Subject category:
Finance, Accounting and Control
Published by:
Harvard Business Publishing
Version: 13 March 2008
Length: 17 pages
Data source: Field research
Abstract
An entrepreneurial, publicly traded biotech company has begun production and sales of its core product-cartridges that permit DNA samples to be analyzed on a microchip. In the early quarters, sales are difficult to forecast and the company has experienced fluctuating production volumes and unpredictable gross margins, which has upset the board of directors. The finance staff investigates whether to adopt a new costing approach based on capacity. With large amounts of unused capacity, the decision of how to apply capacity costs is critical to the company's management and its reporting strategy with analysts.
Location:
Industry:
Size:
USD12 million revenues, 170 employees
Other setting(s):
2001
About
Abstract
An entrepreneurial, publicly traded biotech company has begun production and sales of its core product-cartridges that permit DNA samples to be analyzed on a microchip. In the early quarters, sales are difficult to forecast and the company has experienced fluctuating production volumes and unpredictable gross margins, which has upset the board of directors. The finance staff investigates whether to adopt a new costing approach based on capacity. With large amounts of unused capacity, the decision of how to apply capacity costs is critical to the company's management and its reporting strategy with analysts.
Settings
Location:
Industry:
Size:
USD12 million revenues, 170 employees
Other setting(s):
2001