Question

Pattison Corporation is a service company that measures its output by the number of customers served. The company has provided the following fixed and variable cost estimates that it uses for budgeting purposes.
Fixed Element per Month Variable Element per Customer Served
Revenue $ 5,500
Employee salaries and wages $ 46,300 $ 1,000
Travel expenses $ 500
Other expenses $ 32,500
When the company prepared its planning budget at the beginning of May, it assumed that 20 customers would have been served. However, 17 customers were actually served during May.

The activity variance for "Travel expenses" for May would have been closest to:

A. $1,500 U

B. $1,500 F

C. $2,000 F

D. $2,000 U

Answer 1

Answer:

B. $1,500 F

Explanation:

                                          Flexible    Planning     Activity  

                                          Budget     Budget      Variance

Customer served (q)             17             20  

Travel expense ($500q)   $8,500     $10,000     $1,500 (Favorable)

Workings

Travel Expense at 500q

Flexible budget = 500 * (17) = $8,500

Planning budget = 500 * (20) = $10,000