The level of inventory of a manufactured product has increased by 7,676 units during a period. The following data are also available:

	Variable	Fixed
Unit manufacturing costs of the period	$11.00	$7.00
Unit operating expenses of the period	2.00	1.00

The effect on operating income if variable costing is used rather than absorption costing would be a(n)

a.$61,408 decrease

b.$53,732 decrease

c.$61,408 increase

d.$53,732 increase