Required information [The following information applies to the questions displayed below.] Mears and Company has been operating for five years as an electronics component manufacturer specializing in cellular phone components. During this period, it has experienced rapid growth in sales revenue and in inventory. Mr. Mears and his associates have hired you as Mears's first corporate controller. You have put into place new purchasing and manufacturing procedures that are expected to reduce inventories by approximately one-third by year-end. You have gathered the following data related to the changes: (dollars in thousands) Beginning of Year $ 604,700 End of Year (projected) Inventory $ 393,310 Current Year (projected) 6,918,984 Cost of goods sold Required: 1. Compute the inventory turnover ratio based on two different assumptions: (Round your answers to 1 decimal place.) a. Those presented in the above table (a decrease in the balance in inventory). b. No change from the beginning-of-the-year inventory balance.