In step five, every entry i,j of the EAD matrix was replaced with the resulting dollar value by multiplying the cost of the expense category j and the ratio i,j. The new matrix gives the dollar resource consumption of each activity. The total cost for each activity was obtained by adding each row. Exhibit 8 depicts the new EAD matrix for Tool & Die Inc. with the resulting dollar resource consumption of each activity.
In step six, activity costs were traced to each product after the total cost of each activity was determined. The procedure is similar to the one used for tracing cost in the first stage; however, second stage cost drivers allowed Tool & Die Inc. to determine or estimate activity consumption by product. In this stage the APD matrix is used. The APD matrix for Tool & Die Inc. is
shown in Exhibit 9. In a similar fashion, a “ä” at the entry i,j denotes that product i consumes activity j.
In step seven, the check marks were replaced by the corresponding ratios.
As before, the ratios were calculated using educated guess, systematic appraisal (AHP), and actual data. For example, the three products consume the activity material purchasing. To estimate the appropriate ratios, the employees involved in production were asked the relative number of purchase orders (cost driver for material purchasing) required for each product. The following questions were asked to obtain information needed for AHP:
• How was the total number of material purchase orders for product 1 compared with product 2?
• How was the total number of material purchase orders for product 1 compared with product 3?
• How was the total number of material purchase orders for product 2 compared with product 3?
The ratios were then placed into the APD matrix, as shown in Exhibit 10. In step 8, the overhead costs for each product was computed. The resulting APD matrix, shown in Exhibit 11, gives the total overhead costs for each product as well as their origin.