Crossroad corporation is trying to decide whether to invest to automate a production line. if the project is accepted, labor costs will decrease by $165,000 per year. however, other cash operating expenses will increase by $86,000 per year. the equipment will cost $260,000 and is depreciable over 10 years using simplified straight line to a zero salvage value. crossroad will invest $10,000 in net working capital at installation. the firm has a marginal tax rate of 34%. calculate the firm's annual cash flows associated with the new project.

Activity-based costing (abc) is not truly a cost collection mechanism as much as it is an inventory valuation method. the main purpose for implementing an activity-based cost system is to try to overcome some of the cost distortions that occur in traditional costing from product differences when there are variations in size and complexity. however, one of the disadvantages of utilizing abc is that the additional information gathering necessary to implement costing with that level of detail might be beyond the reach of some companies with resource or financial constraints. with this in mind, what kinds of industries or companies do you think would benefit most from using activity-based costing and why? in designing or modifying an accounting system to capture appropriate costs for abc, what considerations do you think would need to be made?