Company E is a retailer of commercial and residential plumbing products. Steven Owens, the companys staff accountant, is in the process of making year-end adjusting entries for uncollectible accounts receivable. Recently, the company has experienced an increase in accounts that have become uncollectible. As a result, Owens believes that the company should increase the percentage used for estimating doubtful accounts from 2% to 5% of credit sales. This change will significantly increase bad debt expense, resulting in a drop in earnings for the first time ever for the company. The company president, Thomas Williams, is under considerable pressure to meet the earnings goals for the fiscal year. He suggests to Steven that this is not the proper time to change the estimate. He instructs Steven to keep the estimate at 2%. Steven is confident that 2% is way too low, but he follows Thomas' instructions.