Question:

Glove Co makes high quality,hand - made gloves which it sells for an average of $180 per pair. The standard cost of labour for each pair is $42 and the standard labour time for each pair is three hours. In the last quarter,Glove Co had budgeted production of 12,000 pairs,although actual production was 12,600 pairs in order to meet demand. 37,000 hours were used to complete the work and there was no idle time. The total labour cost for the quarter was $531,930.

At the beginning of the last quarter,the design of the gloves was changed slightly. The new design required workers to sew the company‘s logo on to the back of every glove made and the estimated time to do this was 15 minutes for each pair. However,no - one told the accountant responsible for updating standard costs that the standard time per pair of gloves needed to be changed. Similarly,although all workers were given a 2% pay rise at the beginning of the last quarter,the accountant was not told about this either. Consequently,the standard was not updated to reflect these changes.

When overtime is required,workers are paid 25% more than their usual hourly rate.

Required：

(a) Calculate the total labour rate and total labour efficiency variances for the last quarter.

(b) Analyse the above total variances into component parts for planning and operational variances in as much detail as the information allows.

(c) Assess the performance of the production manager for the last quarter.

Answer:

(a) Basic variances

Labour rate variance

Standard cost of labour per hour = $42/3 = $14 per hour.

Labour rate variance = (actual hours paid x actual rate) - (actual hours paid x std rate)

Actual hours paid x actual rate = $531,930.

Actual hours paid x std rate = 37,000 x $14 = $518,000.

Therefore rate variance = $531,930 - $518,000 = $13,930 A

Labour efficiency variance

Labour efficiency variance = (actual production in std hours - actual hours worked) x std rate

[(12,600 x 3) - 37,000] x $14 = $11,200 F

(b) Planning and operational variances

Labour rate planning variance

(Revised rate - std rate) x actual hours paid = [$14·00 – ($14·00 x 1·02)] x 37,000 = $10,360 A.

Labour rate operational variance

Revised rate x actual hours paid =$14·28 x 37,000= $528,360.

Actual cost = $531,930.

Variance = $3,570 A.

Labour efficiency planning variance

(Standard hours for actual production  - revised hours for actual production) x std rate

Revised hours for each pair of gloves = 3·25 hours.

[37,800 – (12,600 x 3·25)] x $14 = $44,100 A.

Labour efficiency operational variance

(Revised hours for actual production - actual hours for actual production) x std rate

(40,950 - 37,000) x $14 = $55,300 F.

(c) Analysis of performance

At a first glance,performance looks mixed because the total labour rate variance is adverse and the total labour efficiency variance is favourable. However,the operational and planning variances provide a lot more detail on how these variances have occurred.

The production manager should only be held accountable for variances which he can control. This means that he should only be held accountable for the operational variances. When these operational variances are looked at it can be seen that the labour rate operational variance is $3,570 A. This means that the production manager did have to pay for some overtime in order to meet demand but the majority of the total labour rate variance is driven by the failure to update the standard for the pay rise that was applied at the start of the last quarter. The overtime rate would also have been impacted by that pay increase.

Then,when the labour efficiency operational variance is looked at,it is actually $55,300 F. This shows that the production manager has managed his department well with workers completing production more quickly than would have been expected when the new design change is taken into account. The total operating variances are therefore $51,730 F and so overall performance is good.

The adverse planning variances of $10,360 and $44,100 do not reflect on the performance of the production manager and can therefore be ignored here.