Brief Exercise 23.4 (Static) Estimating Direct Materials Inventory LO23-4. On January 1, Howard Corporation determines that its direct materials inventory needs to contain 4,000 pounds of Materials by March 31, To achieve this goal Howard will have to use three pounds of direct materials for every pound that it purchases during the upcoming quarter. On the basis of the company's budgeted sales volume, management estimates that 8000 pounds of direct materials need to be purchased by March 31. Determine how many of pounds of direct materials are currently in Howard's January 1st inventory. Beginning materials inventory? lbs