Amanda is an accountant for IPC Sporting Equipment Pty Ltd. The company sells one type of surfboard and has the following sales budget for that 2022.

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Expected sales units	12000	13000	14000	15000	54000
Selling Price	$50	$50	$50	$50	$50
Budgeted Sales revenue	$600,000	$650,000	$700,000	$750,000	$2,700,000

Amanda would like to prepare a production budget. It is estimated that the beginning inventory for Q1 (2022) will be 1500 surfboards, which cost $35000 to produce in 2021. The inventory manager wants to ensure the ending inventory for each quarter is half the expected sales for the following quarter. Expected sales for Q1 (2023) are 2500 surfboards.

Required:

1. Prepare the production budget in units for Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 for year 2022. Show your calculations.

2. Amanda prepares a materials budget for 2022. Each Surfboard requires a square metre (m²) of fibre board. The opening material inventory is 550m² at $90 per m². Amanda wants the material inventory at the end of each quarter to increase to 2000m² at $90 per m². The material cost is not expected to change in next year

3. Why it is vital for Amanda to work together with her manager on production and material budget?

4. What could be some differences between budget prepared for a manufacturing enterprise such as IPC and that by a retail organisation which is involved in selling surfboards manufactured by IPC.

5. How would you identify and investigate budget variance? Why is this important for accountants?