Tim Zeff is a plant manager who has done a good job of controlling some overhead costs during the current period and a poor job of controlling others. Tim’s boss has asked him for a variance report for the period.

a. Discuss the ethics of using a two-variance approach to report the overhead variances rather than a three- or four-variance approach.

b. If Tim does not provide his boss with detailed information on the individual cost components and their related variances, can the boss judge Tim’s per¬ formance during the period? Defend your answer.

LO1