Sheilas Society Clothing Manufacturer has collection centres around the country to speed up cash collections. The company also makes its disbursements from remote disbursement centres, so cheques written by Sheilas take longer to clear the bank. Collection time has been reduced by two days and a half days and disbursement time has been increased by one and a half days because of these policies. Excess funds are being invested in short$-$term instruments yielding $5$ percent per annum. a$.$ If the firm has $$4\mathrm{.}30$ million per day in collections and $$3\mathrm{.}50$ million per day in disbursements, how many dollars has the cash management system freed up$?($Enter the answer in dollars not in millions.$)$ Freed$-$up funds $ b$.$ How much can Sheilas earn per year on short$-$term investments made possible by the freed$-$up cash? $($Enter the answer in dollars not in millions.$)$ Interest on freed$-$up cash $ Nighthawk Steel, a manufacturer of specialized tools, has $$4,800,000$ in assets. Temporary current assets$$1,100,000$ Permanent current assets$1,600,000$ Capital assets$2,100,000$ Total assets$$4,800,000$ Short$-$term rates are $5$ percent. Long$-$term rates are $7\mathrm{.}5$ percent. $($Note that longterm rates imply a return to any equity$).$ Earnings before interest and taxes are $$1,010,000.$ The tax rate is $25$ percent. Assume the term structure of interest rates becomes inverted, with short$-$term rates going to $10$ percent and long$-$term rates $5$ percentage points lower than short$-$term rates. If long$-$term financing is perfectly matched $($hedged$)$ with long$-$term asset needs, and the same is true of short$-$term financing, what will earnings be after taxes? For an example of perfectly hedged plans, see Figure $68.$ Earning after taxes $ Item$5$ Time Remaining $1$ hour $23$ minutes $43$ seconds$01$:$23$:$43$Item $5$ Time Remaining $1$ hour $23$ minutes $43$ seconds$01$:$23$:$43$The treasurer of Brandon Blue Sox is seeking a $$32,000$ loan for $180$ days from the Brandon Credit Union. The stated interest rate is $14$ percent and there is a $20$ percent compensating balance requirement. The treasurer always keeps a minimum of $$2,700$ in the firms chequing account. These funds could count toward meeting any compensating balance requirements. What is the annual rate of interest on this loan? $($Use $365$ days in a year. Do not round intermediate calculations. Round the final answer to $2$ decimal places.$)$ Annual rate of interest $\%$