A concrete corporation had cost of goods sold of $1,550,000 for the third quarter. The beginning inventory at cost was $155,000, and the ending inventory at cost amounted to $180,900. The inventory turnover rate published as the industry standard for a business of this size is 9.5 times. Round inventories to the nearest cent and inventory turnovers to the nearest tenth.

Required

(a) Calculate the average inventory (in $) and actual inventory turnover rate for the company.

(b) If the turnover rate is less than 9.5 times, calculate the target average inventory (in $) needed to theoretically come up to industry standards.