Sheila's 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 Sheila's take longer to clear the bank. Collection time has been reduced by three days and a half days and disbursement time has been increased by two days because of these policies. Excess funds are being invested in short$-$term instruments yielding $4$ percent per annum.

a$.$ If the firm has $$4\mathrm{.}50$ million per day in collections and $$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 Sheila's 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