Variance analysis in a service business

Abstract

Small businesses, especially those engaged in providing services, usually employ some type of static budget to serve as a mechanism for evaluating the results of their operations. Management is inevitably concerned with the factors causing deviations between the static budget and the actual results. A thorough understanding of these deviations is vital if the budgeting process is to provide the expected benefits in the areas of planning and control. The problem is that superficial analysis often leads to specious explanations, or worse, that management never fully comprehends what caused the gap. We propose using a variance analysis framework to explain these deviations and to improve managerial control and effective decision making.