Item$9$

Item $9$

Hayworth Corporation has just segmented last year's income statement into its ten product lines. The chief executive officer $($CEO$)$ is curious as to what effect dropping one of the product lines at the beginning of last year would have had on overall company profit. What is the best number for the CEO to look at to determine the effect of this elimination on the net operating income of the company as a whole?

Multiple Choice

the product line's sales dollars

the product line's contribution margin

the product line's segment margin

the product line's segment margin minus an allocated portion of common fixed expenses