Student Finance (StuFi) is a start-up that aims to use the power of social communities to transform the student loan market. It connects participants through a dedicated lending pool, enabling current students to borrow from a schools alumni community. StuFis revenue model is to take an upfront fee of 40 basis points (0.40%) each from the alumni investor and the student borrower for every loan originated on its platform.

StuFi hopes to go public in the near future and is keen to ensure that its financial results are in line with that ambition. StuFis budgeted and actual results for the third quarter of 2020 are presented below.

	Static Budget		Actual Results
New loans originated	8,200		10,250
Average amount of loan	$145,000		$162,000
Variable costs per loan:
Professional labor	$360	(8 hrs at $45/hr)	$475	(9.5 hrs at $50/hr)
Credit verification	$100		$100
Federal documentation fees	$120		$125
Courier services	$50		$54
Administrative costs (fixed)	$800,000		$945,000
Technology costs (fixed)	$1,300,000		$1,415,000

1. Prepare StuFis static budget of operating income for the third quarter of 2020.

2. Prepare an analysis of variances for the third quarter of 2020 along the lines of Exhibit 7-2; identify the sales volume and flexible budget variances for operating income.

3. Compute the professional labor price and efficiency variances for the third quarter of 2020.

4. What factors would you consider in evaluating the effectiveness of professional labor in the third quarter of 2020?