The Blowing Balloon Company produces party balloons that are sold in multi-pack cases. To follow is the company's performance report in contribution margin format for January:

Requirements

1.	What is the budgeted sales price per unit?
2.	What is the budgeted variable expense per unit?
3.	What is the budgeted fixed cost for the period?
4.	Compute the master budget variances. Be sure to indicate each variance as favorable (F) or unfavorable (U.)
5.	Management would like to determine the portion of the master budget variance that is (a) due to volume being different than originally anticipated and (b) due to some other unexpected cause. Prepare a flexible budget performance report to address these questions, using the actual sales volume of 56,000 units and the budgeted sales volume of 53,000 units. Use the original budget assumptions for sales price, variable cost per unit, and fixed costs, assuming the relevant range stretches from 48,000 to 71,000 units.
6.	Using the flexible budget performance report you prepared for Requirement 5, answer the following questions:
	a.	How much of the master budget variance (calculated in Requirement 4) for operating income is due to volume being higher than expected?
	b.	How much of the master budget variance for variable expenses is due to some cause other than volume?
	c.	What could account for the flexible budget variance for sales revenue?
	d.	What is the volume variance for fixed expenses? Why is it this amount?

Data table

	A	B	C	D
1	The Blowing Balloon Company
2	Actual vs. Budget Performance Report
3	For the Month Ended January 31
4		Actual	Master Budget	Master Budget Variance
5	Sales volume (number of cases sold)	56,000	53,000
6	Sales revenue	$172,400	$148,400
7	Less: Variable expenses	79,400	68,900
8	Contribution margin	$93,000	$79,500
9	Less: Fixed expenses	68,500	67,000
10	Operating income	$24,500	$12,500