Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, 6e
Chapter 6 – Master Budget and Responsibility Accounting
13) Mannock Company budgeted $400,000 for employee training, but actually spent only $300,000. Which
of the following statements is the best course of action for management to take in this instance?
A) Because this $100,000 variance is favourable, management does not need to investigate further.
B) Management will investigate this $100,000 favourable variance to ensure that the cost savings do not
reflect a reduction in programming.
C) Management will investigate this $100,000 favourable variance to try to identify and correct the
problem with budgeting system.
D) Management should not investigate every variance, especially the favourable ones.
E) Management should hold a meeting with the budget department and the training department to
ensure that next year‘s budget is more realistic.
14) Disk Company was very profitable for the first ten years of its existence, but the company has fallen
on hard times with the growth of compact disks. In 2007 Jean Adams was appointed head of the Product
Research Department. She began a number of product development projects. Although the department
has developed several good ideas that led to the introduction of several promising products, Ms. Adams
was criticized for poor cost control. The financial performance reports of the department under Ms.
Adams leadership were consistently unfavourable. Management was quite concerned about cost control
because profits for the company were low and the cash budget indicated that additional borrowing
would be required during the next year.
Because of her inability to control costs, Ms. Adams was relieved of her responsibilities in 2008 and Fran
Jones became head of the department. Ms. Jones promised to improve performance of Product Research
and scaled back the developmental activities to obtain favourable financial performance. By the end of
2008 Ms. Jones was showing a favourable financial variance.
Required:
If the Product Research Department is classified as a responsibility centre, what unique problems are
associated with evaluating its financial performance?