2. LearningObjectives
Importance of working capital in a small business
Differentiate between long term and
short term assets
Components of working capital
Working capital cycle of a small business
Managing the big three
Identify working capital stress signals
3. Theoretically
Working Capital is stated in two ways:
Gross Working capital - Sum of all current
assets
Net Working capital - Current assets less
current
liabilities
4. Practically
Apart from one time buying land, machinery, furniture and
other fixed assets for manufacturing your firm’s products, you
will need short –term assets and short –run resources to run
the firm
This is called working capital
5. Need for Working capital
Working capital is required to ensure that a firm has sufficient
funds to pay maturing short-term debt, upcoming operational
expenses and for regular operations.
6. Current Assets
Those assets which in ordinary course of business
will be converted to cash within one year without
losing value or without disrupting the operations
of the firm
7. The differentiator
Time dimension
Short term asset lose their identity very
quickly say within a year/operating cycle
Time factor not crucial for decision
making
8. Current Assets
Inventories
Raw material
Work in progress
Finished goods
Sundry debtors
Loans and advances
Cash and bank balances
Other current assets
9. Current Liabilities
Current liabilities are those liabilities which are
intended at their inception, to be paid within one
year out of current assets or profits of the firm
Sundry creditors
Borrowings (short term)
Commercial banks
Others
Provisions
10. Managing working capital
This involves decisions regarding:
Stock levels
Debtor levels
Cash levels
Creditors
11. Working capital management
Decisions regarding working capital should be taken very
carefully as they affect either:-
Profitability of the firm
Liquidity of the firm
Increases or decreases the relative risk of the firm
12. Why managethem?
Working capital management should therefore aim at striking a
balance such that there is an optimum amount of short term
assets so that there is sufficient liquidity to pay the liabilities at
minimum cost
13. Liquidity a primary concern
A company can be endowed with assets and
profitability but is short of liquidity if its assets
cannot readily be converted into cash
The key issue in working capital management is
to avoid running out of cash
14. Learning to balance
If the size of current assets are large the comfort
zone increases and liquidity increases but profits
will go down as funds are kept idle. They have a
cost too
If the size of current assets is too small profits will
improve but liquidity will decline and you are
exposed to technical insolvency
28. Cash flow
There is a continuous flow of cash in a business
Cash inflows and outflows do not match
Cash flows in and out of business from sale of
goods to purchase of inventory
They happen in stages
If all stages were completed instantaneously there
would be no need for working capital
29. Cash flow cycle
The time lag between paying the suppliers and receiving
payment from customers
The time lag between each of these is called cash cycle
Conversion of cash to inventory
Conversion of inventory to receivables
Conversion of receivables to cash
31. Exercise
Garfield cat foods Ltd. On an average collects
debtors after 45 days, holds inventory for 75 days
and pays creditors in 30 days. It’s total spend Rs.
120 lakhs annually at constant rate. It can earn
10% if it invests this money.
Find-cash cycle, cash turnover, minimum cash
balance and savings if inventory holding period is
45 days