Mallet Company Has Only Job 844 in Process on March $\begin{array}{|l|r|}\hline \text { Purchased during the month } & \$ 29,500 \\\hline \text { Used in production } & \$ 30,500 \\\hline\end{array}$

Mallet Company has only Job 844 in process on March 1 of the current year. The job has been charged with $2,000 of direct material cost, $2,500 of direct labour cost, and $1,750 of manufacturing overhead cost. The company assigns overhead cost to jobs at a predetermined rate of 70% of direct labour cost. Any under- or overapplied overhead cost is closed out to Cost of Goods Sold at the end of the month.

During March, the following activity and amounts were recorded by the company:

Raw materials (all direct materials) :
$\begin{array}{|l|r|}\hline \text { Purchased during the month } & \$ 29,500 \\\hline \text { Used in production } & \$ 30,500 \\\hline\end{array}$
Labour:
$\begin{array}{|l|r|}\hline \begin{array}{l}\text { Direct labour hours worked during the } \\\text { month }\end{array} & 2,500 \\\hline \text { Direct labour cost incurred } & \$ 26,500 \\\hline \text { Indirect labour costs incurred } & \$ 5,500 \\\hline \begin{array}{l}\text { Manufacturing overhead costs incurred } \\\text { (total) }\end{array} & \$ 18,500 \\\hline\end{array}$
Inventories:
$\begin{array}{|l|r|}\hline \text { Raw materials (all direct) March 31 } & \$ 7,500 \\\hline \text { Work in process, March 31 } & \$ 14,500 \\\hline\end{array}$
Work in Process inventory contains $\$ 5,500$ of direct labour cost.


-What was the March 1 balance in the Raw Materials inventory?

A) $10,500.
B) $9,500.
C) $6,500.
D) $8,500.