A cash budget by quarters for the Carney Company is given below (note that some data are missing). Missing data amounts have been keyed with either question marks or lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.); these lowercase letters will be referred to in the questions that follow. (It may be necessary to calculate a value for items where a question mark appears.) A zero amount is designated by a dash (-). The company requires a minimum cash balance of at least $10,000 to start a quarter. All data are in thousands of dollars.

Carney Corporation

Cash Budget

Quarters

1 2 3 4

Cash balance, beginning $16 $e $13 $10

Add: collections from customers $a $70 $67 $80

Total cash available $? $? $80 $90

Less: disbursements

Purchase of inventory $31 $c $40 $35

Operating expenses $10 $14 $19 $-

Dividends $- $6 $- $5

Total disbursements $76 $? $f $55

Excess (deficiency) of cash available over disbursements $7 $17 $(2) $35

Financing:

Borrowings $b $- $12 $-

Repayments (including interest) $- $d $- $(16)

Total financing $? $? $12 $(16)

Cash balance, ending $10 $? $10 $19

What are the collections from customers during the first quarter (item a), in thousands of dollars?