions: After reviewing Dr. Ward’s Video and the calculations below, please answer the following questions:
- What is meant by benefit/cost ratio, average payback period and ROI and why are the all important to understand when purchasing new equipment?
- Based on this information, would you pursue this opportunity?
- Explain your decision in 250-500 words in the text box below.
- Important information for writing discussion questions and participationHi Class,
Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.
Contact me if you have any questions.
Important information on Writing a Discussion Question
- Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
- There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
- Include in-text citations in your response
- Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
- Follow APA-7th edition
- Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor
- A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
- Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
- Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
- Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
- Follow APA 7th edition
- Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
- Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
- Here are some helpful links
- Student paper example
- Citing Sources
- The Writing Center is a great resource
Welcome to class
Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to.
I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.
Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.
If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.
Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.
Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.
I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!
