Question

You have just been hired by FAB Corporation, the manufacturer of a revolutionary new garage door opening device. The president has asked that you review the company’s costing system and “do what you can to help us get better control of our manufacturing overhead costs.” You find that the company has never used a flexible budget, and you suggest that preparing such a budget would be an excellent first step in overhead planning and control.

After much effort and analysis, you determined the following cost formulas and gathered the following actual cost data for March:

	Cost Formula	Actual Cost in March
Utilities	$16,500 + $0.20 per machine-hour	$	22,300
Maintenance	$38,200 + $1.70 per machine-hour	$	66,000
Supplies	$0.80 per machine-hour	$	15,800
Indirect labor	$94,500 + $1.90 per machine-hour	$	133,400
Depreciation	$68,000	$	69,700

During March, the company worked 18,000 machine-hours and produced 12,000 units. The company had originally planned to work 20,000 machine-hours during March.

Required:

1. Prepare a flexible budget for March.

2. Prepare a report showing the spending variances for March.

Answer 1

Solution 1:

Flexible Budget - Fab Corporation
For the month ended March 31
Particulars	Flexible Budget
Utilities	$20,100.00
Maintenance	$68,800.00
Supplies	$14,400.00
Indirect labor	$128,700.00
Depreciation	$68,000.00
Total	$300,000.00

Solution 2:

Spending Variances - Fab Corporation
For the month ended March 31
Particulars	Actual Results	Flexible Budget	Variances	Fav. / Unfav.
Utilities	$22,300.00	$20,100.00	$2,200.00	U
Maintenance	$66,000.00	$68,800.00	$2,800.00	F
Supplies	$15,800.00	$14,400.00	$1,400.00	U
Indirect labor	$133,400.00	$128,700.00	$4,700.00	U
Depreciation	$69,700.00	$68,000.00	$1,700.00	U
Total	$307,200.00	$300,000.00	$7,200.00	U