Sales forecast $(units)\frac{\text{O}\text{c}\text{t}\text{o}\text{b}\text{e}\text{r}}{18,000}\frac{\text{N}\text{o}\text{v}\text{e}\text{m}\text{b}\text{e}\text{r}}{25,000}\frac{\text{D}\text{e}\text{c}\text{e}\text{m}\text{b}\text{e}\text{r}}{20,000}\frac{\text{J}\text{a}\text{n}\text{u}\text{a}\text{r}\text{y}}{12,000}$

Additional information:

Budgeted selling price is $$3$ per unit.

Desired ending inventory of finished goods is $20\%$ of next month's sales.

Desired ending inventory of spice mix is $20\%$ of next month's production needs.

Each finished unit requires $2$ pounds of apples.

Each finished unit requires $\frac{1}{4}$ cup of spice mix.

Cost per pound of apples is $$0\mathrm{.}40.$

Cost per cup of spice mix is $$0\mathrm{.}30.$

Estimated production for January is $10,000$ units.

On September $30,$ the company held exactly its desired levels for both DM Inventory and FG Inventory.

Required

a$.$ Prepare the production budget for apple$-$pie filling for the fourth quarter:

b$.$ Prepare the fourth$-$quarter DM purchases budget for $(1)$ apples and $(2)$ spice mix.

c$.$ Explain a plausible reason why the company's desired ending inventory percentages for these direct materials are different.