Thomas Railroad Company organizes its three divisions, the North (N), South (S), and West (W) regions, as profit centers. The chief executive officer (CEO) evaluates divisional performance, using income from operations as a percent of revenues. The following quarterly income and expense accounts were provided from the trial balance as of December 31, 2016:

Revenues-N Region ............................................... $3,780,000

Revenues-S Region ................................................. 5,673,000

Revenues-W Region ................................................ 5,130,000

Operating Expenses-N Region .................................... 2,678,500

Operating Expenses-S Region .................................... 4,494,890

Operating Expenses-W Region ................................... 3,770,050

Corporate Expenses-Dispatching ................................... 182,000

Corporate Expenses-Equipment Management .................. 1,200,000

Corporate Expenses-Treasurer's .................................... 734,000

General Corporate Officers' Salaries .............................. 1,380,000

The company operates three service departments: the Dispatching Department, the Equipment Management Department, and the Treasurer's Department. The Dispatching Department manages the scheduling and releasing of completed trains. The Equipment Management Department manages the railroad cars inventories. It makes sure the right freight cars are at the right place at the right time. The Treasurer's Department conducts a variety of services for the company as a whole. The following additional information has been gathered:

North South West

Number of scheduled trains .................... 650 ........... 1,105 ........... 845

Number of railroad cars in inventory ....... 6,000 ........... 8,400 ......... 9,600

Instructions

1. Prepare quarterly income statements showing income from operations for the three regions. Use three column headings: North, South, and West.

2. Identify the most successful region according to the profit margin.

3. Provide a recommendation to the CEO for a better method for evaluating the performance of the regions. In your recommendation, identify the major weakness of the present method.