Question

Folklore Music manufactures harmonicas. Folklore uses standard costs to judge performance. Recently, a clerk mistakenly threw away some of the records, and only partial data for July exist. Folklore knows that the total direct labor variance for the month was $350 F and that the standard labor rate was $11 per hour. A recent pay cut caused a favorable labor rate variance of $0.40 per hour. The standard direct labor hours for actual July outputs were 5,910.

Required:
a. Find the actual number of direct labor hours worked during July. First, find the actual direct labor rate per hour. Then, determine the actual number of direct labor hours worked by setting up the computation of the total direct labor variance as given.
b. Compute the direct labor rate and efficiency variances. Do these variances suggest that the manager may have made trade-offs? Explain.

Answer 1

Answer: See explanation

Explanation:

a. The actual direct labor rate per hour will be:

= Standard direct labor rate per hour - favorable labor rate variance

= $11 - $0.40

= $10.60

Then, the actual direct labor hours worked during July will be calculated as:

= (5910 × $11) - $350 / $10.6

= ($65010 - $350) / $10.6

= $64660 / $10.6

= 6100

b. The direct labor rate variance will be:

= (Actual rate per hour - standard rate per hour) × Actual labor hours

= (10.60 - 11.00) × 6100

= 2440F

Direct labor efficiency variance will be:

= (6900 - 5910) × $11

= 2090U

The direct labor rate variance that was favorable shows that the manager paid a lower rate to its staffs while the direct labor efficiency variance that was unfavorable implies that the manager used less efficient workers. This indicates that a trade-off took place.

= (6900