Obtaining Budgeted Input Prices and Budgeted Input
Quantities
To calculate price and efficiency variances, Webb needs to obtain budgeted input prices
and budgeted input quantities. Webb’s three main sources for this information are past
data, data from similar companies, and standards.
1. Actual input data from past periods. Most companies have past data on actual input
prices and actual input quantities. These historical data could be analyzed for trends
or patterns (using some of the techniques we will discuss in Chapter 10) to obtain
estimates of budgeted prices and quantities. The advantage of past data is that they
represent quantities and prices that are real rather than hypothetical and can serve as
benchmarks for continuous improvement. Another advantage is that past data are
typically available at low cost. However, there are limitations to using past data. Past
data can include inefficiencies such as wastage of direct materials. They also do not
incorporate any changes expected for the budget period.
2. Data from other companies that have similar processes. The benefit of using data
from peer firms is that the budget numbers represent competitive benchmarks from
other companies. For example, Baptist Healthcare System in Louisville, Kentucky,
maintains detailed flexible budgets and benchmarks its labor performance against
hospitals that provide similar types of services and volumes and are in the upper quartile
of a national benchmark. The main difficulty of using this source is that inputprice
and input quantity data from other companies are often not available or may
not be comparable to a particular company’s situation. Consider American Apparel,
which makes over 1 million articles of clothing a week. At its sole factory, in Los
Angeles, workers receive hourly wages, piece rates, and medical benefits well in
excess of those paid by its competitors, virtually all of whom are offshore. Moreover,
because sourcing organic cotton from overseas results in too high of a carbon footprint,
American Apparel purchases more expensive domestic cotton in keeping with
its sustainability programs.
3. Standards developed by Webb. A standard is a carefully determined price, cost, or
quantity that is used as a benchmark for judging performance. Standards are usually
expressed on a per-unit basis. Consider how Webb determines its direct manufacturing
labor standards. Webb conducts engineering studies to obtain a detailed breakdown of
the steps required to make a jacket. Each step is assigned a standard time based on
work performed by a skilled worker using equipment operating in an efficient manner.
There are two advantages of using standard times: (i) They aim to exclude past inefficiencies
and (ii) they aim to take into account changes expected to occur in the budget
period. An example of (ii) is the decision by Webb, for strategic reasons, to lease new