You have the following conversation with Akida Agu, Finance Manager:

$“$I have attached the variances, which have been calculated by one of our Finance Assistants. $($Reference Material$).$ I have also collected

some information regarding some incidents which occurred over the last quarter. They are as follows:

$•$ A machine used for the shelling of peanuts developed a fault where a significant quantity of peanuts was lost along with the removed

shells.

$•$ The fault was discovered after $10$ days, at which point it was estimated that a further $6$ days would be needed to complete the repair.

Thus, the machine was idle for $6$ days.

$•$ After the inventory of shelled peanuts was exhausted, some production employees were idle for $2$ days.

$•$ The Head of Peanut Butter Production made a decision to form a team of employees to shell the peanuts by hand until the repair was

effected. This was an additional process not usually done by employees.

$•$ Whey powder prices in the market have dropped slightly over the last $3$ months.

$•$ The solar energy generation system was able to generate more electricity than usual due to strong sunlight intensity. Thus, less

energy was purchased from the electricity grid.

Please prepare a report to the SMT which explains:

$•$ The potential causes for each of the variances and any linkages between the causes of the variance. $($Subtask $($a$)$