Why are separate departmental overhead absorption rates usually preferred to a single factory-wide (blanket) rate?

Correct answer: B) Products may use each department's resources in different proportions, so separate rates give more accurate product costs

Explanation

When products spend different amounts of time in departments with very different overhead costs, a single blanket rate averages these differences out and distorts product costs. Departmental rates charge each product with the overheads of the departments it actually uses. They do not remove under- or over-absorption, which comes from differences between budget and actual.