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Polysar Ltd. Essay

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BACKGROUND
Polysar Limited is Canada’s largest chemical company. It is structured into 3 groups, namely, basic petrochemicals, rubber, and diversified products. Rubber Group is the largest of the three operating units of Polysar Limited. The primary users of its products, such as butyl and halobutyl, are manufacturers of automobile tires; other users are from various industries. In 1986, Rubber group contributed 0.8 billion which is 46 percent of the company annual sale. The operation of the group is divided into four divisions, NASA (North America and South America) and EROW (Europe and rest of the world), Research department and Global Marketing department. NASA and EROW operate as profit centers each produce butyl and halobutyl …show more content…

The revenues were then recorded into EROW’s books when the transfers were made. If one incurred full cost while the other incurred half of the cost, it wouldn't be a surprise to see a difference in the end.

Volume Variance
Management had difficulties in communicating the two variances to its senior managers. The calculation of the two variances started with the standard fixed cost per ton which was derived by following formula:
Standard fixed cost/ton = Estimated annual total fixed cost Annual demonstrated plant capacity

• This year, the NASA Rubber’s estimated annual total fixed cost was $44,625,000 and the annual demonstrated plant capacity was 85000 tonnes. Thus, the standard fixed cost per ton for 1986 was = $ 44, 625/ [85,000 * (9/12)] = $ 700/ ton.

Then, spending variance was calculated by,
Spending Variance=Actual fixed cost—Standard fixed cost
Actual fixed cost/ton = Actual annual total fixed cost /Annual demonstrated capacity
• NASA had a favorable spending variance of $498,000 this year which means they spent 498,000 less than budgeted. The actual fixed cost per ton was around $519/ton.

Volume variance was calculated by,
Volume variance=
(Standard fixed cost/ton) X ([Actual production]-[Demonstrated capacity])
• NASA had an unfavorable volume variance of $11,400,000 which was $5,000,000 higher than expected.

By reorganizing

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