Northwood Company manufactures basketballs. The company has a ball that sells for $25. At present, the ball is manufactured in a small plant that relies heavily on direct labor workers. Thus, variable expenses are high, totaling $15 per ball, of which 60% is direct labor cost. Last year, the company sold 54,000 of these balls, with the following results: Sales (54,000 balls) $ 1,350,000 Variable expenses 810,000 Contribution margin 540,000 Fixed expenses 372,000 Net operating income $ 168,000 Required: a. Compute the CM ratio and the break-even point in balls. b. Compute the the degree of operating leverage at last year