Cardinal Company is considering a five$-$year project that would require a $$2,755,000$ investment in equipment with a useful life of five years and no salvage value. The company$$s discount rate is $14\%.$ The project would provide net operating income in each of five years as follows:

Sales $ $2,875,000$

Variable expenses $1,124,000$

Contribution margin $1,751,000$

Fixed expenses:

Advertising, salaries, and other fixed out$-$of$-$pocket costs $ $721,000$

Depreciation $551,000$

Total fixed expenses $1,272,000$

Net operating income $ $479,000$

Click here to view Exhibit $7$B$-1$ and Exhibit $7$B$-2,$ to determine the appropriate discount factor$($s$)$ using table.

$14.$ 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?