Given:
Beginning retained earnings = $217,000
Revenues = $417,000
Expenses = $358,500
Dividends = $12,700
To find:
Ending retained earnings
Solution:
To calculate the ending retained earnings first we have to calculate the net income of the company. The formula to calculate the net income is as follows,
![\bold{\text{Net income = Revenues - Expenses}}](https://img.qammunity.org/2021/formulas/business/college/erhrr9aqs1r2koliuy2odhtttbr9gmgefr.png)
On plugging in the values in the above formula we get,
![\Rightarrow \$417,000 - \$358,500 = \$58,500](https://img.qammunity.org/2021/formulas/business/college/o3q82igff7onm6c4aettj3bqifd8f1m2p7.png)
The formula to calculate the ending retained earnings is as follows,
![\bold{\text{Ending retained earnings = Beginning retained earnings + Net income - Dividends}}](https://img.qammunity.org/2021/formulas/business/college/8apvduou0s04bwjg65fu0g53xuepn1qcp8.png)
![\Rightarrow \$217,000 + \$58,500 - \$12,700 = \$262,800](https://img.qammunity.org/2021/formulas/business/college/svf09xuqoward05us7b1ewpo6qjg0kvoyv.png)
Therefore, the retained earnings on the balance sheet as of December 31, 2016 will be $262,800 that is option c.