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-   -   Use contribution margin ratio to find fixed costs? (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=260963)

  • Sep 16, 2008, 05:34 AM
    charlotte_p
    use contribution margin ratio to find fixed costs?
    I understand the contribution margin ratio = (Selling price - Variable Costs) / Selling Price.
    Is it possible to use the contribution margin ratio and a profit figure to find a Fixed Costs value? I don't think I have a full understanding of what the CMR really is...
  • Sep 16, 2008, 06:10 AM
    ebaines
    No - you need another piece of data, such as revenue.

    Starting with Profit = Revenue - Costs, you can manipulate as follows:

    Profit = revenue - (variable cost + fixed cost)
    Profit = (Rev - Variable cost)*Rev/Rev - Fixed cost
    Profit = CMR * Rev - Fixed cost
    Fixed Cost = CMR*Rev - Profit

    From this you can see that to determine fixed costs you need to know revenue in addition to CMR and Profit.

    Here's an example - 2 cases that have the same CMR and profit, but different fixed costs:

    Case A) Rev = 100, Variable cost = 30, and fixed cost = 50. Here CMR = (100-30)/100 = 70% and profit = 100- 30 - 50 = 20.
    Case B) Rev = 50, Variable cost = 15, and fixed cost = 15. Here CMR = (50-15)/50 = 70%, and profit = 50 - 15 - 15 = 20.

    So you have two cases with equal CMR and profit, but different fixed costs.
  • Mar 10, 2013, 05:15 PM
    ubercado
    ABC Bread sells a box of bagels with a contribution margin of 62.5%. Its fixed costs are $150,000 per year. How much sales dollars does ABC Bread need to break-even per year if bagels are its only product? I know the answer is 240000. What I am trying to figure out is how they got the answer
  • Mar 11, 2013, 05:37 AM
    ebaines
    Learn and memorize this equation:

    Profit = Rvenue x Cont margin% - Fxed Cost

    Rearrange:

    Revenue = (Profit+ Fixed Cost)/margin%

    At break-even profit = 0. You have values for fixed costs and margin %, so now solve for revenue.

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