Dixon Manufacturing Company, which makes aluminum alloy wheels for automobiles, recently introduced a new luxury wheel that fits small sports cars. The company developed the following standards for its new product.

Amount of direct materials per wheel                                                    2 pounds                                                            

Price of direct materials per pound                                                          $7.50

Quality of direct materials per pound                                                      2.5 hours

Price of direct labor per hour                                                                      $16.00/hour

Total budget fixed overhead                                                                      $168,000

In its first year of operation, Dixon planned to produce 3, 000 sets of wheels (four wheels pee set). Because of unexpected demand, it actually produced 3,600 set of wheels. By year-end, direct materials purchased and used amount to 30,000 pounds of aluminum at a cost of $234,000. Direct labor cost were actually $16.80 per hour. Actual hours worked were 2.2 hours per wheel. Overhead is applied to products using a predetermined overhead rate based on the total estimated number standards for its new product.

Required

Compute the standard cost per wheel for direct materials, direct labor, and overhead.

Determine the total standard cost per wheel.

Compute the actual cost per wheel for direct materials, direct labor and overhead.

Compute the actual cost per wheel.

Compute the price and usage variances for direct materials and direct materials and direct labor. Identify any variances that Dixon should investigate. Based on your results, offer a possible explanation for the labor usage variance.

Compute the fixed manufacturing overhead cost spending and volume variances. Explain your findings.