Coast-to-Coast Shipping Company's general manager reports quarterly to the
company president on the firm's operating performance. The company uses a
budget based on detailed expectations for the forthcoming quarter. The general
manager has just received the condensed quarterly performance report shown
below.
Budget Actual Variance
Net revenue $8,000,000 $7,600,000 $400,000 U
Fuel $160,000 $157,000 $3,000 F
Repairs and maintenance 80,000 78,000 2,000 F
Supplies and miscellaneous 800,000 788,000 12,000 F
Variable payroll 5,360,000 5,200,000 160,000 F
Total variable costs* $6,400,000 $6,223,000 $177,000 F
Supervision $160,000 $164,000 $4,000 U
Rent 160,000 160,000 ___
Depreciation 480,000 480,000 ___
Other fixed costs 160,000 158,000 2,000 F
Total fixed costs $960,000 $962,000 $2,000 F
Total costs charged against Revenue $7,360,000 $7,185,000 $175,000 F
Operating income $640,000 $415,000 $225,000 U
U = Unfavorable F = Favorable
*For purposes of this analysis, assume that all these costs are totally variable with respect to sales
revenue. In practice, many are mixed and have to be subdivided into variable and fixed components
before a meaningful analysis can be made. Also assume that the prices and mix of services sold remain
unchanged.
Although the general manager was upset about not obtaining enough revenue, she was happy that her
cost of performance was favorable; otherwise her net operating income would be even worse.
The president was totally unhappy and remarked: "I can see some merit in comparing actual
performance with budgeted performance because we can see whether actual revenue coincided with our
best guess for budget purposes. But I can't see how this performance reports helps me evaluate cost
control performance."
Required:
1. Prepare a columnar flexible budget for Coast-to-Coast Shipping at revenue levels of $7,000,000;
$8,000,000; and $9,000,000. Assume that the prices and mix of products sold are equal to the budgeted
prices and mix.
2. Express the flexible budget for costs in formula form.
3. Prepare a condensed table showing the master (static) budget variance, the sales volume variance,
and the flexible budget variance