Price Variances and Efficiency Variances for
Direct-Cost Inputs
To gain further insight, almost all companies subdivide the flexible-budget variance for
direct-cost inputs into two more-detailed variances:
1. A price variance that reflects the difference between an actual input price and a budgeted
input price
2. An efficiency variance that reflects the difference between an actual input quantity and
a budgeted input quantity
The information available from these variances (which we call level 3 variances) helps
managers to better understand past performance and take corrective actions to implement
superior strategies in the future. Managers generally have more control over efficiency
variances than price variances because the quantity of inputs used is primarily affected by
factors inside the company (such as the efficiency with which operations are performed),
while changes in the price of materials or in wage rates may be largely dictated by market
forces outside the company (see the Concepts in Action feature on p. 237).