Use the following information about the current year's operations of a company to calculate the cash paid for merchandise.
Cost of goods sold……………………………….. $ 735,000
Merchandise inventory, January 1………………. 84,700
Merchandise inventory, December 31…………… 82,400
Accounts payable, January 1……………………. 54,500
Accounts payable, December 31……………….. 60,200