As a newly hired compensation analyst, you've been asked by the Director of Compensation to assist with the preparation of next year's compensation plan for accounting jobs. The period for the compensation plan is January1dash December

31, 2018. Your assignment is to update salary survey data using the CPI-U to estimate new salary information. Also, assume that it is July 1, 2017, and you have been asked to submit your analysis within the next two days. The salary survey data were current through the end of 2016, and the initial average salary reported for accountant jobs in the survey was $50,000. The salary data will be 12 and 24 months old at the pay plan's implementation (on January 1, 2018) and end (December 31, 2018), respectively. You have been provided with national CPI-U data, which were obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2012	215.84215.84	216.32216.32	216.80216.80	217.18217.18	216.71216.71	216.52216.52	216.59216.59	217.91217.91	219.01219.01	219.63219.63	219.24219.24	219.22219.22
2013	219.67219.67	220.93220.93	220.28220.28	219.79219.79	219.89219.89	220.44220.44	220.90220.90	221.45221.45	221.54221.54	221.66221.66	222.10222.10	222.71222.71
2014	223.34223.34	223.52223.52	223.95223.95	224.46224.46	224.86224.86	225.18225.18	225.48225.48	225.43225.43	225.45225.45	225.44225.44	225.04225.04	224.27224.27
2015	222.83222.83	223.27223.27	223.95223.95	224.16224.16	224.95224.95	225.61225.61	225.99225.99	225.98225.98	225.46225.46	225.76225.76	226.07226.07	225.82225.82
2016	225.99225.99	225.53225.53	226.02226.02	226.84226.84	227.43227.43	228.07228.07	228.05228.05	228.56228.56	229.01229.01	229.66229.66	230.08230.08	230.78230.78
2017	232.02232.02	232.10232.10	231.71231.71	232.08232.08	231.91231.91	232.03232.03

The percent change in the cost of goods and services between December 2016 and June 2017 is:

(Round your answers to the nearest hundredths place.)

(a) The percent change might you expect the average cost of goods and services over the second 6-month period of 2017 is: %

(Round your answers to the nearest hundredths place.)

Hint:

First, calculate the percentage cost change for the period July through December for each of the previous years: 2012 through 2016. Second, take the average of these five figures. This calculation gives us the average percent cost change.

Estimates based on multiple years gives us a more stable picture of percent cost changes.

(b) The estimated average salary for December 31, 2017 is:

(Round your answers to the nearest hundredths place.)

Hint:

[(initial average salarytimesaverage percent cost change)plus+initial average salary].

(a) The percent change might you expect the average cost of goods and services change between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018 is: %

(Round your answers to the nearest hundredths place.)

Hint:

First, calculate the percent cost change for the period January through December for each of the previous years: 2012 through 2016. Second, take the average of these five figures to calculate the average percent cost change.

(b) The estimated average salary for December 31, 2018 is:

(Round your answers to the nearest hundredths place.)

Hint:

[(December 2017 average salary average percentage cost change) + December 2017 average salary].

( pleas show work of all parts) thank you