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standard costing - adverse / favourable

MSMolly Sum11y ago
Fixed overhead capacity variance budgeted labour hour 9000 hours actual labour hours worked 9750 hours if the compare is adverse or favourable , why the variance 750 hours the answers is favourable ? or the standard costing always base on budgeted to compare the actual unit / hour as long as the actual must be less ? example if : sales volume variance budgeted sales units 1000 actual sales units 900 variance units 100 I can understood as adverse because fewer sales ? Right?
John MoffatJohn MoffatTutor11y ago#1
With regard to the sales volume variance, what you say is correct. If you sell fewer units that budgeted then you will expect to make less profit than budgeted - so adverse. Fixed overhead variances are the strange one (when (and only when) we are using absorption costing). We are really assuming always that what was limiting the number of units we can produce (and therefore sell) was the amount of labour available. So....if we manage to actually get more labour hours than we budgeted on getting, then we will be capable of making more units. If we make more units then that is good (because we can then sell more unit) and so it is favourable. Fixed overheads are the strange one. If you have not watched the lecture on variances then do, because it might help you.
MSMolly Sum11y ago#2
thank you explanation , will watched the lecture on variance. but why fixed overheads are the strange one ? and when and only are using absorption costing ? thank you.
John MoffatJohn MoffatTutor11y ago#3
Because by definition fixed overheads in total should not be affected by the level of production. With marginal costing the only variance is therefore the difference between the budget total and the actual total. However with absorption costing (as you will know from the lectures on marginal and absorption costing) fixed overheads are absorbed into the unit cost and therefore as production changes the fixed overheads charged change as well. This needs 'correcting' for (because the total should not change with production) which is why we have the volume variance (which can then be analysed into capacity variance and efficiency variance). Again, I explain all this in the lecture, and it is exactly the same problem and the same reason as the adjustment for over or under absorption that is dealt with in the earlier lectures on marginal and absorption costing.
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