NOTES Break Even Analysis
NOTES Break Even Analysis
There are several components associated with calculating Break-even point which are explained
below in detail.
Fixed Costs
Total fixed costs are a major component of break-even analysis. Fixed costs are business
expenses that do not vary with the level of production. They tend to be time related such as rents
paid per month, insurance cost, employee salary etc. Fixed costs are also known as overhead of a
company. Fixed cost is usually denoted by FC.
Variable Costs
Variable costs are business expenses that fluctuate with level of production. These types of costs
are generally not time related such as raw materials and direct labor cost. Variable cost is
generally denoted by v.
Profit
Although, profit is generally isn’t used in break even analysis, we have included it here to mimic
reality. You can enter 0 for profit in the calculators above. Profit is generally known as the
different between Sales and total cost. Profit is usually denoted by the letter u.
Break even analysis simply states that Total Revenue equals total cost. If total revenue exceeds
total costs then we have a profit. If total revenue is below total costs then we have a loss. Total
revenue is denoted by TR and total cost is denoted by TC. Total revenue is Price multiplied by
quantity (Q) sold. Total cost is fixed cost plus variable costs.
By using the formula above we can figure out Break Even Quantity (Q) or break even amount
(TR)
Formula for Break even Quantity: Here we are looking for the quantity at which the total
revenue will be equal to total cost.
Formula for Break Even Revenue: Here we are looking for the revenue at which there will be
no profit or loss.
A company is planning to introduce a new line of hard-drive. The hard-drive sales price will be
$200/unit. After analyzing the cost structure, the management came to a decision that raw
materials will cost $20/unit; direct labor will be $10/unit. The company needs to allocate a
current portion of their factory dedicated toward producing the hard drives. The overhead will be
$600,000 and insurance will be $100,000 to cover all equipment. The management also expects
to get a profit of $200,000 as a buffer for any other cost that they might have missed. What is the
break-even quantity for the company to also cover the profit/buffer cost?
Step 1:
Calculate the total Fixed Costs.
Step 2:
Calculate the Variable Cost
Step 3:
Find the Contribution Margin. Contribution Margin is sales price minus variable costs.
C = $200 – $30 = $170
Step 4:
Plug in all the values into the formula
So the company needs to produce and sell 5294.1 or 5295 quantities in order to break even.