Cost of Units Completed and in Process The charges to Work in Process—Assembly Department for a period, together with information concerning production, are as follows. All direct materials are placed in process at the beginning of production. Work in Process—Assembly Department Bal., 7,000 units, 35% completed 20,370 To Finished Goods, 161,000 units ? Direct materials, 165,000 units @ $2 330,000     Direct labor 331,800     Factory overhead 129,080     Bal. ? units, 55% completed ?       a.  Based on the above data, determine the different costs listed below. If required, round your interim calculations to two decimal places. 1.  Cost of beginning work in process inventory completed this period. $fill in the blank 1 2.  Cost of units transferred to finished goods during the period. $fill in the blank 2 3.  Cost of ending work in process inventory. $fill in the blank 3 4.  Cost per unit of the completed beginning work in process inventory, rounded to the nearest cent. $fill in the blank 4 b.  Did the production costs change from the preceding period?   c.  Assuming that the direct materials cost per unit did not change from the preceding period, did the conversion costs per equivalent unit increase, decrease, or remain the same for the current period?

Process costing: It is a type of costing method, where the direct costs are accumulated and indirect costs are allocated to products manufactured in bulk quantity. This method is used where the products are manufactured under the various processes and in large batches.

Equivalent units: These are semi completed units which were expressed as fully completed units. For instance, 1,000 units which were 50% complete were as good as 500 units 100% complete. Here, 500 units were equivalent units.

Direct materials: It is the basic input required to manufacture the finished products. The direct/raw materials are processed by incurring conversion costs and other overhead to convert them into finished products.

Direct labor: It is the cost of salaries and wages incurred directly to produce a product. This cost is incurred to convert the raw materials into finished product.

FIFO method: Under this method, the units of beginning work-in process are taken as part of units completed and transferred out. Only the costs incurred during the process are taken for calculating the equivalent units.