Concept explainers
LawnMate Company manufactures power mowers that are sold throughout the United States and Canada. The company uses a comprehensive budgeting process and compares actual results to budgeted amounts on a monthly basis. Each month, LawnMate’s accounting department prepares a
When the
The total variable costs of $780,000 for May include $320,000 for direct material, $192,000 for direct labor, $176,000 for variable production overhead, and $92,000 for variable selling expenses. Ballard believes that LawnMate’s monthly reports would be more meaningful to everyone if the company adopted flexible budgeting and prepared more detailed analyses.
Required:
- 1. Prepare a flexible budget for LawnMate Company for the month of May that includes separate variable-cost budgets for each type of cost (direct material, etc.).
- 2. Determine the variance between the flexible budget and actual cost for each cost item.
- 3. Discuss how the revised
budget and variance data are likely to impact the behavior of Al Richmond, the production manager. - 4. Build a spreadsheet: Construct an Excel spreadsheet to solve requirements (1) and (2) above. Show how the solution will change if the following information changes: actual sales amounted to 4,700 units, and actual fixed overhead was $179,000.
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Managerial Accounting: Creating Value in a Dynamic Business Environment
- As part of its cost control program, Tracer Company uses a standard costing system for all manufactured items. The standard cost for each item is established at the beginning of the fiscal year, and the standards are not revised until the beginning of the next fiscal year. Changes in costs, caused during the year by changes in direct materials or direct labor inputs or by changes in the manufacturing process, are recognized as they occur by the inclusion of planned variances in Tracers monthly operating budgets. The following direct labor standard was established for one of Tracers products, effective June 1, 2012, the beginning of the fiscal year: The standard was based on the direct labor being performed by a team consisting of five persons with Assembler A skills, three persons with Assembler B skills, and two persons with machinist skills; this team represents the most efficient use of the companys skilled employees. The standard also assumed that the quality of direct materials that had been used in prior years would be available for the coming year. For the first seven months of the fiscal year, actual manufacturing costs at Tracer have been within the standards established. However, the company has received a significant increase in orders, and there is an insufficient number of skilled workers to meet the increased production. Therefore, beginning in January, the production teams will consist of eight persons with Assembler A skills, one person with Assembler B skills, and one person with machinist skills. The reorganized teams will work more slowly than the normal teams, and as a result, only 80 units will be produced in the same time period in which 100 units would normally be produced. Faulty work has never been a cause for units to be rejected in the final inspection process, and it is not expected to be a cause for rejection with the reorganized teams. Furthermore, Tracer has been notified by its direct materials supplier that lower-quality direct materials will be supplied beginning January 1. Normally, one unit of direct materials is required for each good unit produced, and no units are lost due to defective direct materials. Tracer estimates that 6 percent of the units manufactured after January 1 will be rejected in the final inspection process due to defective direct materials. Required: 1. Determine the number of units of lower quality direct materials that Tracer Company must enter into production in order to produce 47,000 good finished units. 2. How many hours of each class of direct labor must be used to manufacture 47,000 good finished units? 3. Determine the amount that should be included in Tracers January operating budget for the planned direct labor variance caused by the reorganization of the direct labor teams and the lower quality direct materials. (CMA adapted)arrow_forwardThe controller for Muir Companys Salem plant is analyzing overhead in order to determine appropriate drivers for use in flexible budgeting. She decided to concentrate on the past 12 months since that time period was one in which there was little important change in technology, product lines, and so on. Data on overhead costs, number of machine hours, number of setups, and number of purchase orders are in the following table. Required: 1. Calculate an overhead rate based on machine hours using the total overhead cost and total machine hours. (Round the overhead rate to the nearest cent and predicted overhead to the nearest dollar.) Use this rate to predict overhead for each of the 12 months. 2. Run a regression equation using only machine hours as the independent variable. Prepare a flexible budget for overhead for the 12 months using the results of this regression equation. (Round the intercept and x-coefficient to the nearest cent and predicted overhead to the nearest dollar.) Is this flexible budget better than the budget in Requirement 1? Why or why not?arrow_forwardLily Painting Service specializes in painting tall office buildings. During a recent month, the company worked on three painting projects (the Arrow Building, the Besler Building and the Cartrwright Building). The company is interested in controlling the materials costs, namely the paint, used for these painting contracts. In order to provide management with useful cost control information, the company uses standard costs and prepares monthly variance reports. Analysis reveals that the purchasing agent mistakenly purchased poor-quality paint for the Arrow Building project. The Besler Building project, however, received higher-than-standard-quality paint that was on sale. The Cartwright Building project received standard-quality paint. However, the price had increased and a new employee was used to paint the building. Shown below are quantity and cost data for each project. Project Arrow Building Besler Building Total variance (a) Cartwright Building 4,540 Project Arrow Building Besler…arrow_forward
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- Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage Learning