Giddens Company calculated its return on investment as 15 percent. Sales are now \($180,000\) , and the amount of total operating assets is \($300,000\) .

Required

a. If expenses are reduced by \($18,000\) and sales remain unchanged, what return on investment will result?

b. If both sales and expenses cannot be changed, what change in the amount of operating assets is required to achieve the same result?