Assessment
ACCT1068 Cost Management and Applications
Case Study Assignment
Barnes Scuba Diving Case
James and Rob were relaxing with some friends on the patio of James’ new apartment in Surfer’s
Paradise, Queensland, Australia.
Just that morning they had looked over their business’s profit
statement and were feeling very pleased with what they saw.
Barnes Scuba Diving (Barnes), the
business they’d started in 2000, had made profits for the last six months that exceeded their expectations. While both were pleased that their business had apparently done so well, they admitted that they didn’t really know why, because they had experienced a number of issues throughout the period1 that were expected to negatively affect profit.
“You know guys, I’d be happy to undertake a variance analysis of your profit results,” said Se Ling, the business’s management accountant and a close friend of both Rob and James. “It can really help you understand why the profit you made differed from what you budgeted at the start of the period.”
James looked at Rob and nodded. “Why not,” he said. “I guess it’s about time we became a little more professional now we’re business tycoons.”
And so it was decided that Se Ling would analyse Barnes’s profit to find out how Rob and James managed to do so well.
Business Background
Barnes Scuba Diving provides scuba diving courses around Surfers Paradise in Queensland,
Australia. The business began in 2000 with the intention of bringing scuba diving into the lives of as many people as possible. Both James Tyler and Rob Hansen had dived around the ocean beaches of
Surfers Paradise since they were small children. After finishing school both became scuba diving instructors. After working for a number of years for another company, they decided to take a risk and open up their own business. As Rob owned a dog called Barnes at the time, they decided to call the business Barnes Scuba Diving.
1
Details of these issues are provided
Case Study Assignment
Barnes Scuba Diving Case
James and Rob were relaxing with some friends on the patio of James’ new apartment in Surfer’s
Paradise, Queensland, Australia.
Just that morning they had looked over their business’s profit
statement and were feeling very pleased with what they saw.
Barnes Scuba Diving (Barnes), the
business they’d started in 2000, had made profits for the last six months that exceeded their expectations. While both were pleased that their business had apparently done so well, they admitted that they didn’t really know why, because they had experienced a number of issues throughout the period1 that were expected to negatively affect profit.
“You know guys, I’d be happy to undertake a variance analysis of your profit results,” said Se Ling, the business’s management accountant and a close friend of both Rob and James. “It can really help you understand why the profit you made differed from what you budgeted at the start of the period.”
James looked at Rob and nodded. “Why not,” he said. “I guess it’s about time we became a little more professional now we’re business tycoons.”
And so it was decided that Se Ling would analyse Barnes’s profit to find out how Rob and James managed to do so well.
Business Background
Barnes Scuba Diving provides scuba diving courses around Surfers Paradise in Queensland,
Australia. The business began in 2000 with the intention of bringing scuba diving into the lives of as many people as possible. Both James Tyler and Rob Hansen had dived around the ocean beaches of
Surfers Paradise since they were small children. After finishing school both became scuba diving instructors. After working for a number of years for another company, they decided to take a risk and open up their own business. As Rob owned a dog called Barnes at the time, they decided to call the business Barnes Scuba Diving.
1
Details of these issues are provided