Working Capital

Management

Nature of Working Capital

Working capital management is concerned with the problems that

arise in attempting to manage the current assets, the current

liabilities and the interrelations that exist between them.
Current assets refer to those assets which in the ordinary course
of business can be, or will be, converted into cash within one year
without undergoing a diminution in value and without disrupting
the operations of the firm.
Examples- cash, marketable securities, accounts receivable and
inventory.
Current liabilities are those liabilities which are intended, at their
inception, to be paid in the ordinary course of business, within a
year, out of the current assets or the earnings of the concern.
Examples- accounts payable, bills payable, bank overdraft and
outstanding expenses.

Objective of Working Capital

Management
The goal of working capital management is to

manage the firms current assets and

liabilities in such a way that a satisfactory
level of working capital is maintained.
The interaction between current assets and
current liabilities is, therefore the main theme
of the theory of the working capital
management.

Concepts and Definitions of

Working Capital
There are two concepts of working capital:
Gross and Net.
Gross working capital- means the total current
assets.
Net working capital- can be defined in two
wayso The difference between current assets and
current liabilities.
o The portion of current assets which is financed
with long term funds.

Determining Financing-mix
There are two sources from which funds can

be raised for current assets financingo Short term sources, like current liabilities and,
o long term sources, such as share capital, long
term borrowings, internally generated
resources like retained earnings, etc.

The Operating-cycle and

Working Capital Needs
The working capital requirements of a firm depends, to a great extent

upon the operating cycle of the firm. The operating cycle may be
defined as the time duration starting from the procurement of goods or
raw materials and ending with the sales realization.
The length and nature of the operating cycle may differ from one firm
to another depending upon the size and nature of the firm.
The operating cycle of a firm consists of the time required for the
completion of the chronological sequence of some or all of the
followingo Procurement of raw materials and services.
o Conversion of raw materials into work-in-progress.
o Conversion of work-in-progress into finished goods.
o Sale of finished goods.
o Conversion of receivables into cash.

Operating cycle of a typical

company
Purchase
resources
Pay for
Resources
purchases

Inventory conversion
period

Receive
Cash

Sell
Product
On credit

Receivable
Conversion period
Cash conversion
cycle

Payable
Deferral period

Operating
cycle

Inventory conversion period

Avg. inventory
= _________________
Cost of sales/365

Receivable conversion period

Accounts receivable
= ___________________
Annual credit sales/365

Cash conversion cycle = operating cycle

payables deferral period.

Payables deferral period

Accounts payable + Salaries, etc

= ___________________________
(Cost of sales + selling, general and admn.
Expenses)/365

Determinants of Working capital

Requirement
General nature of business
Production cycle
Business cycle fluctuations
Production policy
Credit policy
Growth and expansion
Profit level
Level of taxes
Dividend policy
Depreciation policy
Price level changes
Operating efficiency

Working capital: Policy and

Management
The working capital management includes and refers to

the procedures and policies required to manage the

working capital.
There are three types of working capital policies which
a firm may adopt i.e.
Moderate working capital policy
Conservative working capital policy
Aggressive working capital policy.
These policies describe the relationship between the
sales level and the level of current assets.

Three alternative working capital investment

policies
conservative
moderate
Current Assets
($)

aggressi
ve

Sales ($)

Liquidity versus Profitability- A

Risk- Return Trade-off
An important aspect of a working capital

policy is to maintain and provide sufficient

liquidity to the firm. The decision on how much
working capital be maintained involves a
trade-off i.e., having a large net working
capital may reduce the liquidity-risk faced by
the firm, but it can have a negative effect on
the cash flows. Therefore, the net effect on the
value of the firm should be used to determine
the optimal amount of working capital.

Types of working capital needs

The working capital need can be bifurcated into permanent

working capital and temporary working capital.

Permanent working capital- There is always a

minimum level of working capital which is continuously
required by a firm in order to maintain its activities like cash,
stock and other current assets in order to meet its business
requirements irrespective of the level of operations.
Temporary working capital- Over and above the
permanent working capital, the firm may also require
additional working capital in order to meet the requirements
arising out of fluctuations in sales volume. This extra
working capital needed to support the increased volume of
sales is known as temporary or fluctuating working capital.

Difference between permanent & temporary

working capital

Amount
of
Working
Capital

Variable Working Capital

Permanent Working Capital

Time

Variable Working Capital

Amount
of
Working
Capital
Permanent Working Capital

Time

Approaches to determine an
appropriate Financing-mix
There are three basic approaches to
determine an appropriate financing mix:
Hedging approach, also called the matching

approach,
Conservative approach,
Aggressive approach.

Hedging Approach/ Matching

Approach
According to this approach, the maturity of the sources of the

funds should match the nature of the assets to be financed. For

the purpose of analysis, the current assets can be broadly
classified into two classeso those which are required in a certain amount for a given level of
operation and, hence, do not vary over time.
o those which fluctuate over time.
The Hedging approach suggests that long term funds should be
used to finance the fixed portion of current assets requirements in
a manner similar to the financing of fixed assets.
The purely temporary requirements, that is, the seasonal
variations over and above the permanent financing needs should
be appropriately financed with short term funds.
This approach, therefore, divides the requirements of total funds
into permanent and seasonal components, each being financed by
a different source.

Matching approach to asset

financing
Total Assets
$

Short-term
Debt
Fluctuating Current Assets

Permanent Current Assets

Fixed Assets

Time

Long-term
Debt +
Equity
Capital

Conservative Approach
This approach suggests that the estimated

requirement of total funds should be met from

long term sources; the use of short term funds
should be restricted to only emergency
situations or when there is an unexpected
outflow of funds.

Conservative approach to asset

financing
Total Assets
$

Short-term
Debt
Fluctuating Current Assets

Permanent Current Assets

Fixed Assets

Time

Long-term
Debt +
Equity
capital

Aggressive approach
A working capital policy is called an aggressive policy if the

firm decides to finance a part of the permanent working

capital by short term sources. 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.
The trade-off between risk and profitability depends largely
on the financial managers attitude towards risk, yet while
doing so he must take care of the following factorso Flexibility of the mix
o Cost of financing
o Risk attached with financing mix

Aggressive approach to asset

financing
Total Assets
$

Short-term
Debt
Fluctuating Current Assets

Permanent Current Assets

Fixed Assets

Time

Long-term
Debt +
Equity
capital

Forecasting / Estimation of Working

Capital Requirements
Factors to be considered
Total costs incurred on materials, wages and overheads
The length of time for which raw materials remain in stores

before they are issued to production.

The length of the production cycle or WIP, i.e., the time taken
for conversion of RM into FG.
The length of the Sales Cycle during which FG are to be kept
waiting for sales.
The average period of credit allowed to customers.

The amount of cash required to pay day-to-day

expenses of the business.

The amount of cash required for advance
payments if any.
The average period of credit to be allowed by
suppliers.
Time lag in the payment of wages and other
overheads.

PROFORMA - WORKING CAPTIAL

ESTIMATES
1. TRADING CONCERN
STATEMENTOF
OFWORKING
WORKINGCAPITAL
CAPITALREQUIREMENTS
REQUIREMENTS
STATEMENT
Amount(Rs.)
(Rs.)
Amount

CurrentAssets
Assets
Current
(i)Cash
Cash
(i)
(ii)Receivables
Receivables((For..Months
For..MonthsSales)---Sales)---(ii)
(iii)Stocks
Stocks((ForMonths
ForMonthsSales)----Sales)----(iii)
(iv)AdvancePayments
Paymentsififany
any
(iv)Advance
Less::Current
CurrentLiabilities
Liabilities
Less
(i)Creditors
Creditors(For..
(For..Months
MonthsPurchases)Purchases)(i)
(ii)Lag
Lagininpayment
paymentof
ofexpenses
expenses
(ii)
WORKINGCAPITAL
CAPITAL((CA
CACL
CL))
xxx
WORKING
xxx
Add::Provision
Provision //Margin
Marginfor
forContingencies
Contingencies
Add
NETWORKING
WORKINGCAPITAL
CAPITALREQUIRED
REQUIRED
NET

-----------------------------------_
-----_
---------

XXX
XXX

MANUFACTURING CONCERN
STATEMENT OF WORKING CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS
Amount (Rs.)
Current Assets
(i) Stock of R M( for .months consumption)
(ii)Work-in-progress (formonths)
(a) Raw Materials
(b) Direct Labour
(c) Overheads
----(iii) Stock of Finished Goods ( for months sales)
(a) Raw Materials
(b) Direct Labour
(c) Overheads
----(iv) Sundry Debtors ( for months sales)
(a) Raw Materials
(b) Direct Labour
(c) Overheads
----(v) Payments in Advance (if any)
(iv) Balance of Cash for daily expenses
(vii)Any other item
Less : Current Liabilities
(i) Creditors (For.. Months Purchases)
(ii) Lag in payment of expenses
(iii) Any other
WORKING CAPITAL ( CA CL )xxxx
Add : Provision / Margin for Contingencies
NET WORKING CAPITAL REQUIRED

-------------------------------------------------

--------XXX

Trends in Working Capital Management and its impact on Firms

Performance: An Analysis of Mauritian Small Manufacturing Firms
Kessseven Padachi (2006)

Purpose of the Study

The primary aim of this paper is to investigate

the impact of WCM on corporate profitability

of Mauritian small manufacturing firms.
The trend in working capital needs and
profitability of firms are examined to identify
the causes for any significant differences
between the five major industries.

Research methodology
Sample of 58 small manufacturing firms operating in five

major industry groups which are both registered and

organized as proprietary/ private companies.
The data set covers 58 firms from five industry subsectors: food and beverages, leather garments, paper
products, prefabricated metal products and wood furniture.
This has given a balanced panel data set of 348 firm- year
observations for a sample of 58 firms.
Panel data analysis for the period 1998- 2003.
The sample was drawn from the directory of Small Medium
Industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO), a database
for registered manufacturing firms operating in diverse
activities.

Variables used in the study

Explanatory variables- the efficiency ratios,

namely accounts receivable, inventory and

accounts payable, cash conversion cycle. The
cash conversion cycle is used as a
comprehensive measure of working capital.
Return on total assets is used as a measure of
profitability.
Control variables- sales, gearing ratio, gross
working capital turnover ratio, ratio of current
assets to total assets, ratio of current
liabilities to total assets.

Notations used in the study

OPM- Operating profit margin is PBIT/sales
ROTA- Return on total assets is PBIT/ Total

assets
CCC- Cash conversion cycle is ( number of
inventory days+ number of days accounts
receivable number of days accounts
payable)
WCM- Working capital management

Empirical results
ROTA is significantly positively correlated with OPM and

capital- turnover ratio, but negatively correlated with the

measures of WCM, except for the cash conversion cycle.
This positive relation for CCC is consistent with the view that
resources are blocked at the different stage of the supply
chain, thus prolonging the operating cycle. This might
increase profits due to increase sales, especially where the
costs of tied-up capital is lower than the benefits of holding
more inventories and granting more trade credit to customers.
Also the small manufacturing firms may be able to obtain
trade credit from the suppliers and this is supported by the
higher proportion of current liabilities to total assets for all the
industries except for the paper products.

Coefficient of inventories variable is positive in

Regression 1 but it is not significantly different from

zero.
The coefficients of the other variables included in the
model are significant, except for financial debt and
working capital financing.
The firms profitability as measured by ROTA
increases with firms size, gross working capital
efficiency, and with a lesser aggressiveness of asset
management.
This could be explained by the fact that small firms
tend to have a lower fixed assets base and thus rely
mostly on the turnover of current assets to generate
more profits.

In regression 2, a highly significant relation is

found between ROTA and number of days

accounts receivable, which implies that an
increase in the number of days accounts
receivables by 1 day is associated with a decrease
in profitability by 0.04%. The coefficient for
accounts payable days is negative and confirms
the negative correlation between profitability and
the number of days accounts payable.
The results of pooled OLS confirm the relationship
between profitability and the working capital
measurement except for inventory days, the
coefficients of accounts receivables, accounts
payable and CCC are significant.
The adjusted R2s of the OLS regressions is much
lower than the adjusted R2s within of the fixed

Conclusions
The small firms should ensure a good synchronization of its

assets and liabilities.

The paper and printing industry has been able to achieve high
scores on the various components of working capital and this
has positive impact on its profitability. On this premise this
industry could thus be used as best practice among the SMEs.
Further, this research concludes that there is a pressing need
for further empirical studies to be undertaken on small
business financial management, in particular their working
capital practices by extending the sample size so that an
industry- wise analysis can help to uncover the factors that
explain the better performance for some industries and how
these best practices could be extended to the other industries.