Business Studies: Understanding Break-even 1
Example: CD Manufacturing Firm
Cliff's CD Emporium has the following management accounting data:
- Fixed costs of £10,000
- Variable costs of £2.00 per unit
- Sales price of £6.00 per unit
Stage 1: Plot Fixed Costs and Variable Costs (to determine Total Costs)
![]() |
|
Construct a chart with output (units) on the horizontal (x) axis, and costs and revenue on the vertical (y) axis. On to this, plot a horizontal fixed costs line (it is horizontal because fixed costs don't change with output).
Now plot a variable cost line from this point, which will, in effect, be the total costs line. This is because the fixed cost added to the variable cost gives the total cost. To do this, multiply:
variable cost per unit x number of units
In this example of the CD manufacturing firm, you can assume that the variable cost per unit is £2 and there are 2 000 units = £4,000.

