Simon Company's year-end balance sheets follow.

At December 31	Current Year	1 Year Ago	2 Years Ago
Assets
Cash	$ 28,230	$ 33,658	$ 34,373
Accounts receivable, net	81,818	56,591	46,747
Merchandise inventory	105,957	77,071	48,316
Prepaid expenses	8,909	8,749	3,743
Plant assets, net	253,556	236,405	214,021
Total assets	$ 478,470	$ 412,474	$ 347,200
Liabilities and Equity
Accounts payable	$ 116,756	$ 68,314	$ 46,289
Long-term notes payable	90,852	94,869	78,266
Common stock, $10 par value	162,500	162,500	162,500
Retained earnings	108,362	86,791	60,145
Total liabilities and equity	$ 478,470	$ 412,474	$ 347,200

For Year Ended December 31	Current Year		1 Year Ago
Sales		$ 622,011		$ 490,844
Cost of goods sold	$ 379,427		$ 319,049
Other operating expenses	192,823		124,184
Interest expense	10,574		11,289
Income tax expense	8,086		7,363
Total costs and expenses		590,910		461,885
Net income		$ 31,101		$ 28,959
Earnings per share		$ 1.91		$ 1.78

For both the current year and one year ago, compute the following ratios: (1) Debt and equity ratios. (2) Debt-to-equity ratio. (3-a) Times interest earned. (3-b) Based on times interest earned, is the company more or less risky for creditors in the Current Year versus 1 Year Ago?

Combute debt and eauitv ratio for the current vear and one vear aao. Compute debt-to-equity ratio for the current year and one year ago. \begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|} \hline \multicolumn{4}{|c|}{ Debt-To-Equity Ratio } & \\ \hline & Numerator: & 1 & Denominator: & = & Debt-To-Equity Ratio \\ \hline & & 1 & = & Debt-to-equity ratio \\ \hline Current Year: & & 1 & = & & to 1 \\ \hline 1 Year Ago: & & 1 & & = & to 1 \\ \hline \end{tabular} Compute times interest earned for the current year and one year ago. Based on times interest earned, is the company more or less risky for creditors in the Current Year versus 1 Year Ago? Based on times interest earned, the company is for creditors in the current year versus one year ago