Final answer:
Placing a purchase order leads to an increase in accounts payable as it represents the amount a company owes to its suppliers for goods or services that have been ordered but not yet paid for (b).
Step-by-step explanation:
To understand which activity results in an increase to accounts payable, it is important to know what accounts payable represents. Accounts payable is the amount of money a company owes to its suppliers for the goods or services it has received but has not yet paid for. With this in mind, the activity that would result in an increase to accounts payable is option b) Place purchase order.
When a company places a purchase order with its supplier, it is essentially requesting goods or services. However, at this point, no payment has been made yet. The supplier will send an invoice to the company, which will eventually be recorded as an account payable until the payment is made.
For example, if a company places a purchase order for $1,000 worth of inventory, it will record an account payable for $1,000 until it pays the supplier. So, placing a purchase order is the activity that would result in an increase to accounts payable.