Software Associates Case Study
Software Associates Executive Summary
Software Associates was founded by Richard Norton in 1990 in order to perform system integration projects for clients. During the rapid technological growth of the 1990’s the company grew and prospered. Annual revenues exceeded $12 million, and profit margins were generally between 15%-20%. Their services include a contract business which offers clients experienced consultants to implement personalized IT tools and solutions. However, in 2000, founder and CEO of Software Associates, Richard Norton, had an urgent and tough question to answer; with higher than forecasted revenues, why is their bottom line less than half of what they had budgeted?
Variance Analysis Report
In order to perform a variance analysis report Jenkins calculated the actual revenues and expenses and found the difference which was $296,610 in profits. Then Jenkins did the same with budgeted values and found the budgeted profits to be $606,350. The variance amount in turn is $309,960 under budget. Also, the variance amount for revenues is $32,100. This number is favorable due to the fact that they made more than what they had budgeted for. But on the contrary, the variance amount for expenses was $342,060, which was unfavorable because they spent far more than what they had budgeted for.
This information would not be sufficient in order to explain to Norton why their profit percentage is nearly half of what they budgeted. This variance analysis report only shows the raw numbers and not any details to why they spent more on expenses than what they budgeted. Jenkins would have a difficult time explaining details to why they went over budget. She would need to show him a detailed expense report of the budgeted items and the actual amount they spent on the items. Then she would have to clearly define which items went over budget and why. This variance analysis report would not help Jenkins in the 8 am meeting she has would need to provide more
Software Associates was founded by Richard Norton in 1990 in order to perform system integration projects for clients. During the rapid technological growth of the 1990’s the company grew and prospered. Annual revenues exceeded $12 million, and profit margins were generally between 15%-20%. Their services include a contract business which offers clients experienced consultants to implement personalized IT tools and solutions. However, in 2000, founder and CEO of Software Associates, Richard Norton, had an urgent and tough question to answer; with higher than forecasted revenues, why is their bottom line less than half of what they had budgeted?
Variance Analysis Report
In order to perform a variance analysis report Jenkins calculated the actual revenues and expenses and found the difference which was $296,610 in profits. Then Jenkins did the same with budgeted values and found the budgeted profits to be $606,350. The variance amount in turn is $309,960 under budget. Also, the variance amount for revenues is $32,100. This number is favorable due to the fact that they made more than what they had budgeted for. But on the contrary, the variance amount for expenses was $342,060, which was unfavorable because they spent far more than what they had budgeted for.
This information would not be sufficient in order to explain to Norton why their profit percentage is nearly half of what they budgeted. This variance analysis report only shows the raw numbers and not any details to why they spent more on expenses than what they budgeted. Jenkins would have a difficult time explaining details to why they went over budget. She would need to show him a detailed expense report of the budgeted items and the actual amount they spent on the items. Then she would have to clearly define which items went over budget and why. This variance analysis report would not help Jenkins in the 8 am meeting she has would need to provide more