【Questions】
3 Spike Co manufactures and sells good quality leather bound diaries. Each year it budgets for its profits, including
detailed budgets for sales, materials and labour. If appropriate, the departmental managers are allowed to revise their
budgets for planning errors.
In recent months, the managing director has become concerned about the frequency of budget revisions. At a recent
board meeting he said ‘There seems little point budgeting any more. Every time we have a problem the budgets are
revised to leave me looking at a favourable operational variance report and at the same time a lot less profit than
promised.’
Required:
(a) Describe the circumstances when a budget revision should be allowed and when it should be refused.
(5 marks)
Two specific situations have recently arisen, for which budget revisions were sought:
Materials
A local material supplier was forced into liquidation. Spike Co’s buyer managed to find another supplier, 150 miles
away at short notice. This second supplier charged more for the material and a supplementary delivery charge on top.
The buyer agreed to both the price and the delivery charge without negotiation. ‘I had no choice’, the buyer said, ‘the
production manager was pushing me very hard to find any solution possible!’ Two months later, another, more
competitive, local supplier was found.
A budget revision is being sought for the two months where higher prices had to be paid.
Labour
During the early part of the year, problems had been experienced with the quality of work being produced by the
support staff in the labour force. The departmental manager had complained in his board report that his team were
‘unreliable, inflexible and just not up to the job’.
It was therefore decided, after discussion of the board report, that something had to be done. The company changed
its policy so as to recruit only top graduates from good quality universities. This has had the effect of pushing up the
costs involved but increasing productivity in relation to that element of the labour force.
The support staff departmental manager has requested a budget revision to cover the extra costs involved following
the change of policy.
Required:
(b) Discuss each request for a budget revision, putting what you see as both sides of the argument and reach a
conclusion as to whether a budget revision should be allowed. (8 marks)
The market for leather bound diaries has been shrinking as the electronic versions become more widely available and
easier to use. Spike Co has produced the following data relating to leather bound diary sales for the year to date:
Budget
Sales volume 180,000 units
Sales price $17·00 per unit
Standard contribution $7·00 per unit
The total market for diaries in this period was estimated in the budget to be 1·8m units. In fact, the actual total market
shrank to 1·6m units for the period under review.
Actual results for the same period
Sales volume 176,000 units
Sales price $16·40 per unit
Required:
(c) Calculate the total sales price and total sales volume variance. (4 marks)
(d) Analyse the total sales volume variance into components for market size and market share. (4 marks)
(e) Comment on the sales performance of the business.
【Answers】
3 Spike Limited
(a) A budget forms the basis of many performance management systems. Once set, it can be compared to the actual results of
an organisation to assess performance. A change to the budget can be allowed in some circumstances but these must be
carefully controlled if abuse is to be prevented.
Allow budget revisions when something has happened that is beyond the control of the organisation which renders the original
budget inappropriate for use as a performance management tool.
These adjustments should be approved by senior management who should attempt to take an objective and independent
view.
Disallow budget revisions for operational issues. Any item that is within the operational control of an organisation should not
be adjusted.
This type of decision is often complicated and each case should be viewed on its merits.
The direction of any variance (adverse or favourable) is not relevant in this decision.
(b) Materials
Arguments in favour of allowing a revision
– The nature of the problem is outside the control of the organisation. The supplier went in to liquidation; it is doubtful
that Spike Limited could have expected this or prevented it from happening.
The buyer, knowing that budget revisions are common, is likely to see the liquidation as outside his control and hence
expect a revision to be allowed. He may see it as unjust if this is not the case and this can be demoralising.
Arguments against allowing a budget revision
– There is evidence that the buyer panicked a little in response to the liquidation. He may have accepted the first offer
that became available (without negotiation) and therefore incurred more cost than was necessary.
– A cheaper, more local supplier may well have been available, so it could be argued that the extra delivery cost need not
have been incurred. This could be said to have been an operational error.
Conclusion
The cause of this problem (liquidation) is outside the control of the organisation and this is the prime cause of the overspend.
Urgent problems need urgent solutions and a buyer should not be penalised in this case. A budget revision should be allowed.
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