Problem - Eric Williams is a cost accountant and business analyst for Diamond Design Company (DDC), which manufactures expensive brass doorknobs. DDC uses two direct-cost categories: direct materials and direct manufacturing labor. Williams feels that manufacturing overhead is most closely related to material usage. Therefore, DDC allocates manufacturing overhead to production based upon pounds of materials used.

At the beginning of 2017, DDC budgeted annual production of 420,000 doorknobs and adopted the following standards for each doorknob:

Input Cost/Doorknob

Direct materials (brass) 0.3 lb. @ $10/lb. $ 3.00

Direct manufacturing labor 1.2 hours @ $17/hour 20.40

Manufacturing overhead:

Variable $5/lb. × 0.3 lb. 1.50

Fixed $15/lb. × 0.3 lb. 4.50

Standard cost per doorknob $29.40

Actual results for April 2017 were as follows:

Production 29,000 doorknobs

Direct materials purchased 12,400 lb. at $11/lb.

Direct materials used 8,500 lbs.

Direct manufacturing labor 29,200 hours for $671,600

Variable manufacturing overhead $ 65,100

Fixed manufacturing overhead $158,000

Required:

1. For the month of April, compute the following variances, indicating whether each is favorable

(F) or unfavorable (U):

a. Direct materials price variance (based on purchases)

b. Direct materials efficiency variance

c. Direct manufacturing labor price variance

d. Direct manufacturing labor efficiency variance

e. Variable manufacturing overhead spending variance

f. Variable manufacturing overhead efficiency variance

g. Production-volume variance

h. Fixed manufacturing overhead spending variance