This chapter explores how budgets can be adjusted so that meaningful comparisons to actual costs can be made. This chapter include objectives: Prepare a flexible budget, prepare a report showing activity variances, prepare a report showing revenue and spending variances, prepare a performance report that combines activity variances and revenue and spending variances, prepare a flexible budget with more than one cost driver, understand common errors made in preparing performance reports based on budgets and actual results. | Flexible Budgets and Performance Analysis Chapter 09 McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 9: Flexible Budgets and Performance Analysis This chapter explores how budgets can be adjusted so that meaningful comparisons to actual costs can be made. Improve performance evaluation. May be prepared for any activity level in the relevant range. Show costs that should have been incurred at the actual level of activity, enabling “apples to apples” cost comparisons. Help managers control costs. Let’s look at Larry’s Lawn Service. Characteristics of Flexible Budgets A flexible budget provides estimates of what revenues and costs should be for any level of activity, within a specified range. When used for performance evaluation purposes, actual costs are compared to what the costs should have been for the actual level of activity during the period. This enables “apples-to-apples” cost comparisons. Larry’s Lawn Service provides lawn . | Flexible Budgets and Performance Analysis Chapter 09 McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 9: Flexible Budgets and Performance Analysis This chapter explores how budgets can be adjusted so that meaningful comparisons to actual costs can be made. Improve performance evaluation. May be prepared for any activity level in the relevant range. Show costs that should have been incurred at the actual level of activity, enabling “apples to apples” cost comparisons. Help managers control costs. Let’s look at Larry’s Lawn Service. Characteristics of Flexible Budgets A flexible budget provides estimates of what revenues and costs should be for any level of activity, within a specified range. When used for performance evaluation purposes, actual costs are compared to what the costs should have been for the actual level of activity during the period. This enables “apples-to-apples” cost comparisons. Larry’s Lawn Service provides lawn care in a planned community where all lawns are approximately the same size. At the end of May, Larry prepared his June budget based on mowing 500 lawns. Since all of the lawns are similar in size, Larry felt that the number of lawns mowed in a month would be the best way to measure overall activity for his business. Larry’s Budget Deficiencies of the Static Planning Budget Larry’s Lawn Service provides lawn care in a planned community where all lawns are approximately the same size. At the end of May, Larry prepared his June budget based on mowing 500 lawns. Since all of the lawns are similar in size, Larry felt that the number of lawns mowed in a month would be the best way to measure overall activity for his business. Deficiencies of the Static Planning Budget Larry’s Planning Budget Larry identified 7 major expenses for his business. In addition, Larry estimated a cost formula for revenue and for each expense in terms of the number of lawns mowed. Revenue, along with each of the 7 .
