Quigley Inc.is considering two financial plans for the coming year.Management expects sales to be $301,770,operating costs to be $266,545,assets to be $200,000,and its tax rate to be 35%.Under Plan A it would use 25% debt and 75% common equity.The interest rate on the debt would be 8.8%,but the TIE ratio would have to be kept at 4.00 or more.Under Plan B the maximum debt that met the TIE constraint would be employed.Assuming that sales,operating costs,assets,the interest rate,and the tax rate would all remain constant,by how much would the ROE change in response to the change in the capital structure?
A)3.83%
B)4.02%
C)4.22%
D)4.43%

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The correct answer is A because the ROE would increase by 3.83% if the company switched from Plan A to Plan B. This is because Plan B would allow the company to use more debt, which would increase the interest expense and reduce the net income. However, the increase in interest expense would be more than offset by the increase in the tax savings, which would result in a higher ROE.