September 30, 20X7, prior to any adjustments required for any accounting changes. The company's tax rate is 40 percent of income. Selected interim data for the company, in thousands of dollars, follow Earnings from Net Gross Operations, Net Quarter Ended Sales Profit Before Tax Earnings 20x7: March 31 $396 $122 $22 $13.2 June 30 416 124 31 18.6 September 30 428 140 33 (preliminary) 19.8 20x6: March 31 402 128 22 13.2 June 30 426 140 33 19.8 September 30 403 137 32 19.2 December 31 385 123 32 19.2 Required: For the following independent cases, present the company's interim financial data for the three quarters of 20x7 and the comparative data for 20X6, assuming that in a meeting on the last day of the third quarter of 20X7, the company decides to make the specified accounting change. a. The company decides to change from the FIFO method of accounting for inventory to the LIFO method. The accounting department has prepared the following schedule of data, in thousands of dollars, showing the cost of goods sold each quarter under the LIFO method. The preceding selected interim data are based on the FIFO method. The accounting department has determined that there will be no difference in cost of goods sold prior to January 1, 20x6. (Enter your answers in thousands of dollars. Round your Net Earnings to 1 decimal place.) Quarter Ended LIFO 20x7: March 31 $ 284 June 30 304 September 30 302 20x6: March 31 286 June 30 299 September 30 291 December 31 271 Quarter Ended Net Sales Gross Profit Earnings Operating from Net Expenses Operations Earnings Before Tax 20XT: March 31 June 30 September 30 20X6 March 31 June 30 September 30 December 31