24. A firm m wants to strengthen its financial position. Which of the following actions would increase its current ratio? Reduce the company's days' sales outstanding to the industry average and use the resulting cash savings to purchase plant and equipment. Use cash to repurchase some of the company's own stock. Borrow using short-term debt and use the proceeds to repay debt that has a maturity of more than one year. Issue new stock, then use som hold the remainder as cash Use cash to increase inventory holdings. e of the proceeds to purchase additional inventory and 25. Select the CORRECT response. Trends in ratios rarely reveal any useful insights about a company. Comparing ratios across companies in the same industryis rarely useful because different companies operate in different ways. Comparing a company's various ratios to benchmarks is of dubious value because eac company's approach to the market is different. All of the above are correct. All of the above are incorrect. 26. A firm's new president wants to strengthen the company's financial position. Which of the following actions would make it financially stronger? Increase accounts receivable while holding sales constant. Increase EBIT while holding sales and assets constant. Increase accounts payable while holding sales constant. Increase notes payable while holding sales constant. Increase inventories while holding sales constant. 7. If the CEO of a large, diversified, firm were filling out a fitness report on a division manager (i.e., "grading" the manager), which of the following situations would be likely to cause the manager to receive a better grade? In all cases, assume that other things are held constant. The division's basic earning power ratio is above the average of other firms in its industry The division's total assets turnover ratio is below the average for other firms in its industry. The division's total debt to total capital ratio is above the average for other firms in the industry The division's inventory turnover is 6x, whereas the average for its competitors is 8x The division's DSO (days' sales outstanding) is 40 days, whereas the average for its competitors is 30 days. b. c. e