Facilities that focus on manufacturing and production track two kinds of costs: fixed costs and variable costs. The variable costs are those that change when production levels change: raw materials, ...

Most teams set a single percentage threshold across the board that’s simple but flawed. A 5% swing in a volatile revenue account might mean nothing, while a 2% movement in an accrued liabilities could ...

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2012. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function. In his article ...

Companies regularly analyze sales variances to explain revenue performance over a monthly, quarterly or yearly accounting cycle. The resulting sales variance explanations help firms isolate problems ...

McGahan, Anita M., and Michael E. Porter. "What Do We Know About Variance in Accounting Profitability?" Management Science 48, no. 7 (July 2002): 834–851.

Traditional standard cost variance analysis procedures are examined as motivational devices in a principal-agent model. The reexpressing of a cost realization into components (such as individual ...