Questions on Short-Term Finance

What can managers do to control the cash cycle? What are the tradeoffs In shortening the cash cycle? Know how to calculate: Elements of the cash cycle and the operating cycle Managing the Working Capital Cycle (Chi. L) For what aspects of working capital does financial management have responsibility? What are the two key areas of working capital policy set by financial management? What are the objectives In setting working capital asset policy? What Is the difference between temporary current assets and permanent current assets? In what ways can working capital assets be balanced? What is spontaneous financing of working capital assets?

How is the amount to be used determined? What should be considered in choosing between short-term and permanent financing sources for funding working capital assets? What are the tradeoffs? How can the lifetime of assets be matched to the maturity of funding sources (I. E. , what Is a restrictive working capital financing strategy)? How can working capital assets be financed more flexibly than with a restrictive strategy? How can they be financed more aggressively? Cash Management (Chi. L & Chi. 2) What is the focus of short-term financial planning? What are the steps of the short-term financial planning process?

How are cash collections forecast? How are cash disbursements forecast? What are the elements of a typical cash budget? Why is short-term debt appropriate for covering short-term cash deficits? What are the typical sources of short-term funds? What Is a line of credit? What are the tradeoffs in cash? What is “cash”? How are borrowing reserves and marketable securities like cash? What is float? What types of float exist? Why do we care about float? How do we deal with float? What tools can we use to manage float? What is a locker arrangement? How do we compare costs and benefits of a locker?

How does using a locker help us to manage risk? Elements of a cash budget Float time, float balances; Costs and benefits of lockers Credit and Inventory Management Managing Accounts Receivable/Setting Credit Policy (Chi. 3) What are the elements of a receivables management program? What are the components of a credit policy? What are the tradeoffs in setting credit policy terms? How does competition affect the optimization of credit policy terms? How can a vendor have a lending cost advantage over other banks and finance companies? Why might a vendor be able to charge a higher price for goods and services by offering reedit?

When might a vendor find it necessary to offer credit in order to establish reputation? What are the advantages/disadvantages of open account billing over invoice billing? What factors affect the ideal credit period? What factors determine whether or not credit (early payment) discounts should be offered? What are the five Co’s of credit? What tools are used to monitor receivables? How is the impersonal nature of collection agencies both good and bad? In what forms can credit be offered to customers? How does a firm offering credit to customers finance its own receivables? What is acting of receivables?

What are the advantages/disadvantages of factoring? What elements of a credit policy decision can be quantified? How may a change in credit policy affect the costs associated with inventories? How may a change in credit policy affect the costs associated with receivables? In what two ways can projected bad debt losses be affected by a change in credit policy? What are the costs/benefits of offering discounts? Annual percentage costs of credit discounts Costs, benefits, and net benefit of a change in credit policy Break-even probabilities and percentages for a change in credit policy