How does the master budget for a merchandising company differ from that of a manufacturer?

  • Discuss how the master budget for a merchandising organization differs from the master budget for a manufacturing organization. 

Answer & Explanation

How does the master budget for a merchandising company differ from that of a manufacturer?
Solved by verified expert

or nec facilisis. Pellentesq

ec facilisis. Pellentesque dapibus efficitur laoreet. Nam risus ante, dapibus a molestie consequat, ultrices ac magna. Fusce dui lectus, congue vel laoreet ac, dictum vitae odio. Donec aliquet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam lacinia pulvinar tortor nec facilisis. P

Unlock full access to Course Hero

Explore over 16 million step-by-step answers from our library

Subscribe to view answer

Step-by-step explanation

nec facilisis. Pellentesque dapibus efficitur laoreet. Nam risus ante, dapibus a molestie consequat, ultrices ac magna. Fusce dui lectus, congue vel laoreet ac, dictum vitae odio. Donec aliquet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam lacinia pulvinar tortor nec facilisis. Pellentesque dapibus efficitur laoreet. Nam risus ante, dapibus a molestie consequat, ultrices ac magna. Fusce dui lectus, congue vel laoreet ac, dictum vitae odio. Donec aliquet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam lacinia pulvinar tortor nec facilisis. Pellentesque dapibus efficitur laoreet. Nam risus ante, dapibus a molestie consequat, ultrices ac magna. Fusce dui lectus, congue vel laoreet ac, dictum vitae odio. Donec aliquet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam lacinia pulvinar tortor nec facilisis. Pellentesque dapibus efficitur laoreet. Nam risus ante, dapibus a molestie consequat, ultrices ac magna. Fusce dui lectus, congue vel laoreet ac, dictum vitae odio. Donec aliquet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam lacinia pulvinar tortor nec facilisis. Pellentesque dapibus efficitur lao

Student reviews

100% (2 ratings)

Budgeting in merchandising companies

Budget preparation for merchandising companies and service companies is similar to budgeting for manufacturing companies.   A service or merchandising company will not have a production budget or direct material budget and may not have a direct labor or overhead budget.  The largest difference is since we do not have a production or materials purchase budget, we still need to know how much inventory we need to buy for a merchandiser.  The merchandise purchases budget is similar to the production budget.  The purchases budget can be done in units or in total dollars.  Typically, the purchases budget is done in dollars and will use a cost of goods sold percentage to determine the cost of inventory sales. Remember, cost of goods sold is literally the cost of the inventory we are now selling and should be less than what we can sell it.  This section discusses budgeting in merchandising companies.

Throughout this chapter, we have focused on budgeting in a manufacturing company. Suppose managers in a retail merchandising business, such as a dress shop or a furniture store, prepare a budget. In this case, the company prepares a purchases budget instead of a production budget. To compute the purchases for each quarter, management must estimate the cost of the goods to be sold during the quarter and the inventory required at the end of the quarter.

Suppose Strobel Furniture Company prepared a sales budget showing sales of $30,000 in the first quarter, $80,000 in the second quarter, $50,000 in the third quarter and $40,000 in the fourth quarter. Assume the company maintains sufficient inventory to cover one-half of the next quarter’s sales. Cost of goods sold is 55% of sales. The ending merchandise inventory this year is expected to be $11,000. The purchases budget can now be prepared.  We need the following information:

  • Sales, from the Sales budget
  • Cost of goods sold percentage (can also be shown as gross margin or gross profit percent which would be subtracted from 100 to get the cost of goods sold percent)
  • Desired ending inventory policy
  • Beginning inventory balance (if not provided, you can follow the same ending inventory policy and apply to first quarter sales.)  Remember, beginning inventory of one quarter is the ending inventory of the previous quarter.

Strobel’s merchandise inventory budget would look like:

Strobel Furniture Company    
Merchandise Purchases Budget    
  Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4
SALES (in dollars)
$30,000 $80,000 $50,000 $90,000
Cost of goods sold (Sales x 55%) $16,500 $44,000 $27,500 $49,500
Add: Desired ending inventory (1/2 of next quarter’s cost of goods sold) $22,000 $13,750 $24,750 $11,000
Total inventory needs $38,500 $57,750 $52,250 $60,500
Less: Beginning merchandise inventory ($8,250) ($22,000) ($13,750) ($24,750)
Budgeted Purchases (in dollars)
$30,250 $35,750 $38,500 $35,750

Important items to now:

  • Sales is used in the calculation for cost of goods sold but is not part of the budget itself.
  • Cost of goods sold takes the Sales dollars x 55% cost of goods sold percentage.
  • Desired ending inventory is next quarter’s cost of goods sold x 50% or divided by 2.  For fourth quarter, the information is given in the example problem.
  • Beginning inventory equals the ending inventory of the previous quarter for all except for first quarter.  For first quarter, we assume the same rules were followed for ending inventory in the previous year so we can calculate as first quarter cost of goods sold $16,500 / 2.

Strobel can now use the information in its purchases budget to prepare the cost of goods sold section of the budgeted income statement, to prepare cash disbursements schedules, and to prepare the inventory and accounts payable amounts in the financial budget.

What is the difference between a manufacturing company and a merchandising company?

A merchandising company resells goods that it purchases from its suppliers. A manufacturing company produces goods from raw materials, which is later sold as a finished product.

What is the main difference between manufacturing and merchandising companies financial statement?

Unlike merchandising firms, manufacturing firms must calculate their cost of goods sold based on how much they manufacture and how much it costs them to manufacture those goods. This requires manufacturing firms to prepare an additional statement before they can prepare their income statement.

How does a merchandise purchases budget differ from a production budget?

A merchandiser uses a merchandise purchases budget instead of a production budget. A merchandiser does not use the manufacturing budgets (direct materials, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead). The merchandise purchases budget shows the estimated cost of goods to be purchased to meet expected sales.

What does the master budget of a merchandising company include?

The master budget comprises an operating budget and a financial budget, which describes the business result anticipation in the next period.