Vaughn Corporation has 60,000 shares of $10 par value common stock outstanding. It declares a 15% stock dividend on December 1 when the market price per share is $16. The dividend shares are issued on December 31.

The role of the credit department includes: a. evaluating customers' credit applications to determine whether they meet the company's approval standards. b. approving all credit applications in order to avoid losing sales. c. collecting cash from customers. d. following unwritten approval standards for processing customers' credit applications.