Financial management quick Notes

                                        FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Ø The term financial management can be defined as the management of flow of funds and it deals with the financial decision making.

Ø The objective of maximization of shareholders wealth has been taken as the primary goal of financial decision making and maximization of profit is the second main objective of financial management.

Ø A firm wishes to maximize the profits may opt to pay no dividend and to reinvest the retained earnings whereas a firm that wishes to maximize the shareholders wealth may pay regular dividend.

Ø Capital budgeting related to fixed assets

Ø Working capital management related to current assets.

Ø The dividend decisions is almost regular decision in the sense that it is taken whenever the firm wants to distribute interim dividend, final dividend or bonus to shareholders.

Ø Shareholders interest put on high priority and public interest get last priority.

Ø Three decisions are taken 1) financial decisions 2) investment decisions 3) dividend decisions.

LEVERAGES

Ø Leverages related to tangible assets.

Ø Relationship between two interrelated variables.

Ø Leverage = % change in dependent variables/ % change in independent variables.

Ø Functional relationships-

Sales revenue

(-) variable cost = contribution

Contribution- fixed cost = EBIT (Earning before interest and tax)

EBIT- Interest= profit before tax

Profit before tax- tax= profit after tax (EPS)

Ø Relationship between sales revenue and EBIT is known as operating leverage.

Ø Relationship between EBIT and EPS is known as financial leverage. 

Ø Relationship between sales revenue and EPS is known as combined leverage.

Ø The maximization of shareholders wealth requires the maximization of market price of the share by maximizing the EPS.

OPERATING LEVERAGE

Ø The relationship between the sales revenue and EBIT.

Ø Operating leverage= % change in EBIT/% change in sales revenue

Ø For every increase or decrease in sales level, there will be more than proportionate increase or decrease in the level of EBIT. This is due to the existence of FIXED COST.

Ø If no fixed cost then increase or decrease in EBIT was direct and proportion to increase or decrease in sales level. OL=1

Ø OL=1.5 Degree of operating leverage. Increase or decrease in sales will affect more increase or decrease in EBIT.

Ø If fixed cost> variable cost= greater would be the DOL (Degree of operating leverage)

Ø DOL/OL= Contribution/EBIT

Ø If no fixed cost then no operating leverage.

Ø A firm should avoid high DOL.

FINANCIAL LEVERAGE

Ø It measures the relationship between EBIT and EPS.

Ø Financial leverage= %change in EPS/% change in EBIT

Ø EBIT is dependent variable in operating leverage and was determined by sales level. In case of financial leverage, EBIT is an independent variable and is determining the level of EPS that is why EBIT is called a linking point in the leverage study.

Ø Financial leverage may be defined as % increase in EPS divided by % increase in EBIT. Emerge as a result of fixed financial charges (interest and dividend)

Ø Higher the level of fixed financial charge higher would be the financial leverage.

Ø Financial leverage= EBIT/EBIT- interest

Ø Financial leverage= EBIT/PBT (profit before tax)

Ø Financial leverage= EBIT/PBT-PD/(1-t) (pd- dividend, t= tax)

Ø DFL (Degree of financial leverage)= EBIT/EBIT-interest = 200/0= undefined, it is also called financial break- even level i.e the level of EBIT is just sufficient to cover the fixed financial charges only and there is no earnings available to the shareholders and hence no EPS (Earning per share)

Ø ROI (Return on Investment)= cost of debt

Ø ROI< cost of debt = unfavorable financial leverage.

Ø ROI> cost of debt= favorable or trade on equity

Ø OL= leverage of the first order or first stage leverage.

Ø FL= leverage of the second order or second stage leverage.

COMBINED LEVERAGE

Ø Operating leverage looks after business risks complexion

Ø Financial leverage looks after financial risk complexion

Ø Combined leverage looks after overall risks.

Ø Effects of change in sales level on EPS is known as combined leverage.

Ø Combined leverage= EPS/ sales revenue

Ø Combined leverage= %change in EPS /% change in sales revenue

Ø Combined leverage= contribution/PBT

CAPITAL STRUCTURE

Ø Capital structure refers to firm cost of capital.

Ø Those who believe such a capital structure exists are supporters of Traditional approach.

Ø Those who believe capital structure does not exists are supporters of M&M approach.

Ø The value of the firm depends upon the earnings of the firms and the earnings of the firms depends upon the investment decisions of the firm.

Ø It states that relationship between leverage, value of the firm and overall cost of capital of the firm.

Ø Capital structure theories are –

1)   Capital structure exists – Net Income Approach (NI)

2)   Capital structure does not exists- Net operating Income Approach (NOI)

3)   Pragmatic approach- traditional

4)   Justification to Net Operating income approach – Modigilini Miller Model. (M& M) (Capital structure does not exists.

Ø Certain assumptions are there

1)   Two sources of funds- debt & equity

2)   No corporate and personaltax

3)   All profit distributed as there is no retained earnings.

1)   NET INCOME APPROACH

Ø Suggested by Durand

Ø It states a relationship between leverage, cost of capital and value of the firm.

Ø Relationship between capital structure and value of the firm.

Ø It states that value of the firm increases by increasing more debt proportion or leverage & overall cost of capital will decrease.

Ø More & more debt or leverage> increase value of the firm> decrease overall cost of capital of the firm (WACC)

Ø Assumptions are cost of debt Kd and cost of equity Ke are constant. Kd=Ke=k

Ø Use of more and more debt financing in the capital structure does not affect the risks perception of the investors.

Ø Approach suggests that higher the degree of leverage, better it is as the value of the firm would be higher. A firm can increase its value just by increasing the debt proportion in capital structure.

Ø Value of the firm= value of equity+ value of debt

2)   NET OPERATING INCOME APPROACH

Ø Opposite to NI approach.

Ø Market value of the firm depends on the operating profit or EBIT and overall cost of capital (WACC)

Ø Financing mix or capital structure is irrelevant and does not affect the value of the firm.

Ø Assumptions are cost of debt and overall cost of capital are constant. Kd= Ko=K

Ø As the debt proportion or the financial leverage increases the risk of the shareholders also increases and the cost of equity Ke also increases so value of the firm remain the same.

Ø NOI consider Ko to be constant & there is no optimal capital structure rather every capital structure is good as any other & every capital structure is optimal one.

Ø Value of equity= value of the firm- value of debt

3)   TRADITIONAL APPROACH

Ø It said that both NI approach and NOI approach is unrealistic.

Ø It takes a mid- way between the NI approach (value of the firm increase by increasing debt) and NOI approach (value of the firm remain the constant)

Ø As per this a firm should make a judicious use of both debt & equity to achieve a capital structure which may be called the optimal capital structure.

Ø WACC will be minimum & value of the firm will be maximum.

Ø It states that value of the firm increases with increase in financial leverage but up to a certain limit only. Beyond this limit the increase in financial leverage will increase its WACC and value of the firm will decline.

Ø Assumptions are cost of debt Kd and cost of equity Ke is constant, Kd=Ke=K

Ø The use of the leverage beyond a point will have the effect of increase in the overall cost of capital of firm& thus result in decrease in the value of the firm.

Ø Judicious use of both debt and equity.

4)   MODIGLIANI AND MILLER APPROACH

Ø  Relationship between leverage, cost of capital and value of the firm.

Ø Capital structure has no effect on the value of the firm.

Ø Financial leverage does not matter and cost of capital & value of the firm is independent.

Ø Nothing may be called optimal capital structure.

Ø Restate NOI approach & added it to the behaviourial justification for their model.

Ø Assumptions are market are perfect, securities are infinitely divisible, investors are rational, no tax, personal leverage and corporate leverage are perfect substitute.

Ø It argues that if two firms are alike in all respects except that they differ in respect of their financing pattern and their market value, then the investors will develop a tendency to sell the shares of the over -valued firm and to buy the shares of the under- valued firm. Buying and selling pressures will continue till the two firms have same market value.

Ø It follows the arbitrage process- It refers to taking to understanding by a person of two related actions r steps simultaneously in order to derive some benefit e.g buying by speculator in one market and selling the same at the same time in some other market. The arbitrage process has been used by MM to testify their hypothesis of financial leverage, cost of capital & value of the firm.

DIVIDEND POLICY

Ø Dividend refers to that portion of profit (after tax) which is distributed among the owners/shareholders of the firm.

Ø Profit which is not distributed is known as retained earnings.

Ø Dividend relates to equity shareholders because preference shareholders have a fixed rate.

Ø Three decisions are there 1) dividend decisions 2) investment decisions 3) financing decisions

Ø Profit must be distributed either in the form of cash dividends to shareholders or in the form of stock dividends also known as bonus share.

Ø Dividend pay- earn goodwill

Ø Ploughing back of dividend- loose goodwill

Ø Dividend payout ratio is that portion of profit which is to be distributed.

Ø Relationship between dividend policy & market value of the share.

Ø The dividend policy has been a controversial issue among the financial managers and often referred to as dividend puzzle.

Ø Relevant theories are walter’s model and Gordon model.

Ø Irrelevant theories are residual theory of dividend and Modigliani miller approach.

Ø If dividend paid it reduces the uncertainty of the investors.

Ø If dividend not paid then uncertainty of share will increase.

Ø Dividend policy affect on the market value of share & value of the firm.

1)   WALTER’S MODEL (RELEVANT)

Ø Given by Prof James E walter

Ø Assumptions are 1) all investments decisions financed through retained earnings. 2) rate of return ® and cost of capital (ke) are constant. 3) firm has infinite life.

Ø Dividend policy depend on r and ke

Ø If r>ke (growth firm) the firm should have zero payout and reinvest the entire profits to earn more than investors.

Ø If r<ke (normal firm) firm should have 100% payout ratio and let the shareholders reinvest their dividend income to earn higher return.

Ø If r= ke (normal firm) the return to firm from reinvesting the retained earnings will be just equal to the earnings available to the shareholders on their investment of dividend income.

Ø In short cut when r>ke, zero payout ratio and 100% retention, when r<ke 100% payout and zero retention i.e P=D/Ke + (r/ke) (E-D)/Ke

 GORDON’S MODEL (RELEVANT)

Ø Assumptions are 1) growth rate of firm ‘g’= product of retention ratio ‘b’ and rate of return ‘r’ so , g=br 2) cost of capital ke >g (growth)

Ø Direct relationship between dividend policy and market value of the share.

Ø Investors values current dividends more highly than an unexpected future capital gain.

Ø Bird in hand argument of this model suggest that the dividend policy is relevant as the investors prefer current dividend as against future uncertain capital gain.

Ø P= E(1-b)/ke-br

3)   RESIDUAL THEORY (IRRELEVANT)

Ø Only when the firm has some residual earnings after the financing of new investments it referred to as residual theory of dividend.

4)   MODIGILANI MILLER APPROACH

Ø They argued that the market price of a share is affected by the earnings of the firm and is not influenced by the pattern of income distribution.

Ø The dividend policy is immaterial and is of no consequences to the value of the firm. What matters on the other hand is the investment decisions which determine the earnings of the firm and firm thus affect the value of the firm.

Ø Assumptions 1) rational investors 2) no transportation & flotation cost

Ø They showed the arbitrage process to show that division of profit between dividend & retained earnings.

Ø A firm will finance these either by ploughing back profits or if pays dividends then will raise an equal amount of new share capitalexternally by selling new shares.

Ø Po=1/(1+ke)*(D1+P1)

5)   TRADITIONAL APPROACH (IRRELEVANT)

Ø B Graham & DL Dodd

Ø Relationship between dividend & stock

Ø Stock + then dividend will rise

Ø Stock – then dividend will fall

Ø P=m(D+E)/3

COST OF CAPITAL

Ø The minimum required rate of return that the corporation must earn in order to satisfy the overall rate of return required by its investors is called corporations cost of capital.

Ø Discount rates has been denoted as cutoff rate, minimum required rate of return, rate of interest, target rate. This discount rate is known as cost of capital.

Ø Two applications of cost of capital are

1)   In capital budgeting it is used to discount the future cash flows to obtain their present values.

2)   It is also used in optimization of financial plan or capital structure of a firm.

Ø Cost of capital is the minimum required rate of return, a project must in order to cover the cost of raisings funds being used by the firm in financing of the proposal.

Ø The concept of cost of capital is consistent with the goal of maximization of shareholders wealth.

Ø Factors affecting cost of capital are

1)   Risk free interest rate/risk free rate of return

2)   Real interest rate

3)   Purchasing power risk premium

4)   Pure interest rate ( government)

Ø Discount rate has been denoted as cut off rate, minimum required rate of return, rate of interest, target rate these all discount rate is known as cost of capital.

Ø Explicit cost- explicit cost of capital of a particular source may be defined in terms of the interest or dividend that the firm has to pay to the suppliers of the firm e.g firm has to pay interest on capital, dividend of a fixed rate on preference share capital.

Ø Implicit cost – It does not involve any payment or flow i.e retained earnings of the firm. The profit earned by the firm but not distributed among the equity shareholders are ploughed back & reinvested within the firm. Implicit cost is the opportunity cost of investors.

Ø Except retained earnings all other source of funds have explicit cost of funds.

Ø Sources of long term finance-

1)   Debt- Redeemable debentures and irredeemable debentures

1)   Redeemable debentures Kd= I+(1-t)+(RV-NP)/n/RV+NP/2, I = Interest, t= tax, RV= redeemed value, NP= net proceeds, NP= (FV+PM-D-FC) FV= fixed value, pm= premium, d= discount, fc= fixed cost.

2)   Irredeemable debentures Kd= I+(1-t)/NP

EQUITY

1)   Redeemable preference shares= Kp= PD+RV-NP/n/RV+NP/2

2)   Irredeemable preference shares= Kp= PD/NP, PD= preference dividend.

CAPITAL BUDGETING

Ø Capital budgeting decisions are related to the allocation of funds to different long term assets.

Ø It denotes a decisions situation where the lump sum funds are invested in the initial stages of a projects and the returns are expected over a long period.

Ø The basic objective of financial management is to maximize the wealth of the shareholders, therefore the objective of capital budgeting is to select those long term investment projects that are expected to make maximum contribution to the wealth of the shareholders in the long run.

Ø Features of the capital budgeting are as follows-

1)   Long term effects

2)   Large commitment of funds

3)   Irreversible decisions, cannot be revert back.

Ø The situation where the firm is not able to finance all the profitable investment opportunities is known as capital rationing.

Ø The capital rationing implies that the firm is unable or unwilling to procure the additional funds needed to undertake all the capital budgeting proposals before it.

Ø Any decisions that requires the use of resources is a capital budgeting decisions.

Ø Mostly capital budgeting decisions are irreversible decisions that cannot be revert back.

Ø Replacement decisions – when the economic life over.

Ø Modernization decisions- when technology outdated.

Ø Replacement and modernization decisions are called cost reduction decisions

Ø Expansion and diversification decisions are called revenue increasing decisions.

Ø Mutually Exclusive decisions- Two or more alternative proposals are said to be mutually exclusive when acceptance of one alternative result in rejection of all other proposals.

Ø In a simple language capita Rationing is the scarcity of capital fund.

Ø Original or initial cash outflows- the initial cash outflows is needed to get project operational. In most of the capital budgeting proposals, the initial cost of the project i.e the initial investment cost is the cash flow occurring in the initial stages of the projects. Since the investment cost occurs in the beginning of the project. It reflects the cash spent to acquire the asset.

Ø Sunk cost- It is that cost which the firm has already incurred and thus has no effect on the present or future decisions.

Ø Opportunity cost- the next best foregone cost.

Ø Subsequent Inflows & outflows- original investment cost or the initial cash outflow of the proposal is expected to generate a series of cash inflows in the form of cash profits contributed by the projects. Cash inflows mat vary or same in year annually, half yearly, biannually. Cash inflows generated during the life of the project is called operating cash flows.

Ø All these cash inflows& outflows are to be considered for the capital budgeting decisions.

Ø Terminal cash inflows- The cash inflows for the last year will also include the terminal cash inflow.

Ø There are two techniques of cash flows-

1)   Traditional or non-discounted method or ignore time value

2)   Modern or discounted or time adjusted techniques.

Ø Traditional method includes two method-

1)   Pay- back period

2)   Accounting rate of return or Average rate of return.

PAY-BACK PERIOD

Ø Basic elements are the net investment, operating cash flows, economic life.

Ø Pay-back period is the number of years required for the proposals cumulative cash inflows to be equal to its cash outflows.

Ø Pay-back period is the length of time required to recover the initial cost of the project.

Ø When annual inflows are equal then, cash outflow/cash inflow.

Ø When annual cash inflows are unequal then, we calculate cumulative cash inflows.

Ø When pay-back period >targeted period= reject

Ø When pay-back period<targeted period= accept

Ø Shortest payback period will be first in the priority.

Ø Payback period is useful in liquidity problems, small firm, recover initial amount.

ACCOUNTING RATE OF RETURN/AVERAGE RATE OF RETURN

Ø It is based on the return on investment or rate of return.

Ø When equal profit then, annual profit (after tax)/average investment in the project*100.

Ø When unequal profit then, average annual profit (after tax)/average investment in the project*100

Ø If the ARR is more than the pre-specified rate of return then project is likely to be accepted.

Ø ARR can be used to rank various mutually exclusive projects.

Ø The project with the highest ARR will have the top priority

Ø ARR is based on accounting profit , it does not help in understanding the contribution of the proposal towards maximization of the wealth of the shareholders.

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MODERN OR DISCOUNTED METHHODS

NET PRESENT VALUE (NPV)

Ø The sum of the present values of all the cash inflows less than the sum of present values of all the cash outflows associated with a proposal.

Ø NPV may be defined as the sum of the present values of cash inflows less than the initial investment.

Ø Net present value= excess of present value of inflows- present value of outflows.

Ø Accept the proposal when NPV is positive.

Ø Reject the proposal when NPV is negative.

Ø NPV is therefore is the change expected in the wealth of the shareholders as a result of the acceptance of a particular proposal.

Ø In case of ranking of mutually exclusive proposals, the proposal with the highest positive NPV is given the top priority and the proposals with the lowest positive NPV is assigned the lowest priority.

Ø The NPV (negative) should out-rightly be rejected as these entail decrease in the wealth of the shareholders.

Ø If NPV in the proposal = 0, firm may be indifferent between acceptance & rejection of the proposals.

Ø Properties of NPV are as follows-

1)   NPVs are additive

2)   Intermediate cash flows are reinvested at discount rate

3)   The NPV calculations allow for the expected change in the discount rate.

4)   The central goal of the capital budgeting is to find out the proposals whose inflows have greater values than outflows. The NPV as a technique of evaluation of capital budgeting proposals helps a finance manager in achieving this objective.

Ø When NPV is positive there is a potential for returns in excess of the minimum required return.

Ø When NPV is negative the minimum return and the capital recovery both cannot be achieved

Ø When NPV is close to or approximately zero the minimum required return is just met.

Ø Value of the firm= total NPV of existing projects+ total NPV of the proposals.

PROFITABLITY INDEX

Ø It is defined as the benefits (in present value) per rupees invested in the proposal.

Ø It is also known as benefit cost ratio or present value index.

Ø It is based upon the basic concept of discounting the future cash flows and is ascertained by comparing the present value of the future cash inflows with present value of future cash outflows.

Ø Profitability Index = total present value of cash inflows/total present value of cash outflows.

Ø Accept the project if PI >1

Ø Reject the project if PI<1

Ø PI=1, then the firm may be indifferent because the present value of inflows is expected to be just equal to the present value of outflows.

Ø In case of ranking of mutually exclusive proposals, the proposals with the highest positive PI will be given top priority while the proposal with the lowest PI will be assigned lowest priority.

Ø PI>1 for that project which has positive NPV – Acceptable project.

Ø PI <1 negative NPV – reject project.

Ø PI= 1 , NPV= 0

Ø PI is also known as –

1)   Benefit cost ratio

2)   Profit investment ratio

3)   Value investment ratio

4)   Present value index

Ø PI= present value of future cash inflow/initial investment

TERMINAL VALUE

Ø The terminal value technique is based on the assumption that all future cash inflows are reinvested elsewhere at the then prevailing rate of interest until the end of the economic life of the project.

Ø Accept the proposal if the present value of the total compounded value of all the cash inflows is greater than the present value of the cash outflows.

Ø In case of ranking of mutually exclusive proposals, the proposals with highest net present value is assigned top priority.

DISCOUNTED PAYBACK PERIOD

Ø Original payback method+ discounted cash flow techniques

Ø In this method the cash flow of the project are discounted to find their present values.

Ø A project is acceptable if its discounted payback is less than target payback period.

INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN (IRR)

Ø It is the discount rate which produces a zero NPV i.e the IRR is the discount rate which will equate the present value of cash inflows with the present value of cash outflows. (Inflows= outflows)

Ø The rate of discount so calculated which equates the present value of future cash inflows with the present value of outflows is known as IRR.

Ø IRR is also known as

1)   Economic rate of return

2)   Discounted cash flow rate of return

3)   Effective interest rate

4)   Yield on Investment

Ø IRR > Cost of capital= accept

Ø IRR< cost of capital= reject

WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

Ø Working capital management is defined as the excess of current assets over the current liabilities.

Ø It is that portion of assets of a business which is used frequently in current operations or day to day operations.

Ø Working capital management refers to the management of the working capital or to be more precise the management of current assets.

Ø Current assets are cash & bank balance, inventories, sundry debtors, bills receivables and short term investment.

Ø As we must say working capital refers to current assets which may be defined as those which are convertible into cash or equivalents within a period of one year or those which are required to meet day to day operations.

Ø Fixed assets affects the long term profitability of the firm while the current assets affect the short term liquidity position.

Ø Financial managers spend a large chunk of their time managing the current assets because level of these assets changes quickly and a lack of attention paid to them may result in appreciably lower profit for the firm.

Ø Firm must have adequate working capital.

Ø Types of working capital are as follows-

1)   Gross working capital (GWC)- The gross working capital refers to the firm investment in all the current assets taken together. The total of investment in all the individual current assets is the gross working capital.

2)   Net working capital (NWC)- The term net working capital may be defined as the excess of total current assets over total current liabilities. Current liabilities refer to those liabilities which are payable within one year.

Ø If the total current assets are more than total current liabilities then the difference is known as positive net working capital.

Ø If total current liabilities exceeds the total current assets the difference is known as negative net working capital.

3)   Permanent working capital- permanent working capital is the minimum amount of investment required to be made in current assets at all times to carry on the day to day operation of firms business. This minimum level of currents assets has been given the name of core current assets by Tandon committee. It is also called fixed working capital because it is required in the same way as fixed assets.

4)   Temporary working capital- temporary working capital is also known as variable working capital or fluctuating working capital. The firm’s working capital requirement vary depending upon the seasonal and cyclical changes in demands for a firm product. The extra working capital required as per the changing production and sales levels of a firm is known as temporary working capital.

Ø Working capital is required because of existence of operating cycle

Ø Lengthier the operating cycle more would be the need of working capital.

Ø Operating cycle- The time gap between acquisitions of resources and collection of cash from customers. It is a time gap between the happening of the first event and the happening of the last event.

Ø The permanent working capital once decided and arranged may not require regular attention or management as such. But care must be taken of the temporary working capital. The firm must be able to arrange additional working capital immediately whenever need arises. The temporary working capital is needed to meet the temporary liquidity requirements only.

Ø Difference between permanent working capital and temporary working capital is that permanent working capital is constant increasing regularly while the temporary working capital is fluctuating from time to time.

Ø Sources of funds are long term sources, short term sources and transactions sources.

Ø A financial manager has to decide keeping in view the firm’s requirement as to how much working capital is to be financed by long term sources and how much from short term sources. This decisions is also known as deciding the financing mix of working capital.

Ø Permanent working capital is also known as fixed assets and long term sources

Ø Temporary working capital is known as current assets and short term sources.

Ø There are different approaches to take this decisions relating to financing mix of the working capital are as follows-

1)   Hedging approach also known as matching approach- The hedging approach to working capital financing is based upon the concept of bifurcation of total working capital needs into permanent working capital and temporary working capital. As the name itself suggests the life duration of current assets and maturity period of the sources of funds are matched. The general rule that the length of the finance should be match with the life duration of the assets i.e fixed assets finance by long term sources, so permanent working capital needs are financed by long term sources. On the other hand the temporary working capital needs are financed by short term sources or fluctuating or variable or temporary are financed by short term. It creates a balance between short term and long term.

2)   Conservatism approach- Under this approach the finance manager does not want to undertake risk. As a result all the woeking capital needs are primarily financed by long term sources and the use of short term sources may be restricted to unexpected and emergency situation only. The working capital policy of a firm is called a conservatism policy when all or most of the working capital needs are met by the long term sources and thus the firm avoids the risk of insolvency. The larger the portion of long term sources used for financing the working capital the more conservative is said to be the working capital policy of the firm.

3)   Aggressive policy –  A working capital policy is called aggressive approach policy if the firm decides to finance a part of the permanent working capital by short term source so, the short term financing under aggressive policy is more than the short term financing under the hedging approach. The aggressive policy seeks to minimize excess liquidity while meeting the short term requirements. The firm may accept even greater risk of insolvency in order to save cost of long term financing and thus in order to earn greater return.

Ø Inventory conversion period- It is the average length of time required to produce and sell the product.

Ø Receivables conversion period- It is the average length of time required to convert the firms receivables into cash.

Ø Accounts payable period is also called payables deferral period.

Ø Cash conversion period- It is the length of time between the firm actual cash expenditure and its own cash receipt. The cash conversion cycle is the average length of time a rupee is tied up in current assets.

Ø Several models have been for optimum cash balance are as follows-

1)   Baumol’s model- According to this model a company will sell securities and realizes cash and this cash is used to make payments. As the cash comes down and reaches a point the finance manager replenish its cash balance by selling marketable securities available with it and the pattern continues. Each time the firm transacts in this way, it bears a transactions costs so it will like to transact as occasionally as possibly. This could be done by maintaining a higher level involving a high holding cost. Thus the firm has to deal with the holding cost as well as transaction cost.

2)   Baumol’s cut off model-  The total cost associated with cash management has two elements 1) cost of conversion of marketable securities into cash 2) opportunity cash. The firm has to incur holding cost of cash if it keeps cash balances with themselves in the form of opportunity cost. The firm also have to incur transactions costs for converting marketable securities into cash. But both the above cost will vary inversely if holding cost is higher transactions cost will be lesser. In case of lesser holding cost transaction cost will be higher.

3)   Miller model- talked about arbitrage process.

Ø Motives for holding cash are as follows-

1)   Transactions motive-  The necessity of keeping a minimum cash balance to meet payment obligations arising out of expected transactions is known as transactions motive for holding cash.

2)   Precautionary motive- The necessity of keeping a cash balance to meet any emergency situation or unpredictable obligation is known as precautionary motive for holding cash.

3)   Speculative motive- The firms desire to keep some cash balance to capitalize an opportunity of making an unexpected profit is known as speculative motive.

4)   Compensation motive- Commercial banks require that in every current account, there should always be a minimum cash balance. This minimum cash balance may vary from 5000 rs to 10000 rs . This amount remains as a permanent balance with the bank so long as the current account is operative. This minimum balance must be maintained by firm & this provides the compensation motive for holding cash.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Ø Inventories are assets of the firm.

Ø How much inventories be maintained by firm- the firm must have an optimal level of inventories.

Ø Maintaining the level of inventories is like maintaining the level of water in a bath with an open drain.

Ø The basic financial problem is to determine the proper level of investment in the inventories and to decide how much inventory must be acquired during each period to maintain that level.

Ø Objectives of Inventories are maximum satisfaction to customer, minimum investment in inventory, achieving low cost plan operation, high satisfaction – low investment.

Ø Inventories are called current assets.

Ø The purpose of holding inventory is to achieve efficiency through cost reduction and increased sales volume.

Ø Three motives are there for holding the inventories are

1)   Transaction motive

2)   Precautionary motive

3)   Speculation motive

Ø Costs of maintaining Inventories are

1)   Material cost- It is the costs of purchasing the goods & related costs, transportation & handling costs.

2)   Ordering cost – The expenses incurred to place orders with suppliers and replenish the inventory of raw materials are called ordering cost.

3)   Carrying cost- cost incurred for maintaining the inventory in warehouse are called carrying cost.

4)   Shortage costs or stock out cost- these are the costs associated with either a delay in meeting the demand or inability to meet the demand at all due to shortage of stock also called hidden cost.

Ø Inventory management techniques are

1)   ABC analysis- Always best control. It is based on the propositions that 1) managerial time and efforts are scare and limited. 2) some items of inventory are more important than others

Ø Items of high value require maximum attention while items of low value do not require same degree of control. The firm has to be selective in its approach to control its investment in various items of inventories. Such an approach is known as selective inventory control. ABC system belongs to selective inventory control.

Ø ABC analysis classifies all the inventory items in an organization into three cateogries-

1)   Items are of high value but small in number, all items require strict control.

2)   Items of moderate value and size which require reasonable attention of management.

3)   Items represent relatively small value items of simple control.

Ø ABC analysis is also called

1)   Control by importance & exception

2)   Proportional value analysis

EOQ (ECONOMIC ORDER QUANITITY)

Ø It refers to the optimal order size that will result in the lowest ordering and carrying cost for an item of inventory based on its expected cycle.

Ø Assumptions are 1) constant or uniform demand 2) known demand or usage 3) constant per unit price 4) constant carrying cost 5) constant ordering cost.

Ø Inventories can be replenished immediately as the stock level reaches exactly equal to zero constantly there is no shaortage of inventory.

Ø EOQ= √2AO/C, A= annual cost, O= ordering cost, C= carrying cost per unit.

RECEIVABLES MANAGEMENT

Ø Amounts due from customers, when goods are sold on credit are called trade credit.

Ø Management of accounts receivables may be defined as the process of making decision relating to the investment of funds in receivables which will result in maximizing the overall return on the investment of the firm.

Ø The receivables emerge whenever goods are sold on credit and payment are deferred by customers.

Ø Receivables are created when a firm sells goods or services to its customers and accepts, instead of the immediate cash payment, the promise to pay within the specified period.

Ø Higher credit sales at more liberal terms will no doubt increase the profit of the firm but simultaneously also increases the risk of bad debts as well as result in more and more funds blocking in the receivables. So a careful analysis of various aspects of the credit policy is required. This is what known as receivables management.

Ø Receivables may be defined as collection of steps and procedure required to properly weight the cost and benefits attached with the credit policies.

Ø Cost associated with maintaining receivables

1)   Cost of financing/ capital cost- The credit sales delays the time of sales realization and therefore the time gap between incurring the cost and the sales realization is extended. This results in blocking of funds for a longer period. The firm on the other hand, has to arrange funds to meet its own obligation towards payment to the supplier, employees. These funds are to be procured at one implicit or explicit cost. This is known as the cost of financing the receivables.

2)   Administrative cost- when a firm sells goods on credit it has incur two types of administrative costs 1) credit investigation & supervision cost 2) collection cost.

3)   Delinquency cost- if there is a delay in payment by customer the firm may have to incur cost on reminder, phone calls, postage, legal notices etc. moreover there is always an opportunity cost of the fund tied up in the receivables due to delay in payment.

4)   Bad debt or default cost- when the firm is unable to recover the amount due from its customers, its results in bad debts. When a firm relaxes its credit policy selling to customers with relatively low credit rating occurs. In this process a firm may make credit sales to its customers who do not pay at all.

Ø If its take strict credit policy then following things will happen- sales reduce, reduce bad debts, reduce delinquency cost, reduce collection cost, reduce opportunity cost but increase liquidity of the firm.

Ø If it takes liberal policy towards credit policy then following things will happen- increase sales, increase bad debts, increase delinquency cost, increase collection cost, increase opportunity cost, increase profit, increase potential cost and decrease in liquidity of firm.

Ø Objectives of receivables cost-

1)   To generate sales

2)   To maximize profit

3)   To reduce bad debts

Ø A period of NET 30 days means maximum time to pay the amount is 30 days.

Ø 2/10 net of 30 means- maximum period is of 30 days but if customers pay in 10 days he will get a discount of 2%.

Ø Trade credit is spontaneous type of finance.

Ø The receivables management must be attempted by adopting a systematic approach and considering the following aspects

1)   Credit policy – The credit policy may be defined as the set of parameters and principles that govern the extension of credit to the customers. The following are the four varieties of credit policy variables are-

1)   Credit standard

2)   Credit period

3)   Cash discount

4)   Collection programme

Ø Credit standard- when a firm sells on credit it takes a risk about the paying capacity of the customers. Therefore to be on a safer side, it must set credit standard which should be applied in selecting customers for credit sales. The problem is to balance the benefits of additional sales against the cost of increasing bad debts.

Ø Credit period- It refers to the length of the time over which the customers are allowed to delay the payment or to make the payment. Credit policy generally varies from 30 days to 60 days. Customary practices are important factor in deciding the credit period.

Ø Cash discounts have implications on sales volume, average collection period, investment in receivables, incidence of bad debts & profits

Ø Objectives of collection policy are as follows-

1)   To achieve timely payment in receivables

2)   Releasing funds locked in receivables

3)   Minimizing the incidence of bad debts.

Collection Programme- monitoring the receivables , to remind the customer about due date, online interaction with customer about due date, initiating legal action, it shall not lead to bad relationship with the customers.