Sales and Johnson Toy Company free essay sample

From the standpoint of an individual concerned with accounting controls, discuss and evaluate Johnson Toy Company’s present policies for handling returned items. From the accounting control perspective, the financial records are evidently inaccurate leading to poor overall control, e. g. Greg Sullivan confidently indicated that his records shows 2. 6 million Jungle Jim dolls are in stock for recycling; however, Carolyn Coggins expressed the concern that dealers will return the 2 million dolls currently held in their stock. This discrepancy is due to vague and poor return policies provided to management, e. g. field sales reps would customize return policies that is difficult to monitor and may drastically deviate from other sales reps’ policies. (2)Answer Question 1, but from the standpoint of an individual interested in marketing. From the marketing standpoint, i. e. field sales representatives, they tend to favour less on procedural controls for the reason of wanting/needing the flexibility to bargain with retailers. 3)Propose a policy for handling returns that should be adopted by the Johnson Toy Company. High volume customer will receive a straight 2% deduction off of the wholesale selling price to cover defectives— regardless of defectives classified as cosmetically damaged or slow selling items, except when unable to sell due to special circumstances (see Section 3) 2. Low-Volume Customers: A. Damaged goods that are functional may be returned to Johnson Toy Company’s plant at Johnson’s expense with full refund. B. Low volume customers will NOT receive an automatic deduction for deduction for defectives. Customer must first obtain a return authorization number from the firm’s sales management team (which should not be field sales reps and all return records should be managed by an individual or team in one central location). The authorization number does not automatically grant a credit. 3. Each return form must include the following information: Return authorization Number Customer contact name, address and phone number Purchase order or Invoice Number Product code (SKU), quantity and description of each product with a different SKU Reason for return * Customer signature is mandatory in all cases of product returns in compliance for resale and to confirm that the products have been stored under the conditions indicated on the product label. 4. All products must be returned within 48 hours (2 business days) after the authorization number has been issued. The customer must use the carrier selected by Johnson Toy Company. Cost allocation of return is subjected to the conditions indicated in ‘Detailed Conditions’ of Johnson Toy Company’s Returns Policy. (4)Should this policy, if adopted, be printed and distributed to all of the retailers who handled Johnson Toy Company products? Why or why not? If it should not be distributed to them, who should receive copies? The full policy should serve more as a guide and control for field sales reps to work with during negotiations. All members of management from engineer, logistics, controller, etc. sales reps and the team that handles returns should receive the copy of the Johnson`s return policy. This particular copy should not be distributed to retailers due to potential discrepancies; however, retailers should know what their exact return policies will be. Clearly defining what the policy is from the beginning can help provide a good foundation to developing long and sustainable relationships with customers. (5)Assume that it is decided to prepare a statement on returns to be distributed to all retailers and that it should be less than a single double-spaced page. All departments should receive some information regarding the returns because it may contain information that can interest other areas, i. e. quality control, production scheduling and even marketing. (7)Assume that you are Cheryl Guridi, the firm’s logistics manager. Do you think that the returns policy favoured by the logistics manager would differ from what would be best for the firm? Why or why not? Yes, the return policy should be favoured by the logistics manager given the constricted return policy. In this case, her department will not be responsible for keeping track of returned inventories and damaged goods shipments. The sales team or marketing team may prefer a looser return policy as a tool for bargaining and increasing sales. (8)Until the policy you recommend in your answer to Question 3 takes effect, how would you handle the immediate problem of retailers wanting to return unsold Jungle Jim the Jogger dolls? There are a number of approaches to this question. Although the policy mentioned in question three was not in effect prior to Jungle Jim Dolls’ incident, certain policies can still be applied immediately with the proper communication. For example, sales reps can inform customers that a full refund is permitted under the conditions that the retailers will pay for the return freight charges and using preferred carriers by Johnson Toy Company. In terms of the limitations to using the credit within 30 days, sales reps may use under their discretion to extend this period or maybe eliminate it all together. This approach keeps in mind of the number of valued long-term relationships developed with the retailers that should not be harmed. This information should immediately go out to all field sales reps and the sales management team as an urgent company notice.