Material Usage Variance — meaning.

Material usage (or quantity) variance arises due to the difference in standard quantity specified and actual quantity of materials used.

Material usage variance may also arise due to:

Negligence in use of materials,
More wastage of materials by untrained workers or defective methods of production
Loss due to pilferage, Use of material mix other than the standard mix
More or less yield from materials than the standard set, and
Defective production necessitating the use of additional materials.

Materials usage variance= Standard Price (Standard Quantity — Actual Quantity) The quantities of material specified and actually used are taken and standard price per unit is used. If the answer from the above mentioned formula is in plus, the variance will be a favorable variance but if the answer is in minus the variance will be unfavorable or adverse.