Alaska Launch, a private-sector aerospace company, provided the following aggregated data for satellite construction jobs during a recent period:
| Direct materials |
$ 13,442,769 |
| Direct labor |
21,889,554 |
| Applied (and actual) factory overhead |
8,223,454 |
| Beginning work in process |
14,550,098 |
| Ending work in process |
17,559,000 |
(a) How much is cost of goods manufactured? Is this necessarily the same as cost of goods sold? Why or why not?
(b) Satellites are usually constructed to precise customer specifications, and the contract selling price is 125% of cost. Assuming that the above costs are attributable to several different satellites in various stages of production, how would the cost of direct materials, direct labor, and overhead be tracked to specific jobs? How important is the job costing system in establishing a fair selling price for each satellite?