You have just been hired as a new management trainee by Earrings Unlimited, a distributor of earrings to various retail outlets located in shopping malls across the country. In the past, the company has done very little in the way of budgeting and at certain times of the year has experienced a shortage of cash. Since you are well trained in budgeting, you have decided to prepare a master budget for the upcoming second quarter. To this end, you have worked with accounting and other areas to gather the information assembled below. The company sells many styles of earrings, but all are sold for the same price-$10 per pair. Actual sales of earrings for the last three months and budgeted sales for the next six months follow (in pairs of carrings): January (actual) 20,000 June (budget) February (actual) 26,000 July (budget) March (actual) 40,000 August (budget) 50,000 30,000 28,000 April (budget) 65,000 September (budget) 25,000 May (budget) 100,000 The concentration of sales before and during May is due to Mother's Day. Sufficient inventory should be on hand at the end of each month to supply 40% of the earrings sold in the following month. Suppliers are paid $4 for a pair of earrings. One-half of a month's purchases is paid for in the month of purchase; the other half is paid for in the following month. All sales are on credit. Only 20% of a month's sales are collected in the month of sale. An additional 70% is collected in the following month, and the remaining 10% is collected in the second month following sale. Bad debts have been negligible. Monthly operating expenses for the company are given below: Variable: Sales commissions 4% of sales Fixed: Advertising $200,000 Rent $18.000 Salaries $106,000 Utilities Insurance $7,000 $3,000 Depreciation $14,000 Insurance is paid on an annual basis, in November of each year. Page 388 The company plans to purchase $16,000 in new equipment during May and $40,000 in new equipment during June; both purchases will be for cash. The company declares dividends of $15,000 each quarter, payable in the first month of the following quarter.