County Savings Bank uses the managerial accounting system to track costs of operating various departments within the bank. The static budget and actual results for the Operating Department are as follows:

Budget Actual

Salaries $200,000 $200,000

Benefits 30,000 30,000

Supplies 45,000 42,000

Travel 20,000 30,000

Training 25,000 35,000

Overtime 25,000 20,000

Total $345,000 $357,000

Excess of actual over budget 12,000

1. What information is provided by the budget? In other words, what questions can the bank manager ask of the Operations Department Manager?

2. What information does the static budget FAIL to provide? In other words, could the budget information be presented differently to provide even more insight for the bank manager?