At the monthly management meeting, Leslie Smith, president of Mama Fran's Fantastic Foods, was reviewing the April budget report with some satisfaction.

"Our actual results are never exactly what we budget, but I guess if we're off by only 2% to 3%, we've done a good job forecasting." The report she referred to follows.

Nathan Porter, the company's purchasing manager, chimed in. "It surprises me that we did as well as we did. I know that chocolate prices went up dramatically last month, so I expected a much larger variance. And we had that little mix-up when we ordered a batch of whole almonds instead of sliced almonds." But controller Ashley Corley looked concerned. "Hang on a minute, guys. I don't think this budget report gives us the true picture. Let me work on it some more and get back to you." Ashley's first step was to track down the following standard cost card for the cookies.

Ashley also tracked down this additional information about the month's operations.

Required
a. Prepare a more informative performance report for the month of April.
b. Are the results better or worse than Leslie had first thought? Explain your answer.
c. Did Mama Fran's sell its cookies at the budgeted selling price? If not, was the trade-off between the price and the sales quantity a good choice? Why or why not?
d. Calculate the direct materials variances for each input, assuming that all materials purchased were used during the month.
e. Calculate the direct labor variances for April.
f. Calculate the variable overhead variances for April.
g. What do you think might have caused the April variances?
h. Prepare a memo that Ashley Corley can send to Leslie Smith explaining the month'sresults.

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April Budget Report Actual Budget Variance Sales (in pounds) Revenue Less variable expenses 450,000 $3,555,000 400,000 $3,200,000 50,000 F $355,000F 865,000 348,000 750,000 Total variable expenses 1,963,000 Contribution margin $1,592,000 580,000 336,000 648,000 1,564,000 $1,636,000 285,000 U 12,000 U 102,000 U 399,000 U $ 44,000 U) Direct material Direct labor Variable overhead Chocolate Nut Supreme Cookies ltem Quantity Standard Unit Cost Total Cost Direct materials Cookie mix Milk chocolate Almonds 10 ounces 5 ounces l ounce $0.02 per ounce $0.15 per ounce $0.50 per ounce $0.20 0.75 0.50 Total direct materials $1.45 Direct labor Mixing Baking 1 minute 2 minutes $14.40 per hour $18.00 per hour 0.24 0.60 Total direct labor 0.84 1.62 $3.91 Variable overhead 3 minutes $32.40 per hour Total standard cost per pound Item Actual Quantity Used Actual Cost Direct materials Cookie mix Milk chocolate Almonds 4,650,000 ounces 2,660,000 ounces 480,000 ounces $ 93,000 532,000 240,000 Direct labor Mixing Baking 540,000 minutes 800,000 minutes 108,000 240,000 750,000 $1,963,000 Variable overhead Total actual variable costs