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Farris Company reported the following information for its two products:

Product X Product Y
Selling price per unit
$ 25 $35
Variable cost per unit
15 20


Due to labor constraints, demand for each of the products is greater than its supply. Product X requires one hour of labor to produce and product Y requires three hours of labor to produce. Which of the following statements is true?

1 Answer

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Answer: To determine which statement is true, we need to compare the contribution margin per unit of each product. The contribution margin is the amount by which the selling price exceeds the variable cost per unit, and it represents the amount of revenue available to cover fixed costs and contribute to profit.

Explanation: The contribution margin per unit for each product is calculated as follows:Product X: $25 selling price - $15 variable cost = $10 contribution margin per unitProduct Y: $35 selling price - $20 variable cost = $15 contribution margin per unitHowever, since Product Y requires three times as much labor as Product X, we need to consider the contribution margin per hour of labor:Product X: $10 contribution margin / 1 hour of labor = $10 contribution margin per hour of laborProduct Y: $15 contribution margin / 3 hours of labor = $5 contribution margin per hour of laborTherefore, the true statement is that Product X has a higher contribution margin per hour of labor than Product Y. Even though Product Y has a higher total contribution margin per unit, it requires more labor to produce, which reduces its contribution margin per hour of labor. As a result, if there is a labor constraint, it may be more profitable to produce more units of Product X rather than Product Y.

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