During March, the company worked 16,000 machine-hours and produced 10,000 units. The company had originally planned to work 18,000 machine-hours during March. Required: 1. Calculate the activity variances for March. 2. Calculate the spending variances for March.

Complete question:

You have just been hired by SecuriDoor 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 April:

                                          Actual Cost in April

 Utilities    $16,700 plus $.14 per machine-hour      $ 21,020    

 Maintenance   $38,300 plus $1.50 per machine-hour   $ 59,100    

 Supplies      $.40 per machine-hour          $ 7,000    

 Indirect labor  $94,700 plus $1.80 per machine-hour   $ 128,000    

 Depreciation   $68,400    $ 70,100  

During March, the company worked 16,000 machine-hours and produced 10,000 units. The company had originally planned to work 18,000 machine-hours during March.

Solution:

1. The activity variances are shown below:

                              SecuriDoor Corporation

                                   Activity Variances

                         For the Month Ended March 30

                                Planning Budget    Flexible Budget    Activity  Variances

Machine-hours (q)          18,000                16,000  

Utilities ($16,700 + $.14q)   $ 19,220         $ 18,940               $ 280   F

Maintenance ($38,300 + $1.50q)  65,300     62,300           3,000   F

Supplies ($.40q)               7,200                6,400                 800   F

Indirect labor ($94,700 + $1.80q)  127,100     123,500       3,600   F

Depreciation ($68,400)    68,400           68,400           0     None

Total                                $ 287,220       $ 279,540              $ 7,680   F

2. The spending variances are computed below:

                               SecuriDoor Corporation

                              Spending Variances

                          For the Month Ended March 30

                                    Flexible Budget    Actual Results  Spending Variances

 Machine-hours (q)         16,000                16,000  

Utilities ($16,700 + $.14q)   $ 18,940         $ 21,020           $ 2,080   U

Maintenance ($38,300 + $1.50q)  62,300     59,100        3,200   F

Supplies ($.40q)               6,400                7,000                600   U

Indirect labor ($94,700 + $1.80q)   123,500     128,000     4,500   U

Depreciation ($68,400)     68,400           70,100                1,700   U

Total                               $ 279,540            $ 285,220  

a) both were commissioned explorers