Sales-price variance

Sales-price variance is the impact on profit of selling at a price different from budget, calculated as the difference between actual and standard price multiplied by actual units sold. It isolates price from volume effects.

ByHoang TruongUpdated June 30, 2026

FrameworkStandard costing and variance analysis

See it move

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At the standard price of €50, 800 units would have generated €40,000 of revenue. Because the firm actually sold at €48, an adverse sales-price variance of €1,600 reduces that figure to the actual revenue of €38,400. Volume is unchanged throughout the bridge, so the whole €1,600 gap is a pricing effect, not a volume effect.

Where it fits

SubjectManagerial AccountingCoreTopicStandard Costing & Variance AnalysisCore

The formula

LaTeX

SPV = (AP - SP) \times AQ

Variables

$A P$: Actual selling price per unit (€ per unit)
$S P$: Standard (budgeted) selling price per unit (€ per unit)
$A Q$: Actual number of units sold

Favourable when AP > SP; volume is held constant at actual units so only the price effect on revenue is measured

Check yourself

PracticeCORE

A company budgeted to sell 2,000 units at €45 per unit. Actual results were 1,800 units sold at an average selling price of €48 per unit. What is the sales-price variance?

Select an answer to check your understanding.