Musings on Material Multipliers -- Dickeson

That gave us the weekly "contribution" needed to have neither profit nor loss; that's the BEB (Breakeven Bogey). "Contribution" is equal to sales less materials. It's the value the printer adds to the basic raw materials. If we had less contribution than breakeven, we had a loss.

Now adjust that total for predicted increases and decreases in the coming 12 months and divide by 52. That's our weekly BEB—Breakeven Bogey—for the year ahead. Do it by quarter and divide by 13 weeks, if you wish. Assume we're shooting for 10 percent profitability. Divide the BEB by .90 and get a WTC (Weekly Target Contribution) bogey. Y'see, we haven't tried to predict sales numbers, number of hours or hourly chargeable cost rates. All we're predicting are operating expenses. That's it. We purposely call them "bogeys" to remind us that they're not real, just one stroke more than par on the golf course.