Berman's Camera Shop has prepared the following flexible budget for September and is in the process of interpreting the variances. F denotes a favorable variance and U denotes an unfavorable variance.

Flexible Variances

Budget Price Efficiency

Material A $$40,000$ $$1,000$F $$3,000$U

Material B $60,000500$U $1,500$F

Direct manufacturing labor $80,000500$U $2,500$F

The most likely explanation of the above direct manufacturing labor variances is that $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.$

Question $9$ options:

management may have a problem with budget slack and might be using lax standards for both labor$-$wage rates and expected efficiency

the company may have assigned more experienced employees this month than originally planned

employees did not work as efficiently as expected to accomplish the job

the average wage rate paid to employees was less than expected