Raising crickets requires a$$ two$-$step process: incubation and brooding. In the first$$ process, incubation, employees place cricket eggs on mounds of peat moss to hatch. In the second$$ process, employees move the newly hatched crickets into large boxes filled with cardboard dividers. Depending on the desired$$ size, the crickets spend approximately two weeks in brooding before being shipped to pet stores. In the brooding$$ process,

FarnsworthFarnsworth$\text{'}$s

crickets consume about $16$ tons of food and produce $12$ tons of manure.

FarnsworthFarnsworth

has invested

$$375,000$

in the cricket$$ farm, and he had hoped to earn a

$60\%$

annual rate of$$ return, which works out to a

$55\%$

monthly return on his investment. After looking at the$$ farm's bank$$ balance,

FarnsworthFarnsworth

fears he is not achieving this return. To get more accurate information on the$$ farm's performance,

FarnsworthFarnsworth

bought new accounting software that provides$$ weighted$-$average process cost information. After

FarnsworthFarnsworth

input the$$ data, the software provided the following reports.$$ However,

FarnsworthFarnsworth

needs help interpreting these reports.

FarnsworthFarnsworth

does know that a unit of production is a box of$1,000$ crickets. For$$ example, in

June$\text{'}$s

$$report$,$ the

$7,000$

physical units of beginning work in process inventory are

$7,000$

boxes$($each one of those boxes contains$1,000$ immature$$ crickets$).$ The finished goods inventory is zero because the crickets ship out as soon as they reach the required size. Monthly operating expenses total

$$8,250$

$($in addition to the costs that$$ follow$).$