Connick Company sells its product for $22 per unit. Its actual and projected sales follow.

All sales are on credit. Recent experience shows that 40% of credit sales is collected in the month of the sale, 35% in the month after the sale, 23% in the second month after the sale, and 2% proves to be uncollectible. The product's purchase price is $ 12 per unit. All purchases are payable within 21 days. Thus, 30% of purchases made in a month is paid in that month and the other 70% is paid in the next month. The company has a policy to maintain an ending monthly inventory of 20% of the next month's unit sales plus a safety stock of 100 units. The January 31 and February 28 actual inventory levels are consistent with this policy. Selling and administrative expenses for the year are $ 1,920,000 and are paid evenly throughout the year in cash. The company's minimum cash balance for month end is $ 50,000. This minimum is maintained, if necessary, by borrowing cash from the bank. If the balance exceeds $ 50,000, the company repays as much of the loan as it can without going below the minimum. This type of loan carries an annual 12% interest rate. At February 28, the loan balance is $ 12,000, and the company's cash balance is $ 50,000. 

Required: 

1. Prepare a table that shows the computation of cash collections of its credit sales (accounts receivable) in each of the months of March and April. 

2. Prepare a table showing the computations of budgeted ending inventories (units) for January, February, March, and April. 

3. Prepare the merchandise purchases budget for February, March, and April. Report calculations in units and then show the dollar amount of purchases for each month.

4. Prepare a table showing the computation of cash payments on product purchases for March and April. 

5. Prepare a cash budget for March and April, including any loan activity and interest expense. Compute the loan balance at the end of each month.

Analysis Component: 

6. Refer to your answer to part 5. Connick's cash budget indicates whether the company must borrow additional funds at the end of March. Suggest some reasons that knowing the loan needs in advance would be helpful tomanagement.