Feather Friends, Inc., distributes a high-quality wooden birdhouse that sells for $80 per unit. Variable expenses are $40.00 per unit, and fixed expenses total $200,000 per year. Its operating results for last year were as follows:

Question:

The president does not want to change the selling price. Instead, he wants to increase the sales commission by $1.70 per unit. He thinks that this move, combined with some increase in advertising, would increase this year's sales by 25%. How much could the president increase this year's advertising expense and still earn the same $760,000 net operating income as last year?

Sales Variable expenses Contribution margin Fixed expenses Net operating income $ 1,920,900 960,000 960,000 200,000 $ 760,e00