Department B is one of 15 production departments in the Hopedale Company. On December 15, the following variable budget and planned production schedule for the coming year were approved:

On March 1, the manager of Department B was informed that the department's planned output for April had been revised to 34,000 direct machine-hours. The manager expressed some doubts about whether this volume could be attained.
At the end of April, the accounting records provided the following actual data for the month for the department:

Required:
Prepare a report on Department B's performance in April. Suggest what items in this report are especially significant and what possible explanations for these items may be.

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Annual Variable Budget-Department B Fixed Amount per Month $12,000 17,000 Variable Rate per Direct Machine-Hour Controllable Costs Salaries Indirect labor Indirect materials Other costs $0.08 0.08 0.05 $0.21 8,000 37,000 Production Plan Annual Total Jan. Feb. Mar Balance 325,000 22,000 25,000 29,000 249,000 Planned output in direct machine-hours Actual output indirect machine-hours Actual controllable costs incurred: 33,000 Salaries Indirect labor Indirect materials Other costs $12,300 20,500 2,550 9,510 544,860