Bridges and Lloyd, an accounting firm, provides consulting and tax planning services. For many years, the firm's total administrative cost (currently $250,000) has been allocated to services on the basis of billable hours to clients. A recent analysis found that 65% of the firm's billable hours to clients resulted from tax planning services, while 35% resulted from consulting services. The firm, contemplating a change to activity-based costing, has identified three components of administrative cost, as follows:
Staff Support $ 180,000
In-house computing charges 50,000
Miscellaneous office costs 20,000
Total $ 250,000
A recent analysis of staff support found a strong correlation between the number of staff personnel and the number of clients served (consulting, 20; tax planning, 60). In contrast, in-house computing and miscellaneous office cost varied directly with the number of computer hours logged and number of client transactions, respectively. Consulting consumed 30% of the firm's computer hours and had 20% of the total client transactions.
If Bridges and Lloyd switched from its current accounting method to an activity-based costing system, the amount of administrative cost chargeable to consulting services would:________.
a. decrease by $23,500.
b. change, but the amount cannot be determined based on the information presented.
c. increase by $23,500.
d. decrease by $32,500.
e. change by an amount other than those listed.