The following scenario relates to questions 11–15. Helot Co develops and sells computer games. It is well known for launching innovative and interactive role-playing games and its new releases are always eagerly anticipated by the gaming community. Customers value the technical excellence of the games and the durability of the product and packaging. Helot Co has previously used a traditional absorption costing system and full cost plus pricing to cost and price its products. It has recently recruited a new finance director who believes the company would benefit from using target costing. He is keen to try this method on a new game concept called Spartan, which has been recently approved. After discussion with the board, the finance director undertook some market research to find out customers’ opinions on the new game concept and to assess potential new games offered by competitors. The results were used to establish a target selling price of $45 for Spartan and an estimated total sales volume of 350,000 units. Helot Co wants to achieve a target profit margin of 35%. The finance director has also begun collecting cost data for the new game and has projected the following: Which of the following statements would the finance director have used to explain to Helot Co’s board what the benefits were of adopting a target costing approach so early in the game’s life-cycle? (1) Costs will be split into material, system, and delivery and disposal categories for improved cost reduction analysis (2) Customer requirements for quality, cost and timescales are more likely to be included in decisions on product development (3) Its key concept is based on how to turn material into sales as quickly as possible in order to maximise net cash (4) The company will focus on designing out costs prior to production, rather than cost control during live production