1.  Income statement preparation On December 31, 2015, Cathy Chen, a self-employed certified public accountant (CPA), completed her first full year in business. During the year, she billed $360,000 for her accounting services. She had two employees, a bookkeeper and a clerical assistant. In addition to her monthly salary of $8,000, Ms. Chen paid annual salaries of $48,000 and $36,000 to the bookkeeper and the clerical assistant, respectively. Employment taxes and benefit costs for Ms. Chen and her employees totaled $34,600 for the year. Expenses for office supplies, including postage, totaled $10,400 for the year. In addition, Ms. Chen spent $17,000 during the year on tax-deductible travel and entertainment associated with client visits and new business development. Lease payments for the office space rented (a taxdeductible expense) were $2,700 per month. Depreciation expense on the office furniture and fixtures was $15,600 for the year. During the year, Ms. Chen paid interest of $15,000 on the $120,000 borrowed to start the business. She paid an average tax rate of 30% during 2015.

a. Prepare an income statement for Cathy Chen, CPA, for the year ended December 31, 2015.

b. Evaluate her 2015 financial performance.

2.  Balance sheet preparation Use the appropriate items from the following list to prepare in good form Mellark's Baked Goods balance sheet at December 31, 2015.

Item Value ($000) at December 31, 2015

3. Statement of retained earnings Hayes Enterprises began 2015 with a retained earnings balance of $928,000. During 2015, the firm earned $377,000 after taxes. From this amount, preferred stockholders were paid $47,000 in dividends. At year-end 2015, the firm's retained earnings totaled $1,048,000. The firm had 140,000 shares of common stock outstanding during 2015.

a. Prepare a statement of retained earnings for the year ended December 31, 2015, for Hayes Enterprises. (Note: Be sure to calculate and include the amount of cash dividends paid in 2015.)

b. Calculate the firm's 2015 earnings per share (EPS).

c. How large a per-share cash dividend did the firm pay on common stock during 2015?

4. Accounts receivable management An evaluation of the books of Blair Supply, which follows, gives the end-of-year accounts receivable balance, which is believed to consist of amounts originating in the months indicated. The company had annual sales of $2.4 million. The firm extends 30-day credit terms.

a. Use the year-end total to evaluate the firm's collection system.

b. If 70% of the firm's sales occur between July and December, would this information affect the validity of your conclusion in part a? Explain.

5. Debt analysis Springfield Bank is evaluating Creek Enterprises, which has requested a $4,000,000 loan, to assess the firm's financial leverage and financial risk. On the basis of the debt ratios for Creek, along with the industry averages (see the top of the next page) and Creek's recent financial statements (following), evaluate and recommend appropriate action on the loan request

Creek Enterprises Income Statement for the Year Ended December 31, 2015

Sales revenue                                                                              $30,000,000

Less: Cost of goods sold                                                                21,000,000

Gross profits                                                                               $ 9,000,000

Less: Operating expenses

 Selling expense                                                                            $ 3,000,000

 General and administrative expenses                                             1,800,000

 Lease expense                                                                                 200,000      

Depreciation expense                                                                       1,000,000

 Total operating expense                                                                 $ 6,000,000                                       

 Operating profits                                                                            $ 3,000,000

  Less: Interest expense                                                                   1,000,000

  Net profits before taxes                                                                   $ 2,000,000

  Less: Taxes (rate 5 40%)                                                                  800,000

  Net profits after taxes                                                                    $ 1,200,000

   Less: Preferred stock dividends                                                     100,000

   Earnings available for common stockholders                                  $ 1,100,000

6. Common-size statement analysis A common-size income statement for Creek Enterprises' 2014 operations follows. Using the firm's 2015 income statement presented in Problem 3-18, develop the 2015 common-size come statement and compare it with the 2014 statement. Which areas require further analysis and investigation?

7.  The relationship between financial leverage and profitability Pelican Paper, Inc., and Timberland Forest, Inc., are rivals in the manufacture of craft papers. Some financial statement values for each company follow. Use them in a ratio analysis that compares the firms' financial leverage and profitability.

a. Calculate the following debt and coverage ratios for the two companies. Discuss their financial risk and ability to cover the costs in relation to each other.

·  Debt ratio

· Times interest earned ratio

b. Calculate the following profitability ratios for the two companies. Discuss their profitability relative to one another.

·   Operating profit margin

·   Net profit margin

·   Return on total assets

·   Return on common equity

c. In what way has the larger debt of Timberland Forest made it more profitable than Pelican Paper? What are the risks that Timberland's investors undertake when they choose to purchase its stock instead of Pelican's?