Question

Corp. is a company that acts as a facilitator in tax-favored real estate swaps. Such swaps, know as 1031 exchanges, permit participants to avoid some or all of the capital gains taxes that would otherwise be due. The bookkeeper for the company has been asked to prepare a report for the company to help its owner/manager analyze performance. The first such report appears below: Exchange Corp. Analysis of Revenues and Costs For the Month Ended May 31 Planning Actual Budget Unit Unit Revenues Revenues and and Costa Costs Variances Exchanges completed 25 30 $ 600 $ 680 SBOU 239 219 25 220 248 Revenue Expenses Legal and search fees Office expenses Equipment depreciation Rent Insurance Total expense Net operating income 19 U 29 P 5 P 30 90 18 15 15 573 606 33 $ 27 $ 74 $ 47 Note that the revenues and costs in the above report are unit revenues and costs. For example, the average office expense is $248 per exchange completed on the planning budget; whereas, the average actual office expense is $219 per exchange completed. Legal and search fees is a variable cost; office expenses is a mixed cost; and equipment depreciation, rent, and insurance are fixed costs. In the planning budget, the fixed component of office expenses was $4,900. All of the company's revenues come from fees collected when an exchange is completed. Required: 1. Is the report prepared by the bookkeeper useful as a performance report? 2. Complete the performance report that would help the owner/manager assess the performance of the company in May.

Answer 1

CZ DI DA DB DC DD D E DE DG DH 1 2 3 4 5 (1)-(3) (3)-(5) Actual Results Flexible Budget Variance Flexible Budget Sales volume variance Planning budget Exchnages Completed 30 30 Revenue $ 18,000.00 $2,400.00 Unfavorable $ 20,400.00 $3,400.00 Unfavorable $ 23,800.00 Expenses: Legal Fees $ 7,170.00 $ 570.00 Unfavorable $ 6,600.00 $1,100.00 Favourable $ 7,700.00 Office Expenses $ 6,570.00 $1,570,00 Favorable $ 8,140.00 $ 540.00 Favourable $ 8,680.00 Euipment Depreciation $ 750.00 $ 300.00 Favorable $ 1,050.00 $ - No Effect $ 1,050.00 Rent $ 2,250.00 $ 900.00 Favorable $ 3,150.00 $ No Effect $ 3,150.00 Insurance $ 450.00 $ 180,00 Favorable $ 630.00 $ No Effect $ 630.00 Variable Expenses $ 17,190.00 $2,380.00 Favorable $ 19,570.00 $1,640.00 Favourable $ 21,210.00 Net operating income $ 810.00 $ 20.00 Unfavorable $ 830.00 $1,760.00 Unfavorable $ 2,590.00 11 12 13 14 15 16