Question

Stevens Center is a nonprofit organization devoted its stagingplays for children. The theater has a very small
full-time professional administrative staff. Through a specialarrangement with the actors' union, actors
and directors rehearse without pay and are paid only for actualperformances.
The costs from the current year's planning budget appear below.Steven Center had tentatively planned to put
on six different productions with a total of 108 performances.For example, one of the productions was The Lion King,
which has a six-week run with three performances on eachweekend.
Stevens Center
Costs from the Planning Budget
For the Year Ended December 31
Budgeted number of productions	6
Budgeted number of performances	108
Actors' and directors' wages	$215,000
Stagehands' wages	31,900
Ticket booth personnel and ushers' wages	16,400
Scenery, costumes, and props	107,900
Theater hall rent	53,000
Printed programs	26,800
Publicity	12,200
Administrative expense	44,200
Total	$507,400
Some of the costs vary with the number of productions, some withthe number of performances, and
some are fixed and depend on neither the number of productionsnor the number of performances.
The costs of scenery, costumes, props, and publicity vary withthe number of productions.
It doesn't make any differences how many times The Lion King isperformed, the cost of the
scenery is the same. Likewise, the cost of publicizing a playwith posters and radio commericals is the
same whether there are 10,20 or 30 performances of the play. Onthe other hand, the wages of
the actors, directors, stagehands, ticket booth personnel, andushers vary with the number of
perofrmances. The greater the number of performances, the higherthe wage costs will be. Similarily,
the costs of renting the hall and printing the programs willvary with the number of performances.
Administrative expenses are more difficult to pin down, but thebest estimate is that approximately
75% of the budgeted costs are fixed, 15% depend on the number ofproductions staged, and the
remaining 10% depend on the number of performances.
After the beginning of the year, the board of directors of thetheater authorized expanding the
theater's program to seven productions and a total of 168performances. Not surprisingly, actual
costs were considerably higher than the costs from the planningbudget. (Grants from donors
and ticket sales were also correspondingly higher, but are notshown here.) Data concerning the
actual costs appear below:
Stevens Center
Costs from the Planning Budget
For the Year Ended December 31
Actual number of productions	7
Actual number of performances	168
Actors' and directors' wages	$341,600
Stagehands' wages	49,500.00
Ticket booth personnel and ushers' wages	25,800.00
Scenery, costumes, and props	130,700.00
Theater hall rent	78,100.00
Printed programs	38,400.00
Publicity	15,200.00
Administrative expense	47,100.00
Total	$726,400
1. Prepare a flexible budget for the Stevens Center based on theactual activity of the year.
2. Prepare a flexible budget performance report for the yearthat shows both spending variance
and activity variances.
Stevens Theater
Flexible Budget Performance Report
For the Year Ended December 31
	Actual Results	Spending Variances	Flexible Budget	Activity Variances	Planning Budget
Actual number of productions	7
Actual number of performances	168
Actors' and directors' wages	$341,600
Stagehands' wages	49,500.00
Ticket booth personnel and ushers' wages	25,800.00
Scenery, costumes, and props	130,700.00
Theater hall rent	78,100.00
Printed programs	38,400.00
Publicity	15,200.00
Administrative expense	47,100.00
Total	$726,400
3. If you were on the board of directors of the theater, wouldyou be pleased with how
costs were controlled during the year? Why or why not?
4. The cost formula provide figures for the average cost perproduction and average cost per performance.
How accurate do you think these figures would be for predictingthe cost of a new production or of an additiional performance of aparticular production?