Cardinal Company is considering a five$-$year project requiring a $$2,855,000$ investment in equipment with a useful life of five years and no salvage value. The company$$s discount rate is $14\%.$ The project would provide net operating income in each of five years as follows:

Sales $ $2,867,000$

Variable expenses $1,125,000$

Contribution margin $1,742,000$

Fixed expenses:

Advertising, salaries, and other fixed out$-$of$-$pocket costs $ $706,000$

Depreciation $571,000$

Total fixed expenses $1,277,000$

Net operating income $ $465,000$

$2.$ What are the project$$s annual net cash inflows?

$3.$ What is the present value of the project$$s annual net cash inflows?

$4.$ What is the project$$s net present value?

$6.$ What is the project$$s internal rate of return?

$7.$ What is the project$$s payback period? $($Round your answer to $2$ decimal places.$)$

$8.$ What is the project$$s simple rate of return for each of the five years?

$9.$ If the company$$s discount rate was $16\%$ instead of $14\%,$ would you expect the project's net present value to be higher, lower, or the same?

$10.$ If the equipment had a salvage value of $$300,000$ at the end of five years, would you expect the project$$s payback period to be higher, lower, or the same?

$11.$ If the equipment had a salvage value of $$300,000$ at the end of five years, would you expect the project's net present value to be higher, lower, or the same?

$12.$ If the equipment had a salvage value of $$300,000$ at the end of five years, would you expect the project$$s simple rate of return to be higher, lower, or the same?

$13.$ Assume a postaudit showed that all estimates $($including total sales$)$ were exactly correct except for the variable expense ratio, which actually turned out to be $50\%.$ What was the project$$s actual net present value? $($Negative amount should be indicated by a minus sign. Round intermediate calculations and final answer to the nearest whole dollar amount.$)$

$14.$ Assume a postaudit showed that all estimates $($including total sales$)$ were exactly correct except for the variable expense ratio, which actually turned out to be $50\%.$ What was the project$$s actual payback period? $($Round your answer to $2$ decimal places.$)$

$15.$ Assume a postaudit showed that all estimates $($including total sales$)$ were exactly correct except for the variable expense ratio, which actually turned out to be $50\%.$ What was the project$$s actual simple rate of return? $($Round your answer to $2$ decimal places.$)$