Flexible budgeting in an activity-based costing framework ProQuest

Although the budget report shows variances, it does not explain the reasons for the variance. The budget report is used by management to identify the sales or expenses whose amounts are not what were expected so management can find out why the variances occurred. By understanding the variances, management can decide whether any action is needed.

• Base pay is fixed, commission varies based on performance.
• This budget requires skilled workers to work on it.
• On the other hand, flexible budgeting is very much adjustable to business situations.
• You can work towards automating your budget since your expenses are directly tied to your revenue.

The more sophisticated relative of the static budget model, a flexible budget allows for change, and as we’ve said – business can be unpredictable. The fixed budget is static and doesn’t change at all.

Flexible budget definition

Flexible budgets are produced in real time to account for changes in revenue based on variations in units sold or sales price. Your flexible budget would then look at revenue, based on both units sold and sales price.

And the additional columns will be as per the output levels. Firms can prepare in response to the changes in the activity resulting https://business-accounting.net/ from new government policies. The accuracy of the budget largely depends upon the efficient classification of the costs.

Video Illustration 3: Preparing a flexible budget

Discover the definition of flexible budgeting, flexible budget formulas, and how to find a flexible budget variance. A static budget can give misleading results when volume varies from projections. If actual volume is higher than planned, then costs will be higher, which is generally considered a negative result, even though you are selling more!

Helps in cost ascertainment for varied activity levels. Activity-based budgeting is a budgeting method that estimates the costs of activities and assigns them to products or services.

Why Would a Company Find a Flexible Budget Variance More Informative?

Flexible budgets take time to maintain, with routine monthly reviews and edits. It’s also important to request accountability for all changes made to this budget in order Flexible Budgeting In An Activity to keep it working for you. After each month closes, you compare the projected revenue against the actual revenue and adjust the next month’s expenses accordingly.

The company also knows that the depreciation, supervision, and other fixed costs come to about $35,000 per month. Flexible budgets are usually prepared at each business analysis period , rather than in advance. Flexible budgets react more quickly to adverse conditions. Suppose the budget was set up with the expectation that sales would be $200,000 per month and labor cost was budgeted at $50,000 per month, or 25 percent of sales. We’ve previously covered the five different types of budget models that businesses can choose from.

And the actual output may be more or less than the budgeted ones. Activity-based budgeting is a costing methodology that assigns costs to activities based on the resources used and the amount of time the resources are used. ABB is said to be more accurate than traditional budgeting methods because it assigns costs to the activities that generate them. However, there are several disadvantages of using ABB.