传承中华美德手抄小报:会计专业英语7[英译中]

(3) Factory overhead variance.
At the end of a cost period, the difference between overhead applied and overhead actually incurred is the factory overhead variance. Variances For factory overhead are generally more difficult to understand than those for direct materials and direct labor. Remember that when the standard costs are used, factory overhead is applied to production on the basis of a predetermined standard cost overhead rate. A flexible budget may be used to establish a standard factory overhead rate. A flexible budget may also aid in reporting actual costs and variations from standards. The standard overhead rate is determined by dividing the standard factory overhead costs by the standard amount of productive capacity. The productive capacity is usually expressed in terms of an activity base, such as machine hours, direct labor cost, or direct labor hours.
In the purpose of improving management, we can divide the factory overhead into two elements. First, the actual production volume during the period may have been different from the production volume hat was expected at the beginning of the period when the standard overhead application rate was established. Second, the overhead costs incurred may have differed from the budgeted overhead at the actual production volume. To determine the effects of these two factors, the factory overhead can be expressed as the sum of a volume variance and a controllable variance.
The volume variance is the difference between the amount of overhead budgeted at the actual operating level achieved during the period and the standard amount of overhead charged to production during the period. The formula to calculate the volume variance is as following:
Factory Overhead Volume Variance = Overhead Budgeted at the Actual Production Volume Achieved – Standard overhead Applied