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Carpenter Company uses standard costing. The company has a manufacturing plant in Georgia. Standard labour-hours per unit are 0.50, and the variable overhead rate for the Georgia plant is $3.50 per direct labour-hour. Fixed overhead for the Georgia plant is budgeted at $1,800,000 for the year. Firm management has always used variance analysis as a performance measure for the plant.

Tom Saban has just been hired as a new controller for Carpenter Company. Tom is good friends with the Georgia plant manager and wants him to get a favourable review. Tom decides to underestimate production, and budgets annual output of 1,200,000 units. His explanation for this is that the economy is slowing and sales are likely to decrease.

At the end of the year, the plant reported the following actual results: output of 1,500,000 using 760,000 labour-hours in total, at a cost of $2,700,000 in variable overhead and $1,850,000 in fixed overhead.

Briefly answer the following questions (and then respond to at least two of your classmates):

1. Did Tom Sabans attempt to make his friend, the plant manager, look better work? explain.
2. Why or why not?
3. What do you think of Tom Sabans behaviour overall?