Please Refer to the Following Data Which of the Following Statements Is a Valid Conclusion Based

Multiple Choice

Please refer to the following data: $\begin{array}{|l|r|r|r|r|}\hline & 2017 & & 2016 & \\\hline \text { Rollar amounts in millions) } & \text { Amount } & \% \text { of total } & \text { Amount } & \text { \% of total } \\\hline \text { Revenues } & \$ 6355 & 100.0 \% & \$ 4920 & 100.0 \%\\\hline \text { Cost of sales } & 3370 & 53.0 \% & 2200 & 44.7 \% \\\hline \text { Gross profit } & \$ 2985 & 47.0 \% & \$ 2720 & 55.3 \% \\\hline \text { Expenses: } & & & & \\\hline\text {Sales and marketing expense }&\$ 675 & 10.6 \% & \$ 580 & 11.8 \% \\\hline\text { General and } & & \\\text { administrative expense } & 410 & 6.5 \%&425&8.6\%\\\hline \text { Research and } & & \\\text { development expense } & 470 & 7.4 \%&390&7.9\% \\\hline \text { Other expense } & 400 & 6.3 \% & 695 & 14.1 \% \\\hline \text { Total expenses } & \$ 1955 & 30.8 \% & \$ 2090 & 42.5 \% \\\hline & & & & \\\hline \text { Profit before tax } & \$ 1030 & 16.2 \% & \$ 630 & 12.8 \% \\\hline \text { Income tax expense } & 230 & 3.6 \% & 210 & 4.3 \% \\\hline \text { Profit (loss) } & \$ 800 & 12.6 \% & \$ 420 & 8.5 \% \\\hline\end{array}$ Which of the following statements is a valid conclusion based on this data?

A) Profit in 2017 increased 12.6% over the prior year.
B) Profit in 2017 went down because gross profit as a percentage of sales revenue declined over the two year period.
C) Profitability in 2017 improved greatly,as profit increased significantly as a percentage of sales revenue.
D) Profitability in 2017 took a dive as selling and general expenses increased by 30.8%.