Times interest earned Loomis, Inc. reported the following on the companys income statement in two recent years: Current Year Prior Year Interest expense $499,000 $598,800 Income before income tax expense 6,586,800 6,826,320 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?