Echeverria SA is an Argentinian manufacturing company whose total factory overhead costs fluctuate somewhat from year to year according to the number of machine-hours worked in its production facility. These costs (in Argentinian pesos) at high and low levels of activity over recent years are given below:


Level of Activity
Low High
Machine-hours 60,000 80,000
Total factory overhead costs 274,000 pesos 312,000 pesos

The factory overhead costs above consist of indirect materials, rent, and maintenance. The company has analyzed these costs at the 60,000 machine-hours level of activity as follows:


Indirect materials (variable) 90,000 pesos
Rent (fixed) 130,000
Maintenance (mixed) 54,000


Total factory overhead costs 274,000 pesos



For planning purposes, the company wants to break down the maintenance cost into its variable and fixed cost elements.

Required:
1.


Estimate how much of the factory overhead cost of 312,000 pesos at the high level of activity consists of maintenance cost. (Hint: To do this, it may be helpful to first determine how much of the 312,000 pesos cost consists of indirect materials and rent. Think about the behavior of variable and fixed costs.) (Do not round intermediate calculations.)

you would use the high low method here

first remove the known fixed and variable costs leaving the mixed costs, next calculate the movement in the mixed costs for differring volume, by deduction you now know what the variable component is for the movement in volume, applying this you can calculate the variable and fixed component for the lesser volume.