The president of Coopie Awards was analyzing the actual and budgeted results of operations for the current year. She noticed several favorable variances and, in a meeting gave accolades to the production manager. She also noticed that the sales variance was unfavorable and spent considerable time questioning the sales vice president. She stated "if production hadn't managed costs so well to cover for your lack of sales we would have racked up quite a large net loss for the year."

Do you agree with the president? Please explain your point. Where were costs in line and where were they out of line? What could have been done to produce more favorable numbers?