Flexible Budget Variance Analysis

Management would like to compute both spending and efficiency variances for variable overhead in the company’s variable overhead performance report. https://wave-accounting.net/ Under this method, a budget is prepared for the expected normal level of activity and variable cost per unit of activity is ascertained.

A company can also use the flexible budget in order to allocate funds for a particular project. For example, a company may decide to use 10% of its revenue for marketing purposes.

Planning

A flexible budget adjusts the master budget for your actual sales or production volume. Leed Company’s manufacturing overhead cost budget at 70% capacity is shown below. The company’s product requires 4 feet of direct material that has a standard cost of $\$ 3$ per foot. At the 8,000 standard machine-hours level of activity, the company should produce 3,200 units of product.

Each variance also can be due in part to a difference between actual quantity of input used and budgeted quantity of input. This is a quantity varianceDifference between actual and budgeted revenue or cost caused by the difference between the actual number of units and the budgeted number of units.. To compute the value of the flexible budget, multiply the variable cost per unit by the actual production volume. Here, the figure indicates that the variable costs of producing 125,000 should 7 4 Prepare Flexible Budgets total $162,500 (125,000 units x $1.30). In theory, a flexible budget is not difficult to develop since the variable costs change with production and the fixed costs remain the same. However, planning to meet an organization’s goals can be very difficult if there are not many variable costs, if the cash inflows are relatively fixed, and if the fixed costs are high. For example, this article shows some large U.S. cities are faced with complicated budgets because of high fixed costs.

Flexible Budgeting 101: What Is It & How Does It Work?

The expenses are usually recorded under three groups, namely, variable, semi-variable and fixed. Budgeted figures for any level of activity not specifically covered in the flexible budget can be obtained by interpolation. The main importance of flexible budget is that it reflects the expenditure appropriate to various levels of output. The expenditure established through a flexible budget is suitable for comparison of the actual expenditure incurred with the budgeted level applicable for that particular level of activity attained. Flexible budgets represent the amount of expense that is reasonably necessary to achieve each level of output specified. In other words, the allowances given under flexible budgetary control system serve as standards of what costs should be at each level of output. Flexible budgets are produced in real time to account for changes in revenue based on variations in units sold or sales price.

The model is designed to match actual expenses to expected expenses, not to compare revenue levels. There is no way to highlight whether actual revenues are above or below expectations. A flexible budget can be created that ranges in level of sophistication. In short, a flexible budget gives a company a tool for comparing actual to budgeted performance at many levels of activity. However, there is a potential shortcoming in using static budgets for performance evaluation.

Managerial Accounting

Management may set flexible targets to cover fixed costs and then gradually build on profits later. Variable costs assigned to sales activity or in percentage terms provide greater flexibility in profit analysis. Tempo Company’s fixed budget for the first quarter of calendar year 2017 reveals the following. Prepare flexible budgets following the format of Exhibit 21.3 that show variable costs per unit, fixed costs, and three different flexible budgets for sales volumes of 6,000, 7,000, and 8,000 units. The existing performance report is a Level 1 analysis, based on a static budget. The budgeted output level is 10,000 units––direct materials of $400,000 in the static budget ÷ budgeted direct materials cost per attaché case of $40. The following is a Level 2 analysis that presents a flexible-budget variance and a sales- volume variance of each direct cost category.

The expenses that do not change are the fixed expenses, as shown in Figure 7.23. A company makes a budget for the smallest time period possible so that management can find and adjust problems to minimize their impact on the business. Everything starts with the estimated sales, but what happens if the sales are more or less than expected? What adjustments does a company have to make in order to compare the actual numbers to budgeted numbers when evaluating results? If production is higher than planned and has been increased to meet the increased sales, expenses will be over budget. To account for actual sales and expenses differing from budgeted sales and expenses, companies will often create flexible budgets to allow budgets to fluctuate with future demand.

Static vs. Flexible Budgets for New Businesses

Where the level of activity during the year varies from period to period, either due to the seasonal nature of the industry or due to variation in demand. For example, wages and salaries should be $23,200 plus $16 per repair-hour. The company expected to work 2,800 repair-hours in May, but actually worked 2,900 repair-hours.