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Budgeting & Forecasting › Flexible Budgets

What is the flexible budget variance?

Intermediate

Answer

The flexible budget variance is the difference between actual results and the flexible budget (flexed to actual activity). It captures price/rate and efficiency differences—the controllable performance—separate from the sales-volume variance, which is the difference between the flexible and the static budget.
Actual cost 82k vs flexed budget 80k = 2k adverse flexible budget variance.
Real-world example The flexible-budget variance shows how spending differed from what was allowed at the actual volume.

Common follow-ups: What does it exclude? | How does it relate to the sales volume variance?