Raylene Webber, owner of Raylene's Flowers and Gifts, produces gift baskets for various special occasions. Each gift basket includes fruit or assorted small gifts (e.g., a coffee mug, deck of cards, novelty cocoa mixes, scented soap) in a basket that is wrapped in colourful cellophane. Raylene has estimated the following unit sales of the standard gift basket for the coming five months:
September ......................... 250
October .......................... ... 200
November .......................... 230
December ........................... 380
January .............................. 100
Raylene likes to have 10 percent of the next month's sales needs on hand at the end of each month. This requirement was met on August 31.
Two materials are needed for each fruit basket:
Fruit .......................... 1 kilogram
Small gifts .................. 6 items
The materials inventory policy is to have 5 percent of the next month's fruit needs on hand and 30 percent of the next month's production needs of small gifts. (The relatively low inventory amount for fruit is designed to prevent spoilage.) Materials inventory on September 1 met this company policy.
Required:
1. Prepare a production budget for September, October, November, and December for gift baskets.
2. Prepare a direct materials purchases budget for the two types of materials used in the production of gift baskets for the months of September, October, and November.
3. Why do you think there is such a big difference in budgeted units from November to December? Why did Raylene budget fewer units in January than in December?