Cardinal Company is considering a five$-$year project that would require a $$2,975,000$

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:

Click here to view Exhibit $14$B$-1$ and Exhibit $14$B$-2,$ to determine the appropriate

discount factor$($s$)$ using table.

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 $45\%.$ What was the project's actual simple

rate of return? $($Round your answer to $2$ decimal places.$)$