Thomas Railroad Company organizes its three divisions, the North (N), South (S), and West (W) regions, as profit centers. The chief executive officer (CEO) evaluates divisional performance, using operating income as a percent of revenues. The following quarterly income and expense accounts were provided from the trial balance as of December 31:

Line Item Description	Amount
RevenuesN Region	$1,289,700
RevenuesS Region	1,468,200
RevenuesW Region	2,800,700
Operating ExpensesN Region	817,300
Operating ExpensesS Region	873,800
Operating ExpensesW Region	1,693,700
Corporate ExpensesDispatching	775,200
Corporate ExpensesEquipment Management	174,800
Corporate ExpensesTreasurers	196,200
General Corporate Officers Salaries	433,200

The company operates three support departments: the Dispatching Department, the Equipment Management Department, and the Treasurers Department. The Dispatching Department manages the scheduling and releasing of completed trains. The Equipment Management Department manages the railroad cars inventories. It makes sure the right freight cars are at the right place at the right time. The Treasurers Department conducts a variety of services for the company as a whole. The following additional information has been gathered:

Line Item Description	North	South	West
Number of scheduled trains	5,700	6,800	10,300
Number of railroad cars in inventory	1,000	1,500	1,300

3. What would you include in a recommendation to the CEO for a better method for evaluating the performance of the regions? a. The method used to evaluate the performance of the regions should be reevaluated. b. A better regional performance measure would be the return on investment (operating income divided by regional assets). c. A better regional performance measure would be the residual income (operating income less a minimal return on regional assets). d. None of these choices would be included. e. All of these choices (a, b & c) would be included.

Divisional Income Statements For the Quarter Ended December 31 2. What is the profit margin of each region? Round to one decimal place. Identify the most successful region according to the profit margin