Ch 8 - Flexible Budgets and Standard Costing Flashcards
What is the preparation of a master budget based on?
predicted level of activity (such as sales volume)
define budgetary control
management use of budgets to monitor and control company operations
define budget reports
report comparing actual results to planned objectives; sometimes used as a progress report
what is the budget report comparison motivated by?
need to both monitor performance and control activities
What are the minimum four steps of budgetary control process?
- develop the budget from planned objectives
- compare actual results to budgeted amounts and analyze any differences
- take corrective and strategic actions
- establish new planned objectives and prepare new budget
In a fixed budgetary control system, what is the master budget based on?
- based on a single prediction for sales volume or other activity level
- budgeted amount for each cost assumes that specific/fixed amount of sales will occur
define fixed budget or static budget
based on a single predicted amount of sales or other measure of actvity
define fixed budget performance report
report that compares actual revenues and costs with fixed budgeted amounts and identifies the differences as favorable or unfavorable variances
define favorable variance
when compared to budget, the actual cost or revenue contributes to a higher income
Ie: actual revenue is higher than budgeted income, or actual cost is lower than budgeted cost
define unfavorable variance
when compared to budget, actual cost or revenue contributes to lower income,
IE: actual revenue is lower than budget revenue, actual cost is higher than budgeted cost
define flexible budget or variable budget
budget prepared (using actual volume) once a period is complete that helps managers evaluate past performance; uses fixed and variable costs in determining total costs
are flexible budgets based off of one or multiple scenarios
often best & worst scenarios
What does the analysis of flexible budgets allow management to do?
to make adjustments to avoid or lessen the effects of the worst case scenario
how does a flexible budget yield an apples to apples comparison
because budgeted activity levels are same as actual levels
what is a flexible budget designed to do?
reveal effects of volume of activity on revenues and costs
what distinctions does management rely on when preparing flexible budgets
distinctions between fixed and variable costs
does the cost per unit of activity remain constant or changes in direct proportion to a change in activity level
remains constant
What are the two ways a variable cost is expressed in a flexible budget
- constant amount per units of sales
2. percent of a sales dollar
how is a fixed cost expressed in a flexible budget
total amount expected to occur at any sales volume w/in relevant range
what is a contribution margin format for flexible budget layouts?
- format beginning with sales followed by variable costs and then fixed costs
- both expected individual and total variable costs are reported and then subtracted from sales
- difference between sales and variable costs equals contribution margin
- expected amts of fixed costs listed next
- expected income from ops before taxes
define flexible budget performance report
report the compares actual revenues and costs with their variable budgeted amounts based on actual sales volume (or other level of activity) and identifies the differences as variances
define price variance
difference between actual and budgeted revenue or cost caused by difference between the actual price per unit and budgeted price per unit
define quantity variance
difference between actual and budgeted revenue or cost caused by difference between actual number of units and budgeted number of units
define variance analysis
process of examining differences between actual and budgeted revenues or costs and describing them in terms of price and quantity differences
What is the main difference between fixed and flexible budgets
A fixed budget is prepared using an expected volume of sales or production. A flexible budget is prepared using the actual volume of activity.
How can you identify standards for direct labor costs?
- conduct time and motion studies for each labor operation in the process of providing a product or service
- from studies, mgmt learns best way to perform operation and set standard labor time required for operation under normal conditions
How are standards costs set for materials?
studying quantity, grade and cost of each material used
what word is generally used in business practice when speaking of total amounts
budget
what word is generally used in business practice when discussing per unit amounts
standard
define ideal standard
quantity of material/labor required if process is 100% efficient w/out any loss or waste