Northwood Company manufactures basketballs. The company has a ball that sells for $25. At present, the ball is manufactured in a small plant that relies heavily on direct labor workers. Thus, variable expenses are high, totaling $15.00 per ball, of which 60% is direct labor cost.

Last year, the company sold 36,000 of these balls, with the following results:

Sales (36,000 balls)$900,000Variable expenses 540,000Contribution margin 360,000Fixed expenses 263,000Net operating income$97,000

Due to an increase in labor rates, the company estimates that next year's variable expenses will increase by $3.00 per ball. If this change takes place and the selling price per ball remains constant at $25.00 4. Refer again to the data in (2) above. The president feels that the company must raise the selling price of its basketballs. If Northwood Company wants to maintain the same CM ratio as last year (as computed in requirement 1a), what selling price per ball must it charge next year to cover the increased labor costs? Last Years CM Ratio was 40%