ALL FIVE questions are compulsory and MUST be attempted

　　1 Carad Co is an electronics company which makes two types of televisions - plasma screen TVs and LCD TVs. It operates within a highly competitive market and is constantly under pressure to reduce prices. Carad Co operates a standard costing system and performs a detailed variance analysis of both products on a monthly basis. Extracts from the management information for the month of November are shown below:

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Note

　　Total number of units made and sold 　　1,400　　　　1

　　Material price variance 　　　　　　　　$28,000 A 　2

　　Total labour variance 　　　　　　　　 $6,050 A　　　3

　　Notes

　　（1）The budgeted total sales volume for TVs was 1,180 units,consisting of an equal mix of plasma screen TVs and LCD screen TVs. Actual sales volume was 750 plasma TVs and 650 LCD TVs. Standard sales prices are $350 per unit for the plasma TVs and $300 per unit for the LCD TVs.The actual sales prices achieved during November were $330 per unit for plasma TVs and $290 per unit for LCD TVs. The standard contributions for plasma TVs and LCD TVs are $190 and $180 per unit respectively.

　　（2）The sole reason for this variance was an increase in the purchase price of one of its key components， X. Each plasma TV made and each LCD TV made requires one unit of component X,for which Carad Co's standard cost is $60 per unit. Due to a shortage of components in the market place,the market price for November went up to $85 per unit for X. Carad Co actually paid $80 per unit for it.

　　（3）Each plasma TV uses 2 standard hours of labour and each LCD TV uses 1·5 standard hours of labour.The standard cost for labour is $14 per hour and this also reflects the actual cost per labour hour for the company's permanent staff in November. However,because of the increase in sales and production volumes in November,the company also had to use additional temporary labour at the higher cost of $18 per hour.The total capacity of Carad’s permanent workforce is 2,200 hours production per month,assuming full efficiency.In the month of November,the permanent workforce were wholly efficient,taking exactly 2 hours to complete each plasma TV and exactly 1·5 hours to produce each LCD TV.The total labour variance therefore relates solely to the temporary workers,who took twice as long as the permanent workers to complete their production.

　　Required:

　　（a）Calculate the following for the month of November,showing all workings clearly：

　　（i）The sales price variance and sales volume contribution variance; （6 marks）

　　（ii）The material price planning variance and material price operational variance; （2 marks）

　　（iii）The labour rate variance and the labour efficiency variance. （7 marks）

　　（b）Explain the reasons why Carad Co would be interested in the material price planning variance and the material price operational variance. （5 marks）

　　（20 marks）

　　2 The Accountancy Teaching Co（AT Co）is a company specialising in the provision of accountancy tuition courses in the private sector.It makes up its accounts to 30 November each year.In the year ending 30 November 2009,it held 60% of market share.However,over the last twelve months,the accountancy tuition market in general has faced a 20% decline in demand for accountancy training leading to smaller class sizes on courses.In 2009 and before,AT Co suffered from an ongoing problem with staff retention,which had a knock-on effect on the quality of service provided to students.Following the completion of developments that have been ongoing for some time,in 2010 the company was able to offer a far-improved service to students.The developments included:

　　- A new dedicated 24 hour student helpline

　　- An interactive website providing instant support to students

　　- A new training programme for staff

　　- An electronic student enrolment system

　　- An electronic marking system for the marking of students' progress tests.The costs of marking electronically were expected to be $4 million less in 2010 than marking on paper.Marking expenditure is always included in cost of sales Extracts from the management accounts for 2009 and 2010 are shown below:

　　 On 1 December 2009,management asked all ＆freelance lecturers'to reduce their fees by at least 10% with immediate effect（'freelance lecturers'are not employees of the company but are used to teach students when there are not enough of AT Co's own lecturers to meet tuition needs）.All employees were also told that they would not receive a pay rise for at least one year.Total lecture staff costs（including freelance lecturers）were $41·663 million in 2009 and were included in cost of sales，as is always the case.Freelance lecturer costs represented 35% of these total lecture staff costs.In 2010 freelance lecture costs were $12·394 million.No reduction was made to course prices in the year and the mix of trainees studying for the different qualifications remained the same.The same type and number of courses were run in both 2009 and 2010 and the percentage of these courses that was run by freelance lecturers as opposed to employed staff also remained the same.

　　Due to the nature of the business,non-financial performance indicators are also used to assess performance,as detailed below.