Assignment Brief:
You are a newly hired logistics analyst working for a well-known nut and bolt manufacturer Anderton Alloy Fasteners Ltd. They have outsourced their logistics function to a third party logistics provider who run a fleet of 75 vehicles of varying types and four strategically placed warehouse sites around the UK in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds and Reading. It is your job to manage and control the logistics provider. You have been tasked to develop a number of costing and pricing tools that will enable Anderton Alloy Fasteners Ltd to judge whether outsourcing logistics activities is financially worthwhile. Prepare a report of less than 3,000 words, excluding appendices and bibliography to answer the following questions:
- Distinguish between two key management accounting costing methods which you could use to manage the existing third party logistics provider. Justify which method would be most appropriate for Anderton Alloy Fasteners.
- Justify the choice of a key investment appraisal tool that considers the time value of money and demonstrate how it could be used to facilitate the acquisition of a centralised warehouse in Coventry.
- Critically appraise the key approaches to costing vehicles, labour and allocating overheads. Explain with an example how they can be used to price logistics services such as delivering fasteners to manufacturing clients in the UK.
- Critically evaluate the transfer pricing methods that Anderton Alloy Fastener’s logistics provider could use to charge for logistics services.
- Examine how an Income Statement and Balance sheet can be used with budgets to judge financial performance of Anderton Alloy Fasteners Ltd.
Learning Outcomes Assessed:
- Evaluate key cost structures, revenue generation and investment appraisal methods
- Critically appraise the key approaches to costing and pricing
- Apply appropriate techniques to judge financial performance of a logistics or supply chain business
Report Format:
- The written report should have a clear structure, which is evident through the use of a numbering system and/or styles of headings. These indicate a hierarchy of different levels of importance or significance.
- It will be necessary to organise ideas and plan this structure in advance of writing the detailed content.
- Ensure your comments, opinions and conclusions are fully supported by academic citations and references.
- This approach is different to an ‘essay’ style, which relies on the use of paragraphs and link sentences to indicate changes of topic.
