ワイン販売業の A 社は，営業担当者による法人顧客への販売と直営店による個人顧客への販売を行っている。顧客の幅広いニーズに対応し売上げを拡大するために，A 社は，新しい販売チャネルとしてインターネットによる販売（以下，Web 販売という）を 3 か月前に開始した。 Web 販売の開始以降，営業推進課の事務担当者（以下，事務担当者という）の残業が増えており，業務改善が必要な状況になっている。営業企画課の入社 2 年目の M さんは，業務改善のための企画書をまとめるように上司から指示を受けた。M さんは，原因調査のために事務担当者にインタビューを行った。また，このインタビュー後に関係者へ追加インタビューも行った。 〔業務改善の企画書作成に関する上司からの指示〕 (1) 原因調査は，事実を中心に調査し，論理的に整理する。 (2) 改善策は，適切な観点に従って複数案作成する。 (3) 改善策は，“効果の大きさ”，“費用の小ささ”，“実行のしやすさ”の三つの観点から評価し，各観点の評価点に重みを掛けて合計した総和で総合評価する。評価の重み付けは，効果を重視し次のとおりとする。 効果の大きさ：費用の小ささ：実行のしやすさ＝4：2：1 〔事務担当者へのインタビュー結果メモ〕 (1) Web 販売に関わる顧客のクレームが平均 5 件／日発生している。顧客のクレーム窓口を担当している事務担当者が，毎日残業してクレームに対応している。Web 販売前は，顧客のクレームも事務担当者の残業もなかった。 (2) 顧客のクレームは，注文した商品と違うという誤発送が全件数の 80％を占めている。残り 20％は，指定日時に商品が届かないという納期遅れや商品破損など多様である。 〔関係者への追加インタビュー結果メモ〕 Web 販売では，商品紹介のページで商品ごとに数枚の写真を掲載している。クレームが発生した商品では掲載されている写真の一部が違っていて，注文した商品と違うという誤発送の原因となっていた。営業企画課の商品担当者が写真と説明文を登録し，登録の都度目視でチェックしているが，ワインは商品名が非常に複雑なので，掲載する写真を間違えやすい。 M さんが担当することになった “事務担当者の残業増加” に該当する損益計算書の勘定科目の分類として, 適切なものはどれか。
平成25年度 秋期 ITパスポート試験 問89
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
問 89
Incorrectア
Cost of sales is the section for expenses that correspond directly to the sales of the period — that is, the purchase cost of the goods sold or the manufacturing cost of the products made (materials, labor and overhead at the production site). The personnel costs that belong here are limited to those collected into product cost, such as the wages and overtime pay of workers who make the products in the factory and of on-site supervisors. Administrative staff handle management work, not the direct value-creating processes of manufacturing or purchasing, so their overtime pay is not allocated as cost to individual products or goods. It therefore goes into selling, general and administrative expenses rather than cost of sales.
Incorrectイ
Non-operating expenses is the section for expenses that arise regularly outside the company's main business (its operating activities), mainly from financial activities. Typical examples are interest paid on borrowings, interest on corporate bonds, valuation losses and losses on sale of securities held for trading, and foreign exchange losses. The overtime pay of administrative staff is a personnel cost arising from the administrative activities that keep the main business running; it is not a cost that comes with raising funds or managing assets. Putting it in a section deducted only after operating profit has been calculated would make operating profit — the earning power of the main business — look better than it really is, and would not match the nature of the expense either.
Incorrectウ
Extraordinary loss is the section that separates out losses of the period that happened by chance — unusual, incidental and large in amount. Losses from fire or disaster, losses on sale or disposal of fixed assets, impairment losses, and losses from withdrawing from a business belong here. Putting an expense that recurs every period into this section would distort ordinary profit, which is meant to show recurring earning power. Overtime pay is a personnel cost that occurs regularly every month according to the volume of work; even though it has increased, it is not an unusual or incidental loss, so it does not fall under extraordinary loss.
- エ
正解 The correct answer is エ, “Selling, general and administrative expenses”. The income statement (P/L) divides expenses by their nature and calculates profit step by step from the top down. Net sales minus cost of sales gives gross profit; subtracting selling, general and administrative expenses gives operating profit; then adding non-operating income and deducting non-operating expenses gives ordinary profit; and adding extraordinary income and deducting extraordinary losses gives profit before income taxes. Among these, selling, general and administrative expenses is the section that gathers the costs of activities that belong to the main business but are not manufacturing or purchasing themselves — that is, selling activities and company-wide administrative activities. It includes salaries of the sales department and advertising costs, as well as personnel costs of administrative departments such as general affairs, accounting and human resources (the clerical departments), office rent, utilities, communication charges and depreciation. An “increase in overtime of administrative staff” means that overtime allowances for people working in the clerical (administrative) departments go up. This is not a cost charged directly to product cost or purchase cost; it is an administrative expense that arises regularly in every period as part of running the main business. It is therefore classified as selling, general and administrative expenses, and this increase acts to push operating profit down.
- Expense sections and stepwise profits in the income statement: net sales − cost of sales = gross profit; − selling, general and administrative expenses = operating profit; ± non-operating income and expenses = ordinary profit; ± extraordinary income and losses = profit before income taxes. Which section an expense falls into changes which stage of profit is reduced.
- How to classify personnel costs: the same salary or overtime pay goes into cost of sales (manufacturing cost) if it is for a worker on the production floor, and into selling, general and administrative expenses if it is for a selling or administrative department such as sales, general affairs or accounting. If it comes from financial activity unrelated to the main business it is a non-operating expense, and if it is an unusual, very large loss it is an extraordinary loss — separate them by what caused them and whether they recur.