Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

a. Klein Cosmetics has a profit margin of 5.0%, a total assets turnover ratio of 1.5 times, no debt and therefore an equity multiplier of 1.0, and an ROE of 7.5%. The CFO recommends that the firm borrow funds using long-term debt, use the funds to buy back stock, and raise the equity multiplier to 2.0. The size of the firm (assets) would not change. She thinks that operations would not be affected, but interest on the new debt would lower the profit margin to 4.5%. This would probably not be a good move, as it would decrease the ROE from 7.5% to 6.5%.

b. Even though Firm A's current ratio exceeds that of Firm B, Firm B's quick ratio might exceed that of A. However, if A's quick ratio exceeds B's, then we can be certain that A's current ratio is also larger than B's.

c. Suppose all firms follow similar financing policies, face similar risks, have equal access to capital, and operate in competitive product and capital markets. However, firms face different operating conditions because, for example, the grocery store industry is different from the airline industry. Under these conditions, firms with high profit margins will tend to have high asset turnover ratios, and firms with low profit margins will tend to have low turnover ratios.

d. Suppose a firm wants to maintain a specific TIE ratio. It knows the amount of its debt, the interest rate on that debt, the applicable tax rate, and its operating costs. With this information, the firm can calculate the amount of sales required to achieve its target TIE ratio.

e. Since the ROA measures the firm's effective utilization of assets without considering how these assets are financed, two firms with the same EBIT must have the same ROA.