A company’s assets consist of $123,456 of cash, $237,543 of accounts receivable, $348,876 of inventory, and $1,456,987 of plant and equipment. Its liabilities consist of $187,694 of accounts payable, $56,895 of accruals, and $622,156 of long-term debt. The company’s annual sales are $3,478,775, its earnings before interest and taxes are $551,816, its earnings before taxes are $489,601, and its net income is $293,760. What is the company’s operating margin? Question 3 options: A) 15.2% B) 13.5% C) 15.9% D) 12.8% E) 14.1%

Costco wholesale corporation operates membership warehouses selling food, appliances, consumer electronics, apparel and other household goods at 471 locations across the u.s. as well as in canada, mexico and puerto rico. as of its fiscal year-end 2005, costco had approximately 21.2 million members. selected fiscal-year information from the company's balance sheets follows. ($ millions). selected balance sheet data 2005 2004 merchandise inventories $4,015 $3,644 deferred membership income (liability) 501 454 (a) during fiscal 2005, costco collected $1,120 cash for membership fees. use the financial statement effectstemplate to record the cash collected for membership fees. (b) in 2005, costco recorded $46,347 million in merchandise costs (that is, cost of goods sold). record thistransaction in the financial statement effects template. (c) determine the value of merchandise that costco purchased during fiscal-year 2005. use the financial statementeffects template to record these merchandise purchases. assume all of costco's purchases are on credit.