Use the following information about the current year's operations of a company to calculate the cash paid for merchandise.

Cost of good sold	$ 244,000
Merchandise inventory, January 1	72,800
Merchandise inventory, December 31	73,600
Accounts payable, January 1	70,600
Accounts payable, December 31	77,800

$244,000.

$252,000.

$237,600.

$236,000.

$250,400.