A company will need $\$ 70,000$ in 7 years for a new addition. To meet this goal, the company deposits money in an account today that pays $12 \%$ annual interest compounded quarterly. Find the amount that should be invested to total $\$ 70,000$ in 7 years.

Step 1 ：The problem is asking for the present value of an investment that will grow to $70,000 in 7 years with an annual interest rate of 12% compounded quarterly.

Step 2 ：The formula for the present value (PV) of a future sum (FV) is given by: \(PV = \frac{FV}{(1 + \frac{r}{n})^{nt}}\) where: FV is the future value ($70,000), r is the annual interest rate (12% or 0.12), n is the number of times interest is compounded per year (quarterly, so 4 times), t is the time in years (7 years).

Step 3 ：We can plug in these values into the formula to find the present value: FV = 70000, r = 0.12, n = 4, t = 7.

Step 4 ：The calculation gives the present value as approximately $30,595.37. This means that the company should invest this amount today in order to have $70,000 in 7 years, given a 12% annual interest rate compounded quarterly.

Step 5 ：Final Answer: The company should invest approximately \(\boxed{30,595.37}\) today.