Question

The Little Theatre is a nonprofit organization devoted to staging plays for children. The theatre has a very small full-time professional administrative staff. Through a special arrangement with the actors’ union, actors and directors rehearse without pay and are paid only for actual performances.

The costs from the current year’s planning budget appear below. The Little Theatre had tentatively planned to put on five different productions with a total of 60 performances. For example, one of the productions was Peter Rabbit, which had a six-week run with three performances on each weekend.

The Little Theatre Costs from the Planning Budget For the Year Ended December 31
Budgeted number of productions		5
Budgeted number of performances		60
Actors’ and directors’ wages	$	168,000
Stagehands’ wages		28,800
Ticket booth personnel and ushers’ wages		11,400
Scenery, costumes, and props		44,000
Theatre hall rent		46,800
Printed programs		12,300
Publicity		14,500
Administrative expenses		48,000
Total	$	373,800

Some of the costs vary with the number of productions, some with the number of performances, and some are fixed and depend on neither the number of productions nor the number of performances. The costs of scenery, costumes, props, and publicity vary with the number of productions. It doesn’t make any difference how many times Peter Rabbit is performed, the cost of the scenery is the same. Likewise, the cost of publicizing a play with posters and radio commercials is the same whether there are 10, 20, or 30 performances of the play. On the other hand, the wages of the actors, directors, stagehands, ticket booth personnel, and ushers vary with the number of performances. The greater the number of performances, the higher the wage costs will be. Similarly, the costs of renting the hall and printing the programs will vary with the number of performances. Administrative expenses are more difficult to pin down, but the best estimate is that approximately 75% of the budgeted costs are fixed, 15% depend on the number of productions staged, and the remaining 10% depend on the number of performances.

After the beginning of the year, the board of directors of the theatre authorized expanding the theatre’s program to four productions and a total of 64 performances. Not surprisingly, actual costs were considerably higher than the costs from the planning budget. (Grants from donors and ticket sales were also correspondingly higher, but are not shown here.) Data concerning the actual costs appear below:

The Little Theatre Actual Costs For the Year Ended December 31
Actual number of productions		4
Actual number of performances		64
Actors’ and directors’ wages	$	174,000
Stagehands’ wages		30,400
Ticket booth personnel and ushers’ wages		12,900
Scenery, costumes, and props		40,300
Theatre hall rent		51,400
Printed programs		12,750
Publicity		13,500
Administrative expenses		46,450
Total	$	381,700

  

Required:

1. Complete the flexible budget for The Little Theatre based on the actual activity of the year.

	The Little Theatre Flexible Budget For the Year Ended December 31 Actors’ and directors’ wages Stagehands’ wages Ticket booth personnel and ushers’ wages Scenery, costumes, and props Theatre hall rent Printed programs Publicity Administrative expenses Total $

2. Complete the flexible budget performance report for the year that shows both activity variances and spending variances. (Indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "F" for favorable, "U" for unfavorable, and "None" for no effect (i.e., zero variance). Input all amounts as positive values.)

The Little Theatre Flexible Budget Performance Report For the Year Ended December 31 Actual Results Spending Variances Flexible Budget Activity Variances Planning Budget Actors' and directors' wages $174,000 $168,000 Stagehands' wages 30,400 28,800 Ticket booth personnel and ushers' wages 12,900 11,400 Scenery, costumes, and props 40,300 44,000 Theatre hall rent 51,400 46,800 Printed programs 12,750 12,300 Publicity 13,500 14,500 Administrative expenses 46,450 48,000 Total $381,700

Answer 1