Princess Retail Stores started doing business on January 1, 2017. The following data reflect its inventory purchases and sales during the year:

Required:
1. Compute gross margin and cost of ending inventory using the periodic FIFO cost flow assumption.
2. Compute gross margin and cost of ending inventory using the periodic LIFO cost flow assumption. Compute the dollar amount of the LIFO reserve. Using this additional disclosure, how might an analyst estimate Princess's cost of goods sold under the FIFO method based only on publicly available information? Show supporting calculations.
3. Under historical cost accounting, gross margin is calculated as current output price minus historical input price. For analytical convenience, we can break the gross margin into two components:
a. Current cost operating margin = Current output price ˆ’ Current input price.
b. Inventory profits = Current input price ˆ’ Historical input price.
Provide an estimate of the Current cost operating margin for Princess Retail Stores.
4. The following are excerpts from a recent top management meeting at Princess Retail Stores. Your assignment is to clearly provide guidelines to the top management team on each issue raised in the meeting. Show calculations when necessary.
a. "I am most concerned about appropriately matching revenues and expenses. I suggest that we look for an inventory accounting method that achieves this objective both during inflationary and deflationary times." (Frances Iyer, chairman)
b. "Frances, I think the choice is obvious. What other method can achieve better matching of revenues and expenses than the specific identification method? By choosing this method, we would send a clear signal to the stock market that we are not playing any earnings management games." (Sandra Kang, VP, Investor Relations)
c. "I would like to maximize our current profits. What inventory method might help us achieve this most important goal and why?" (Antonia Iyer, CEO)
d. "Antonia, I know you can't stop thinking about your earnings-based bonus. My primary objective is to minimize the present value of future income tax outflows." (Juanita Kang, CFO)
e. "I would like to have our cake and eat it too. Why don't we follow Juanita's suggestion for income tax accounting and follow Antonia's idea for external financial reporting?"

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Inventory Purchases Units Cost per Unit Total anuary 1 March 1 June 1 September1 December 1 20,000 16,000 14,000 10,000 12,000 72,000 7.00 9.00 11.00 13.00 15.00 $140,000 144,000 154,000 130,000 180,000 $748,000 Sales nits ice per Unit ota $336,000 288,000 360,000 $984,000 March 2 24,000 18,000 20,000 62,000 $14.00 September2 December 2 16.00 18.00