Part 2: The purchases budgets in part 1 should reflect fewer purchases of all three products
in March compared to those in April and May. What factor caused fewer purchases to be
planned? Suggest business conditions that would cause this factor to both occur and impact
the company in this way.
inventory that accumulated just prior to the budgeting period. For example, 20,000 units of
The factor that causes the first month’s purchases to be so much smaller is the excess
15,000 units. Accordingly, budgeted purchases are smaller because it is management’s goal
to reduce the inventory to only 30% of the next month’s sales.
This overstocking factor could exist for a number of reasons, including:
footwear are in March’s beginning inventory; however, March sales are budgeted at only
than they were in the past.
an excess as a temporary safety stock against an interrupted supply.
– The company‘s suppliers may have only recently become more dependable
– A supplier may have recently located a new distribution facility nearby, with the
result that the merchandise can be delivered more promptly.
– Competition among suppliers may have caused them to become more customer oriented,
with the result that they will deliver products in smaller lots more quickly.
– Management may have simply lost sight of inventory levels, thereby allowing them to
reach inappropriately high levels.
– There may have been some potentially disruptive factor (such as a strike, bad weather, or
political uncertainty) that would have temporarily interrupted the smooth delivery of products
from the supplier. Thus, management would have found it prudent to accumulate