Jakes Cheese Company produces gourmet cheese for resale at local grocery stores. Jakes expected to use 3.0 pounds of direct materials to produce one unit (batch) of product at a cost of $8 per pound. Actual results are in for last year, which indicates 45,000 batches of chees were sold. The company purchased 160,000 pounds of materials at $7.50 per pound and used 145,000 pounds in production.

Required: 1. Calculate the materials price variance.

2. Calculate the materials quantity variance.

3. Suggest several possible reasons for the materials price and quantity variances calculated in requirements (1) and (2).