Planning Fixed Overhead Costs
Effective planning of fixed overhead costs is similar to effective planning for variable
overhead costs—planning to undertake only essential activities and then planning to be
efficient in that undertaking. But in planning fixed overhead costs, there is one more
strategic issue that managers must take into consideration: choosing the appropriate
level of capacity or investment that will benefit the company in the long run. Consider
Webb’s leasing of sewing machines, each having a fixed cost per year. Leasing more
machines than necessary—if Webb overestimates demand—will result in additional
fixed leasing costs on machines not fully used during the year. Leasing insufficient
machine capacity—say, because Webb underestimates demand or because of limited
space in the plant—will result in an inability to meet demand, lost sales of jackets, and
unhappy customers. Consider the example of AT&T, which did not foresee the iPhone’s
appeal or the proliferation of “apps” and did not upgrade its network sufficiently to
handle the resulting data traffic. AT&T has since had to impose limits on how customers
can use the iPhone (such as by curtailing tethering and the streaming of
Webcasts). In December 2009, AT&T had the lowest customer satisfaction ratings
among all major carriers.
The planning of fixed overhead costs differs from the planning of variable overhead
costs in one important respect: timing. At the start of a budget period, management will
have made most of the decisions that determine the level of fixed overhead costs to be
incurred. But, it’s the day-to-day, ongoing operating decisions that mainly determine the
level of variable overhead costs incurred in that period. In health care settings, for example,
variable overhead, which includes disposable supplies, unit doses of medication,
suture packets, and medical waste disposal costs, is a function of the number and nature
of procedures carried out, as well as the practice patterns of the physicians. However, the
majority of the cost of providing hospital service is related to buildings, equipment, and
salaried labor, which are fixed overhead items, unrelated to the volume of activity.2