Michiana Company's Benton Harbor Plant produces precast ingots for industrial use. Angelo Lorenzo, who was recently appointed general manager of the Benton Harbor Plant, has just been handed the plants contribution format income statement for October. The statement is shown below:

	Budgeted		Actual
Sales (3,000 ingots)	$	225,000	$	225,000
Variable expenses:
Variable cost of goods sold*		44,520		56,975
Variable selling expenses		21,000		21,000
Total variable expenses		65,520		77,975
Contribution margin		159,480		147,025
Fixed expenses:
Manufacturing overhead		62,000		62,000
Selling and administrative		87,000		87,000
Total fixed expenses		149,000		149,000
Net operating income (loss)	$	10,480	$	(1,975)

*Contains direct materials, direct labor, and variable manufacturing overhead.

Mr. Lorenzo was shocked to see the loss for the month, particularly because sales were exactly as budgeted. He stated, "I sure hope the plant has a standard cost system in operation. If it doesn't, I won't have the slightest idea of where to start looking for the problem."

The plant does use a standard cost system, with the following standard variable cost per ingot:

	Standard Quantity or Hours	Standard Price or Rate		Standard Cost
Direct materials	3.7 pounds	$	2.30 per pound	$	8.51
Direct labor	0.6 hours	$	7.80 per hour		4.68
Variable manufacturing overhead	0.5 hours*	$	3.30 per hour		1.65
Total standard variable cost				$	14.84

*Based on machine-hours.

During October the plant produced 3,000 ingots and incurred the following costs:

a.	Purchased 16,100 pounds of materials at a cost of $2.75 per pound. There were no raw materials in inventory at the beginning of the month.
b.	Used 10,900 pounds of materials in production. (Finished goods and work in process inventories are insignificant and can be ignored.)
c.	Worked 2,400 direct labor-hours at a cost of $7.50 per hour.
d.	Incurred a total variable manufacturing overhead cost of $6,660 for the month. A total of 1,800 machine-hours was recorded.

It is the companys policy to close all variances to cost of goods sold on a monthly basis.

Required:

1.	Assume that the company recognizes price variances when materials are purchased. Compute the following variances for October:

a.

Direct materials price and quantity variances. (Input all amounts as positive values. Indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "F" for favorable, "U" for unfavorable, and "None" for no effect (i.e., zero variance).)

b.	Direct labor rate and efficiency variances. (Input all amounts as positive values. Indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "F" for favorable, "U" for unfavorable, and "None" for no effect (i.e., zero variance).)

c.	Variable overhead rate and efficiency variances. (Input all amounts as positive values. Indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "F" for favorable, "U" for unfavorable, and "None" for no effect (i.e., zero variance).)

2.

Summarize the variances that you computed in (1) above by showing the net overall favorable or unfavorable variance for October. (Input all amounts as positive values. Indicate the effect of variance by selecting "F" for favorable, "U" for unfavorable, and "None" for no effect (i.e., zero variance).)

3.

Pick out the two most significant variances that you computed in (1) above. (You may select more than one answer. Single click the box with the question mark to produce a check mark for a correct answer and double click the box with the question mark to empty the box for a wrong answer.)

	Materials price variance
	Materials quantity variance
	Variable overhead efficiency variance
	Labor rate variance
	Variable overhead rate variance
	Labor efficiency variance