Question: Budgets for production and direct manufacturing labor. (CMA, adapted) DeWitt Company makes and sells artistic frames for pictures of weddings, graduations, and other special events. Ron Bahar, the controller, is responsible for preparing DeWitt's master budget and has accumulated the following information for 2018:

In addition to wages, direct manufacturing labor-related costs include pension contributions of $0.40 per hour, worker's compensation insurance of $0.10 per hour, employee medical insurance of $0.50 per hour, and Social Security taxes. Assume that as of January 1, 2018, the Social Security tax rates are 7.5% for employers and 7.5% for employees. The cost of employee benefits paid by DeWitt on its direct manufacturing employees is treated as a direct manufacturing labor cost. DeWitt has a labor contract that calls for a wage increase to $12 per hour on April 1, 2018. New laborsaving machinery has been installed and will be fully operational by March 1, 2018. DeWitt expects to have 16,000 frames on hand at December 31, 2017, and it has a policy of carrying an end-of-month inventory of 100% of the following month's sales plus 50% of the second following month's sales.

1. Prepare a production budget and a direct manufacturing labor cost budget for DeWitt Company by month and for the first quarter of 2018. You may combine both budgets in one schedule. The direct manufacturing labor cost budget should include labor-hours and show the details for each labor cost category.

2. What actions has the budget process prompted DeWitt's management to take?

3. How might DeWitt's managers use the budget developed in requirement 1 to better manage the company?