What is the fixed cost production volume variance at FCPC?
Fall Creek Potato Company (FCPC), located in Rexburg, Idaho, was owned by David Bailey, Joe Ir.'s second cousin. Among other things, FCPC produced potato chips in small lunch-sized packages. David often used Joe Jr. and his staff in Driggs when he needed help interpreting his financial data. David called to Joe Jr. in a state of frustrated disbelief, \"I do not understand our variances. In our potato chip department, we budgeted $420,000 in overhead last year, 2/3 of which were fixed, and the rest variable. Our actual numbers were exactly what we expected, but the production manager is arguing that he deserves a bonus because he has been efficient this year.\" \"Why does the production manager think he has been efficient?" probed Joe Jr. \"The production manager claims he produced more bags of chips than we budgeted, and he claims he produced them more efficiently. He provided some data to back up his claim. He showed me that we had budgeted production of 600,000 bags of chips and he actually produced 650,000 bags. He also showed data that he was able to produce 1,040 bags of chips per direct labor hour, which was 40 more than the typical rate of production," responded David. \"Are you still using normal volume to allocate overhead?" asked Joe Ir. \"Yes. In a normal year, we produce 700,000 bags of chips at a rate of 1,000 bags per direct labor hour. Therefore, we use 700 direct labor hours in the denominator of our overhead rate. What I can't understand is why the production manager should get a bonus if his numbers came in right on target. I believe he only deserves a reward if he can exceed expectations, and he certainly doesn't appear to have done that!" \"I think we will need to look a little deeper,\" said Joe Jr. \"As you know, I do my best thinking at Big Judd's while eating a burger, so let's meet there at noon."