Granite Construction Company is considering selling excess machinery with a book value of $175,000 (original cost of $315,000 less accumulated depreciation of $140,000) for $180,000, less a 5% brokerage commission. Alternatively, the machinery can be leased for a total of $200,000 for four years, after which it is expected to have no residual value. During the period of the lease, Granite Construction Company's costs of repairs, insurance, and property tax expenses are expected to be $34,400. a. Prepare a differential analysis, dated November 7 to determine whether Granite should lease (Alternative 1) or sell (Alternative 2) the machinery.

Sell option is preferred.

Explanation:

The decision whether to lease out the machinery that is surplus to requirement or sell outrightly is dependent on the differential analysis performed below. In the analysis I have compared the profits under each option in order to guide the final decision:

Differential analysis as at 7th November (Sale or lease option)

Sell option lease option

revenue from sell/lease option $180,000 $200,000

Brokerage commission (5%*$180,000) ($9,000) -

costs of repairs, insurance and property taxes - ($34,400)

Profits $171,000 $165,600

The sell option provides $5400 ($171,000-$165,600) than the lease option, hence the sell option is preferred.

One would have expect that the lease option since it has more revenue to preferable but the costs of repairs, insurance and property taxes were also on the high side