Fundamentals of Cost Accounting 3rd Edition by William N. Lanen, Shannon W. Anderson, Michael Maher

Exercise 54

Analysis of Cost Reports

Mary is the production manager of the Cabot plant, a division of the larger corporation, Triparte, Inc. She has complained several times to the corporate office that the cost reports used to evaluate her plant are misleading. She states, "I know how to get good quality product out. Over a number of years, I’ve even cut the amount of raw materials used to do it. The cost reports don’t show any of this; they’re always negative, no matter what I do. There’s no way I can win with accounting or the people at headquarters who use these reports."

?A copy of the latest report follows.

CABOT PLANT Cost Report For the Month of March ($000)
	Master Budget	Actual Cost	Excess Cost
Raw material	$1,200	$1,311	$111
Direct labor	1,680	1,620	(60)
Overhead	300	402	102
Total	$3,180	$3,333	$153

Required

Identify and explain at least three changes to the report that would make the cost information more meaningful and less threatening to the production managers.