Beric Dandarrion Company plans to sell $500,000$ units of finished product in January $2019.$ Beric anticipates a growth rate in sales of $4\%$ per month thereafter; and, desires a monthly ending finished$-$goods inventory $($in units$)$ of $75\%$ of the following month's estimated sales. There are $200,000$ completed units in the December $31,2018$ inventory.

Each unit of finished product requires $3\mathrm{.}5$ pounds of direct material at a cost of $$1\mathrm{.}50$ per pound. There are $1,500,000$ pounds of direct material in inventory on December $31,2018.$

Required:

A$.$ Prepare a production budget for the quarter ended March $31,2019–$ be sure this is on a quarterly basis; and,

B$.$  Independent of your answer above, assume that Beric plans to produce $1,750,000$ units of finished product for the quarter ended March $31.$

C. If the firm desires to stock direct materials at the end of this period equal to $40\%$ of current production usage, compute the cost of direct material purchases for the quarter.