Georgia-Pacific and Weyerhaeuser are forest products companies. Georgia-Pacific manufactures and distributes building products, consumer products (Brawny, Coronet, Dixie, and Quilted Northern brand-name products), and paper and packaging. Weyerhaeuser produces wood products (lumber, plywood, oriented stand board, and engineered wood), container- board and packaging, pulp, and papers. Weyerhaeuser also recycles paper and develops real estate. Financial statement data for these two companies follow.

Required:
1. Which company collects its accounts receivable more quickly?
2. Which company showed better improvement in accounts receivable turnover from Year 2 to Year 4?
3. What factors might explain why these two companies—which appear to operate in similar markets—have different accounts receivable turnover ratios?

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Georgia-Pacific ($ in millions) Year I Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Sales $22,050 $25,016 $23,271 Accounts receivable $2,158 2,705 2,352 1,777 Accounts receivable turnover 9.07 9.89 11.27 Weyerftaeuser Sales $14,603 $13,084 $16,771 Accounts receivable $1,296 1,247 1,024 1,413 Accounts receivable turnover 11.48 11.52 13.76