Asset Turnover

The Home Depot reported the following data (in millions) in its recent financial statements:

	Year 2		Year 1
Sales	$108,203		$100,904
Total assets at the end of the year	44,003		44,529
Total assets at the beginning of the year	44,529		42,966

a. Determine the asset turnover for The Home Depot for Year 2 and Year 1. Round to two decimal places.

Year 2:	fill in the blank 1
Year 1:	fill in the blank 2

b. What do these turnover indicate concerning the trend in the ability of The Home Depot to effectively use its assets to generate sales?