Times interest earned Loomis, Inc. reported the following on the company's income statement in two recent years: Interest expense Income before income tax expense Current Year $270,000 3,672,000 Prior Year $297,000 3,831,300 a. Determine the times interest earned ratio for the current year and the prior year. Round to one decimal place. Current year Prior year = b. Is the number of times interest charges are earned improving or declining?