TipTop Flight School offers flying lessons at a small municipal airport. The school$$s owner and manager has been attempting to evaluate performance and control costs using a variance report that compares the planning budget to actual results. A recent variance report appears below:

TipTop Flight School

Variance Report

For the Month Ended July $31$

Actual Results Planning Budget Variances

Lessons $175170$

Revenue $ $36,640$ $ $35,700$ $ $940$ F

Expenses:

Instructor wages $8,6408,500140$ U

Aircraft depreciation $6,3006,120180$ U

Fuel $2,4101,870540$ U

Maintenance $2,0301,890140$ U

Ground facility expenses $1,6601,69030$ F

Administration $3,3403,43090$ F

Total expense $24,38023,500880$ U

Net operating income $ $12,260$ $ $12,200$ $ $60$ F

After several months of using these reports, the owner has become frustrated. For example, she is quite confident that instructor wages were very tightly controlled in July, but the report shows an unfavorable variance.

The planning budget was developed using the following formulas, where q is the number of lessons sold:

Cost Formulas

Revenue $$210$q

Instructor wages $$50$q

Aircraft depreciation $$36$q

Fuel $$11$q

Maintenance $$530+$ $$8$q

Ground facility expenses $$1,350+$ $$2$q

Administration $$3,260+$ $$1$q