Unit 1.

Introduction of Financial Management

1. What is financial management?
Financial management refers to the management of funds in the context of a business firm.
Finance includes the set of activities dealing with management of funds. In a broader term, it
describes how money is managed and the actual process of acquiring needed funds. Financial
management is the decision of collection and use of funds. In the context of business firm,
finance is used to describe the money resources used by firm and the management of these
resources.
2. Mention the career opportunities available for finance graduates.
Or where do finance graduates may seek career opportunities?
The career opportunities for finance graduates are ever expanding. The important fields where
finance graduates may pursue their career are:
a) Corporate business houses
b) Investment companies
c) Financial institution
d) International financial institution
e) Local and federal government organization. However corporate businesses are most
suitable for financial management graduates.
3. What are the functions of managerial finance?
Or what are the functions of financial management?
The functions of financial management are as follows:
i. To make financing decision that minimizes the cost of capital
ii. To make investment decision as such that present values of benefits are greater than the
present value of costs
iii. To make dividend decision that maximizes the market price of share
iv. To make working capital decision that result into proper trade- off between profitability
and liquidity associated with current assets investment and financing.
4. What is profit maximization goal?
Profit maximization refers to the maximization of rupee income of the firm. Under this goal, all
profitable financial courses of actions are undertaken and unprofitable project are avoided. Profit
maximization goal emphasizes on productivity improvement effort of the firm. It emphasizes on
achieving maximum output form a given level of input or minimizing the use of inputs to
achieve a given level of output. The productivity improvement leads to profit maximization.
5. What are the major executive functions performed by the financial manager in a
corporate firm? Discuss the significance of these functions for better financial performance
of Nepalese firm.
The major executive finance functions performed by the financial manager in a corporate firm
are as follows:
* Investment decision: investment decision is concerned with allocating resources into
long term investment project. Financial manager should estimate the cost and benefits of
each investment alternatives, use correct project appraisal method and reach at the right
investment decision. It includes both acquisitions of long term assets as well as
maintaining appropriate investment in working capital.
*Financing decision: the financial manager is also supposed to play significant role in
identify and using different sources of financing to satisfy its investment need of long
term assets and working capital. The financial manager rely on long term and short term
funds. Similarly s/he can evaluate the use of debt versus equity capital. While deciding on
these different sources of funds the financial manager should think of the maturity
composition of assets and liabilities.
* Dividend decision: dividend decision is concerned with determining the proportion of
earning to be distributed to shareholders in the form of dividend. Financial manager
should determine appropriate dividend policy of the firm that can enhance shareholder
wealth. For this the financial manager should consider the cost of capital, capital
expenditure need of the firm, tax situation of shareholder, and their effect on market price
of share.
* Working capital decision: working capital decision is concerned with current assets
investment and financing decision. Under current assets investment decision, the
financial manager should maintain appropriate size of investment in current assets
considering the impact of current assets size on firm liquidity and profitability. Similarly
under current assets financing decision, the financial manager should decide on
appropriate mix of long term and short term funds to finance the current assets.
Traditionally, financial management used to focus only on the procurement of funds required
to set up a business firm and expansion of its activities. Accordingly, the responsibility of the
 financial manager was limited only to estimate the financial requirements of the firm and
raise the funds to meet its projected financial projected. Importance of executive finance
functions cannot be over-looked in the context of Nepal. They are indeed, the key to
successful business operations. Without proper administration of finance functions, no
business enterprises can reach its full potential for growth and success executive finance
functions are all about planning investment. The significance of finance functions can be
highlighted as follows:
* They help in avoiding over investment in fixed assets
* They cash outflow with cash inflow
* They ensure that there is a sufficient level of working capital
* They help is setting sales revenue targets that will deliver growth
* They help in increasing profits by setting the correct pricing of products or services
* They help in tax planning that will minimize the taxes a business has to pay.
6. Will profit maximization always result in stock price maximization? Discuss.
According to conventional theory of the firm, profit maximization is considered to be the
principal objective of the firm because price and output decision associated with a firm is usually
based on the profit maximization criteria. Profit maximization refers to maximizing rupees
income of the firm. Accordingly to this goal the actions that increase profits should be
undertaken and those that decrease profits are to be avoided. Those who are in favor of profit
maximization argue that profit is a test of economic efficiency. It leads to effective utilization of
scarce economic resources in every business firm it leads total economic welfare since it
increases the economic efficiency of every individual firm. Profit maximization is considered to
be a basic criterion for financial decision-making.
However, there is an alternate goal to profit maximization called as stock price maximization
which is considered to be the better goal than profit maximization. According to this goal, the
managers take decisions that maximize the shareholder wealth. Shareholder wealth is maximized
when a decision generates net present value. The net present value is the difference between
present value of the benefits of a project and present value of its costs. Investor pays higher
prices of shares of a company which undertake projects with positive net present value. As a
result, wealth maximization is reflected in the market price of shares.
A firm‟s stock price is determined by a number of factors. Any financial decisions that affect the
level, timing and riskiness of expected cash flows will have impact on stock price. For example,
investment decision, financing decision, and dividend decision are likely to affect the level,
timing and riskiness of the firm cash flows, and therefore the price of its stock. Stock prices are
affected by external factors such as state of economy, tax laws, interest rates and condition is
stock market.
7. What is wealth maximization? Why should a firm concentrate primarily on wealth
maximization instead of profit maximization? Explain.
0r “maximization of stakeholder’s welfare should be the ultimate goal of modern corporate
firm.” Discuss.
A corporation exists to create value for its shareholders. Creating value for shareholder is similar
to maximizing the market values of the firm, which leads to maximization of stockholder
welfare. It is reflected in maximum share price. In finance, we call it value maximization or
wealth maximization or stock price maximization. Value maximization is the superior goal of a
firm. This goal emphasizes on initiating those financial decisions that maximize the shareholders
welfare. Shareholder welfare can be maximized by generating positive net present value from a
course of action.
It makes sense for the corporations to maximize stockholders welfare because of the following
reasons:
* Clear goal: under value maximization goal, financial decisions are evaluated in terms of cash
flows rather than accounting profits. According to this goal, the financial manager attempts to
make the size of cash flow to the shareholder as large as possible. Larger size of cash flows to
shareholders results into their wealth maximization. The concept of cash flow is clear. It refers to
the difference between cash benefits and cash costs.
*Recognizes time value of money concept: the value of cash flows occurring at different time
periods are different. According to the concept of time value of money, cash flows occurring at
earlier period have large value. this concept is well recognize in value maximization criterion
since every financial decision is undertaken on the basis of comparison between present value of
benefits and present value of costs.
*Recognizes the quality of cash flows: two investment projects may have same quantity of
cash flows over their life, but their quality may differ. The quality of cash flows here refers to the
riskiness of the cash flows. Under value maximization criterion, we selected higher required
return to estimate the present value of risky cash flows. Thus, this considered the quality of cash
 flows.
*It represents all stakeholders: shareholders, managers, employees, creditors, customers and
society are the stakeholders of a corporation. Value maximization represents the interest of all
these stakeholders. It represents the interest of society at large by allocating scare resources
efficiently in the areas that are the most promising. Similarly, value maximization requires lowcost and high quality of a
business that benefits the customers. It also focuses on fair
compensation to employees.
8. What is the meaning of financing decision?
Financing decision is the most important function of financial management. Financial decision
concerns the procurement of fund. Under this function financial manager must decide about
when, from where and how to acquire funds to meet the financial needs for investment. To
specific, it is required to determine the appropriate proportion of equity and debt, the mix of
which is understood as capital structure
Unit -2. Financial Statement and Analysis
1. Write the meaning and uses of free cash flows.
Free cash flow is the cash flow available to all investors in a company including common
stakeholders. Free cash flow provides a useful valuation technique that can derive the value of a
firm or the value of a firm common equity. It is a measure of how much cash a business
generates after accounting for capital expenditures. This cash flow can be used for expansion,
payment of dividends, repayment of debt, and for other purpose.
2. How does net cash flow differ from net income?
Net cash flow is the difference between cash inflow and cash outflows. We deduct all cash
expenses from all cash income to calculate net cash flow. It differs from net income in a way that
net income is the difference between revenues and expenditure that includes all cash and non-cash items. For example,
depreciation is a non-cash expense. We deduct depreciation in
calculating net income. However, depreciation is not deducted while calculating net cash flow.
Therefore, if only non-cash item of a firm is depreciation then net cash flow is always equal to
net income plus depreciation.
3. Limitation of ratio analysis.
Limitation of ratio analysis as follows:
 Lack of suitable standard for comparison
 Difficulty in comparison
 Conceptual diversity
 Ignores qualitative aspects
 Based on the historical information
 Ignore the change in price level
4. Uses of ratio analysis.
 Knowledge of liquidity position
 Knowledge of operating efficiency
 Knowledge of overall profitability
 Trend analysis
 Inter-firm comparison
5. Role of financial statements.
The roles of financial statements are as given by:
 Provide information for decision making
 Depict the financial position
 Reflect the prospective cash flows of the firm
 Helpful in inter-firm comparison
6. What is Du-Pont system?
Du-Pont system is a comprehensive method of financial analysis first used and popularized by
Du-Pont Corporation. It is used to make classified assessment of the link between firm’s
profitability, Operating efficiency, assets management and debt management. A simple Du-Pont
system links return on firm’s as a function of operating efficiency measured by net profit margin
and the assets productivity measured by total assets turnover. It is stated as:
Simple Du- Pont equation:
ROA = profit margin × assets turnover
Extended Du-Pont equation:
ROE = profit margin ×assets turnover ×equity multiplier
7. Suppose a firm uses a part of cash collected on accounts receivable to buy inventory and
leaves the rest in its bank accounts. What effect does it make on the firm’s current ratio?
It does not make any effect on the firm‟s current ratio because decrease in current assets due to
collection of accounts receivable will exactly fulfilled by increase in inventory and bank account.
8. Types of financial statements?
There are four basic financial statements are as follows:
 The balance sheet
 The income statements
 The statements of stockholder’s equity
 The statements of cash flow
9. Short list out the importance of financial statements.
The basic importance of financial statements as follows:
 Financial statements can be used for the purpose of reporting to shareholders, creditors,
creditors, and other stakeholders about financial affairs of the firm.
 Financial statements such as statements of cash flow are prepared to know about
comparative cash flow position of a firm between two periods.
 The pro-forma financial statements can be prepared to provide a future forecast of
revenues, expenses, investment and financial need of the firm.
10. Why cash flow statement is needed to be prepaid?
Cash flow statement is a statement showing the changes in financial position or cash position of
a firm during two balance sheet dates. This statement shows cash inflow and outflow of the firm
during a period. Cash flow statement is basically prepared to analyze the causes of changes in
cash position of the firm during two regular balance sheet dates. The basic needs for preparing
cash flow statement are as follow:
 To identify the cash flow from operating activities
 To analyze the cash flow from investing activities
 To identify the changes in cash brought about by financing activities
 To analyze the changes in net cash position.
11. What difference between assets management ratio and debt management ratios?
Assets management ratios are used to evaluate the productive power of firm’s investment in
different assets. It show whether the firm has held adequate investment in productive asset. It
Show the qualitative liquidity position of firm’s investment in inventories and receivables.
Debt management ratios are used to assess the use of debt capital by firm. It shows the extent
of use of debt capital to finance the total assets and the long term solvency position of the firm.
Debt management ratios show the firm’s debt serving and fixed charge coverage capacity.
Unit- 3 Time Value of Money
1. How does effective rate differ from nominal rate?
Nominal rate is also called stated interest rate. This rate works according to the simple interest
and does not take into account the compounding effects. However, effective rate is the one which
caters the compounding periods during a payment plan. It is used to compare the annual interest
between loans with different compounding periods like week, month, year etc. in general,
nominal rate is less than the effective one. The effective rate shows the true picture of financial
payments.
2. How is perpetuity different from annuity?
A perpetuity refer to the equal payment to each interval of time until the indefinite time period
while an annuity refers to the equal payment at each equal interval of time until the definite time
period. In other words, there are fixed number of equal payments in an annuity.
3. Differentiate annuity from annuity due.
An annuity is a series of equal payment that occurs at equal interval of time over a definite
period. An annuity can be an ordinary annuity or an annuity due.in case of an ordinary annuity,
each payment is made at the end of equal interval of time while in case of an ordinary annuity
due each payment occurs at the beginning of equal interval of time. In other word, in case of an
annuity due each payment occurs one period earlier than ordinary annuity. Due to this reason, the
present value and future value of the annuity due is always greater than the ordinary annuity over
the same.
4. Differentiate between future value and present value.
Present value is the today value of a future sum of money where as future value is the value of a
present sum of money in some future date, given a certain interest rate. For example, if we
deposit rs1000 today in a bank account paying 10% annual interest we will have rs1100 at the
end of year. In this example, rs1000 today is the present value of rs1100 in year 1 given 10%
interest rate. Similarly, rs1100 at the end of year 1 is the future value of rs1000 today given the
interest rate of 10 percent.
5. Explain what is meant by the following statement. “A rupee in hand today is worth more
than a rupee to be received next year.”
Every sum of money received earlier commands higher value than the equal sum of money
received later. This statement is well explained by the concept of time value of money. The time
value of money is the concept to understand value of cash flows occurred at different period of
 time. A rupee in hand today is valued more than a rupee next year due to the following three
reasons:
a) Investment opportunity: money received earlier can be invested to generate further
sum of money. For example, if we receive rs100 today and deposit in a bank account
paying 5% interest. We will have rs105 at the end of the year. Therefore, given this
investment opportunity rs100 today is equivalent to rs105 at the end of year.
b) Preference toward current consumption: most of the people prefer current
consumption than the future consumption. Money in hand today makes current
consumption possible. Therefore, current sum of the money is more valuable.
c) Inflation: A sum of money today is worth more than the equal sum of money a year
later due to inflation. Inflation kills purchasing power of money. if the rate of inflation is
5%, we need rs105 to buy a basket of commodity a year later what we could buy with
rs100 today.
6. Short note of Amortization schedule (loans).
Amortization loans are those loans that are repaid in equal period installment over a loan contract
period. The equal periodic installments contain a part of principal repayment and the interest
payment on outstanding loan. This type of loan is more common hire purchase financing of autos
and home appliances in Nepal. Besides, commercial banks in Nepal also extends housing loan
for a longer period of time which is repaid in equal monthly installment. In amortization loans,
the equal periodic installment is called payment. It is determined on the basis of the concept of
time value of money. A payment is a series of equal future payments on the loan that has a total
present value equal to the amount of loan at a given interest rate. It is worked out as follows:
Payment (PMT) = Amount of loan / PVIFA i%, n year
7. Why time vale of money concept so important in financial analysis?
 Application in investment decision
 Application in financing decision
 Application in security analysis
 Application in leasing versus buying decision
 Other uses:

Unit- 4
Risk and return
8. Explain the concept of portfolio risk?
A portfolio is a combination of wealth in to two or more assets. The portfolio theory deals with
forming an efficient portfolio of assets that offers higher return and minimizes the risk. It is
possible for an investor that a single asset might be very risky when held in isolation but not as
much risky when held in combination with other assets in the portfolio. Thus, first the portfolio
risk depends on the riskiness of individual assets in the portfolio other things remaining the same
higher the level of risk associated with individual assets higher will be the portfolio risk.
9. Capital asset pricing model (CAPM).
Capital asset pricing model shows the relationship between risk and return of an asset. The
capital asset pricing model postulates that required rate of return on any assets is the total of risk
free rate plus the risk premium. The capital assets pricing model equation is stated as follows:
E(Rj) = Rf + [Rm-Rf]βj
10. Systematic and unsystematic risk.
Systematic risk refers to the risk which affects the whole market and therefore it cannot be
reduce or diversified away.it refers to the variability in security‟s return with respect to overall
market. This arises due to imbalance in the political situation or fluctuation in the market etc. In
other hand, unsystematic risk is the extent of variability in security‟s return on account of factors
which are unique to a firm. In other words, it is the variability in security‟s return with respect to
unique factors associated with individual firm. It can be diversified away. This risk arises from
management inefficiency unsuccessful planning etc.
11. Define the term of coefficient of variation?
Coefficient of variation is an investor has to choose one investment between two investment that
have the same expected returns but different standard deviations, he/she would choose the one
with the lower standard deviation and therefore the lower risk. The investor is given a choice
between two investments with the risk but different expected return, he/she would generally
prefer the investment with the higher expected return. Coefficient of variation is a measure to
relative dispersion that is useful in comparing the risk of assets with differing expected return.
The CV as a measure of risk in this case neutralizes the influence of size of the investment.
Unit-5
Financial assets valuation
A. Bond valuation
12. Define premium bond and gives an example of premium bond.
A bond is said to be a premium bond if it sells at price higher than the par value. For example,
suppose par value of bond is re1000. If the bond currently sells at 1050, it is called a premium
bond. The bond sells at premium when the market interest rate is lower than the coupon rate.
13. How do you determine value of coupon bond with finite maturity?
Value of coupon bond with finite maturity is the total present value of periodic steam of interest
payments plus the present value of maturity value all discounted at bondholders required rate of
return. It is determined as using following model:
Vo= I×[PVIFA i%, n] + M×[PVIF i%, n]
14. Define the discount bond and gives an example of discount bond.
Or, how does value of a discount bond change over the time if all other things remain the
same?
A discount bond is the bond that sells at a price below par value. The bond sells at discount when
the market rate exceeds the coupon rate. For example, any bond issued by a corporation usually
has a par value of rs1000 and it has a stated coupon rate. If the coupon rate of the bond is less
than the prevailing market interest rate on similar risk class bond, then it sell at a price less than
rs1000. The value of such bond increase as it approaches to the maturity.
15. What are the key features of the bond?
A bond is a long term promissory note-issued by corporation. It is called a promissory note
because the issuer promises to pay stated amount of interest regularly and repay the maturity
value at the expiry of maturity period. While issuing bond, the issuer prepares a legal documents
called indenture which is duly signed by the issuer and the trustee on behalf of the bondholders.
The specific features are as follows:
 Par value
 Coupon rate
 Maturity period
 Call provision
 Conversion feature
16. Yield to maturity.
The yield to maturity is the annualized rate of return that a bondholder can realize from bond
investment if the bond is held until the maturity period. Technically speaking, YTM is the
discount rate at which the present value of all future cash flows associated with bond investment
remains equal to the current selling price of the bond. The YTM is the total annualized yield that
contains both capital gain yield and the current yield from the bond.
B. Stock valuation
17. Discuss features of common stock.
Common stock is securities issued by corporation to raised ownership capital. Capital raised by
issuing share of common stock is used to finance major portion of the firm‟s fixed assets.
Common stock certificate represents the evidence of ownership right of the holders in the
corporation. Some of the basic features of common stock are as follows:
 Par value
 Limited liability
 No maturity
 Voting rights
 Residual claim
18. How do you calculate the value of irredeemable preferred stock?
Irredeemable preferred stock has no specified maturity. Therefore, value of an irredeemable
preferred stock is the total of the present value of indefinite steam of preferred stock dividend
discounted at preferred stockholders required rate of return. For example, if an irredeemable
preferred stock has rs100 par value and that pays a 12% preferred stock dividend and preferred
stockholder required rate of return is 10%, we calculate the value of irredeemable preferred stock
as follows:
VPS = DPS / KP
19. What are the features of preferred stock?
Preferred stock has an immediately position between long term debt and common stock in term
of claim on assets and dividend payment. In the event of liquidation, a preferred stockholders
claim on assets comes after that of creditors but before that of common stockholders. Similarly,
preferred stock dividend is distributed after payment of interest but before distribution of
common stock dividend. It is called the hybrid form of financing because it has combined
features of both debt and common stock. Its features are as follows:
 Par value
 Fixed dividend
 Cumulative feature
  Maturity
 Participating features
20. If stock is not in equilibrium, explain how financial markets adjust to bring it into
equilibrium.
If stock is not in equilibrium but over or under priced then financial markets adjust to bring it
into equilibrium. If the stock is overpriced, selling pressure increase in the market. This leads to
increase in supply of the stock, which ultimately causes stock price to decline to adjust towards
equilibrium. In opposite case, when stock is under-priced buying pressure increase in the market.
This will cause the demand for stock to increase and the price of stock also to increase to adjust
towards equilibrium.
Unit-6
Cost of capital
1. What are the key factors affecting cost of capital?
The key factors affecting cost of capital are as follows:
 General economic condition
 Marketability of the security
 Amount of financing need of the firm
 Operating and financing decision associated with the firm
 Tax rate
 Capital structure and dividend policy
2. Describe the uses of weighted average cost of capital.
The WACC is the minimum required rate of return on firm‟s investment. It represents the
weighted average cost of all components of capital employed by the firm to finance its project. If
the project return is higher than the WACC, the project is considered profitable. Therefore, it is
considered an appropriate acceptance criterion for evaluating the project investment. However,
in this calculation the WACC has been computed for existing capital employed by the firm. If
the firm plans to invest in new project, it has to raise additional capital.
3. What is weighted cost of capital?
Weighted average cost of capital is the overall cost of capital applicable to the firm. It is the
weighted average of the cost of each components of capital employed by a firm, where the
weight corresponds to the proportion of each components of capital employed by the firm in its
overall capitalization.
4. What are the assumptions of cost of capital?
In calculating cost of capital, we assume that risk to the firm being unable to cover operating
and financing costs are assumed to be constant, the cost of capital are measured on an after tax
basis and the corporate marginal tax rate is assumed to be constant and the firm‟s dividend policy
doesn‟t change.
5. What is the significance of marginal cost of capital in decision making?
 Use in investment decision
 Use in financing decision
 Use in dividend decision
Unit- 8
The basics of capital budgeting
6. State the limitation of pay back method.
Some limitations of payback period are as follows:
 It does not take into account all cash flows over the life of the project
 It does not recognized the timing and riskiness of cash flows
 It is not consistent of the value maximization objective
7. Why NPV method is preferred over IRR?
IRR method has certain shortcoming such as it gives the multiple IRR when cash flows are nonnormal; IRR assumes that all
cash flows from the project are reinvested at IRR. This is not valid
assumption because cash flows should be reinvested at cost of capital which reflects the level of
risk associate with the project. Similarly, the NPV method does not have all these shortcoming of
IRR.
8. Define NPV with merits and demerits.
Net present value is one of the widely used discounted cash flow techniques of evaluating capital
budgeting projects. NPV is the difference between present value of cash inflows and outflows
from the projects. According to this method, benefits of the project measured in term of cash
flow is discounted and sum up, and then initial cash outlay of the project is deducted. The
remaining value is known as net present value.
Merits:
 It recognizes the concept of time value of money
  It takes into account all cash flows over the life of the project
 This method is based on the cash flows rather accounting profits
 It is consistent with the shareholder‟s wealth maximization objective.
Demerits:
 This method is based on the expected cash flows of the project. However, in real life, it is
very difficult to forecast the cash flows with accuracy.
 Lack of simplicity
 Sensitive to cost of capital
 Difficulty in selection of discount factor
9. Define IRR with merits and demerits.
Internal rate of return is the discount rate at which present value of future cash flows is equal to
the present value of cost. In other words, IRR is the discount rate at which the net present value
is zero.
Merits:
 It considered the time value of money and all cash flow of the project
 It is based on the cash flows of the project.
 Useful to achieve the firm‟s goal
 Consider to total cash flow
 Suitable for comparison
Demerits:
 Difficulty in calculation
 Possibility of multiple IRR
 Misleading assumptions
10. Cross over rate.
Crossover rate is the discount rate at which two mutually exclusive projects have equal net
present value. In case of two mutually exclusive projects, NPV of one project may be higher than
that of other at lower cost of capital, while the net present value of the same project may be
lower than that of other at higher cost of capital. In this situation there exists a crossover rate at
which NPVs of two projects remain equal. If NPV of one project remains always higher than that
of other at any level of cost of capital then there exists no cross over rate.
11. Meaning of Payback period.
The payback period is the expected number of years required to recover the initial investment of
the project. According to this method, the project with lower payback period is selected. For
decision making purpose, the maximum cost recovery time is established, and payback period of
the project is compared with this time. Shorter payback period means earlier recovery of
investment.
12. Define the meaning of mutually exclusive project?
A mutually exclusive project is one where acceptance of such a project will have an effect on the
acceptance of another project. In mutually exclusive projects, the cash flows of one project can
have an impact on the cash flows of another. For example, if you are planning to install the
window frame in your new building, you have three options: wooden frame, metal frame, and
metal frame. You can install one among the available in the market. Installing one option is
rejection to another option.
Unit-7
Capital structure and leverage
13. How does financial structure differ from capital structure? Describe the factors that
affect capital structure of a firm. Or what are the factors affecting target capital structure?
Financial structure refers to the composition of entire components of liabilities in equity in a
firm‟s balance sheet. It refers to the proportionate mix of current liabilities, long term debt,
preferred stock, and equity in the balance sheet of the firm. On the other hand, capital structure
only refers to the proportionate mix of long term and permanent capital such as long term debt,
preferred stock, and equity. It does not include the short term liabilities. Thus, capital structure is
only a part of financial structure of a firm.
The capital structure of a firm is affected by various factors as follows:
a) Business risk: the level of business risk is determined by the use of fixed operating cost
or operating leverage. The chance of business failure is higher for the firm with higher
level of business risk. Thus, they tend to use lower debt.
b) Cash flow stability: a firm with relatively stable cash flows finds no difficulties in
meeting its fixed charge obligation. Thus such firm tends to use more debt.
c) Firm size: the larger firms have easy access to the capital market as they have higher
credit rating for debt issues. Therefore they tend to use more debt capital than smaller
firms.
d) Sales growth: the firms with significant growth in sales have high market price per
 share. Thus they prefer to use more equity.
e) Control and risk: management‟s attitude towards control and risk also affect capital
structure decision, if management wants to maintain control in the firm, they prefer to use
more debt financing. Similarly, if the management of a firm is more risk seeker, they
attempt to use more debt to take the advantage of financial leverage.
f) Debt service capacity: debt service capacity of the firm is indicated by interest coverage
ratio. The firms with higher interest coverage ratio tend to use more debt.
g) Assets structure: maturity structure of assets to be financed also affects the capital
structure. A firm with relatively higher longer-term assets and stable demand of products
tends to use more long term debt.
14. What is meant by the term leverage? With which type of risk leverage generally
associated?
Leverage is a more popular term used in physics, which refers to the use of a lever to raise a
heavy object with relatively small forces, in finance leverage refers to the potential use of fixed
costs to magnify the earnings. There are three types of leverage:
Operating leverage: operating leverage shows the responsiveness of change in operating profit
to the change in sales. A given change in sales usually brings more than proportionate change in
operating profit because of the use of fixed operating costs. Thus operating leverage refers to the
potential use of fixed cost by a firm. The numerical measure of operating leverage is called the
degree of operating leverage.
Financial leverage: financial leverage explains how a given change in operating income of the
firm affects its earnings per share and earning to common stockholders. It is the responsiveness
of change in firm‟s EPS to the change in operating profit. Financial leverage exists because of
the use of fixed charge bearing securities, such as bond and preferred stock. In fact the financial
leverage refers to the use of debt in firm.
Total leverage: total leverage is the combination of operating and financial leverage. Degree of
operating leverage measures the degree of business risk associated with a firm. The operating
leverage results from the existence of fixed operating cost. On the other hand, the degree of
financial leverage measures the financial risk associated with a firm. It results from the existence
of fixed financing cost. The combined use of operating and financial leverage causes
considerable change in net income and EPS even there is only a small change in sales.
15. What is business risk? What are the some determinants of business risk?
Business risk is the riskiness on a firm‟s stock provided that the firm has used no debt capital. It
is the risk inherent in operation of the business. A firm‟s business risk arises because of
uncertainty associated with projections of return on invested capital. Return on investment varies
due to the number of factors such as variability in demand price of the product and general
economic condition, competition and so on. Business risk also called operating risk. Some
determinants are as follows:
 Demand volatility
 Selling price volatility
 Technological changes
 Level of fixed operating costs
 Input costs volatility
 Efficiency of price adjustment
Unit-10
Distribution of shareholder’s
16. What is repurchases of stock?
Stock repurchases refers to the repurchasing own outstanding shares of common stock by the
firm itself in the market place. There may be several motives for share repurchases. Some of the
motives may be to obtain shares to be used in acquisitions, to have shares available for employee
stock option plans, to achieve a gain in the book value of equity when shares are selling below
their book value, to retire outstanding share and so on.
17. In what situations should a firm declare stock dividend?
A firm usually issues a stock dividend when it does not have the cash available to issue a normal
cash dividend, but still wants to give the appearance of having issued a payment to stockholders.
The firm should declare stock dividend instead of a cash dividend when it happens to increase
the number of outstanding shares or to capitalize its retained earnings as paid in capital, or to
conserve the firm‟s cash for other purpose.
18. In what situations should a firm consider the repurchase of the stock?
Repurchase of stock is buying back outstanding share of common stock of a firm by itself from
open market. The basic motive of repurchase of stock is to retire the share and reduce the number
of outstanding shares. Similarly, a firm should consider the repurchase of the stock to make the
shares available for employee stock option. Repurchase of stock for retirement of outstanding
 share is considered similar to the payment of cash dividend. If earning remain constant
repurchase of shares reduce the number of outstanding shares thereby increasing the earnings per
share and market price per share.
19. What are the factors influencing dividend policy? Also explain the types of dividend
payout schemes.
Dividend policy of a firm is influenced by many factors. Some major factors are explained
below:
1) Legal requirements: certain conditions imposed by law restrict the dividend payment.
For example, dividend should not exceed the sum of current earnings and past
accumulated earnings; accumulated loss must be set off out of the current earnings before
paying out any dividends; firm cannot pay dividend out of its paid up capital because it
adversely affects the firm‟s equity base; it is strictly prohibited by law to pay dividends.
2) Repayments need: a firm uses debt financing for investment is assets. These debts must
be repaid at the maturity. The firm has to retain certain proportion of the profits every
year to meet the repayment need of debt at maturity. This reduces the dividend payment
capacity of the firm.
3) Expected rate of return: if a firm expects higher rate of return from new investment, the
firm prefers to retain the earnings for reinvestment rather than distributing cash
dividends.
4) Earnings stability: firms with relatively stable earnings tend to pay higher dividend. A
firm with unstable earnings is relatively uncertain about its future earnings prospects.
Such firm prefers to retain more out of current earnings.
5) Desire for control: the management with high desire for control in the company does not
prefer to issue additional common stock even the need for additional capital arises.
Issuing additional common stock may dilute their control authority. Instead of paying
dividend, the management prefers to retain the profits for reinvestment in such case.
6) Liquidity position:
7) Restrictions by creditors:
8) Personal tax bracket of shareholders:
9) Access to the capital market:
Types of dividend payout schemes:
Dividend payout schemes can be of two types: residual dividend policy and stability in
dividends. They are discussed below:
a) Residual dividend policy: under this policy, a firm pays dividend only after meeting its
investment need at desired debt-assets ratio. This policy assumes that the firm wises to
minimize the need of external equity, and attempts to maintain current capital structure.
Thus under this policy, the firm uses internally generated equity more to finance the new
projects that have positive NPV. Dividends are paid out of residual income left after
meeting equity financing need of new investment. Under this policy, net income is first
set aside to meet the equity requirement of new investment. If net income is left this,
dividend is paid otherwise not. The amount of dividend under this policy is worked out as
follows:
Dividend = net income – equity requirement of new investment
b) Stable dividend policy: under stable dividend policy, firm attempts to maintain stability
in dividend payment behavior. The stability in dividend is maintained according to the
following dividend payment schemes.
 Constant rupee per share dividend: under this scheme, a constant rupee per share
dividend is paid. The fixed amount of dividend per share is paid on an annual basis
irrespective of earnings for the year. The earnings may fluctuate from year to year but
dividends per share remain constant.
 Constant payout ratio: under this scheme the firm maintains constant dividend payout
ratio over the years. For example, if the dividend payout ratio is 30% maintain, it implies
that the firm pay 30% of its earnings in dividend every year. Dividend per share under
this policy fluctuates with earnings in the exact proportion.
 Minimum regular plus extra: under this policy, the firm always pay minimum regular
dividend per share and also pay extra dividend over the minimum regular dividend if
earnings increase as targeted. For example, with a minimum re2 per share regular
dividend plus extra 30% on the EPS exceeding rs10 policy, firm regular pays rs2 per
share in dividend and pays extra 30% dividend on the earnings exceeding rs10 per share
in any year.
20. What are Advantages of stock dividends?
 Stock dividend conserves the cash in the firm, so that it can be used in new projects
 Paying stock dividend does not result into cash outflows from the firm
  It simply involves a book keeping transfer from retained earnings to the capital stock
account
 Stock dividend is a way of recapitalization of earnings
21. In what situations should a firm consider the use of stock dividend?
Stock dividend is simply a book keeping transfer of equity account from retained earnings to
common stock and additional paid up capital account. It simply results into increase in number of
outstanding share with no change in total value of shareholder‟s equity. Stock dividend is a way
to recapitalize earnings. Thus a firm should consider paying stock dividend when it happens to
recapitalize earnings for reinvesting into profitable opportunities.
.
22. Unit-9
Working capital management
23. What is working capital management? Discuss the importance of working capital
management in a manufacturing firm.
Working capital management is concerned with managing firm‟s current assets and current
liabilities to maintain a proper trade of between profitability and liquidity. The working capital
management is important for the financial health of the firm due to the following reason:
A. It requires significant managerial consideration: for most manufacturing concerns, the
current assets represent significant part of total assets. The size and volatility of current
assets make working capital management a major managerial concern. Financial manager
spends much of their time in day-to-day internal operation of the firm, which revolves
around working capital management.
B. It is helpful to maintaining desired scale of operation: the relation between growth in
sales and working capital used in direct and close. So far as the firm is more concerned
about maximizing sales revenue, must involve in working capital management. For
example, as sales increase, firms must increase inventory and accounts payable to meet
the increasing sales requirement.
C. It assists in maintaining continuous cash flow: working capital management is also
important from the viewpoint of maintain continuous cash flow. A good working capital
management reflects in terms of adequate level of accounts receivable, inventory and
cash flow in and out of the firm. A firm doing better in working capital management can
maintain control over its accounts receivable and inventory and ensure the regular flow of
cash.
D. It is more significant to small firm: working capital management is particularly
significant for smaller firms, since they carry a higher percentage of current assets and
current liabilities. They survival of these firm largely depends on the effective working
capital management. Due to their limited approach to the long term capital market, they
have to rely heavily on the short term borrowing, trade credit and so on.
Importance of working capital management in a manufacturing firm:
Firm‟s liquidity has two major aspects: ongoing liquidity and protective liquidity. Ongoing
liquidity refers to the inflow and outflow of cash through the firm as the product acquisition,
production, sales, payment and collection takes place over time. Protective liquidity refers to the
ability to adjust rapidly to unforeseen cash demands and to have backup means available to raise
cash. The firm‟s ongoing liquidity is a function of its working capital cash flow cycle or cash
conversion cycle.
One important model to look at the working capital cash flows cycle is to analyze firm‟s cash
conversion cycle. This represents the net time interval in days between actual cash expenditure
of the firm and the ultimate recovery of cash. The cash conversion cycle model focuses on the
length of time between the company makes payments and when it receives cash flows. It
calculated as:
CCC= operating cycle – payable deferral period
A firm‟s operating cycle has two components: inventory conversion period and receivables
collection period.
Inventory conversion period (ICP) reefers to the length of time required for converting raw
materials in to finished goods and then into sales. It calculated as
ICP = inventory / sales per day
Receivable collection period (RCP), also called days sale outstanding or average collection
period, is the average length of time required to collect accounts receivable after credit sales has
taken place. It is calculated as:
RCP = receivable / credit sales per day
Payables deferral period (PDP), is defined as the average length of time between purchase of
materials and labor and the payment of cash for them. It is calculated as:
PDP = payables / credit purchase per day
Having determined all these three components, the cash conversion cycle (CCC) is given by:
CCC ICP RCP PDP
The calculation of cash conversion cycle is meaningful in a sense that it represents the average
length of time that the firm must hold investment in working capital. This discussion explores
one important point that the length of working capital investment depends on the length of cash
conversion cycle. If the firm is able to shorten its cash conversion cycle, the working capital
requirement also could be reduced. However, the length cash conversion cycle is positively
related with inventory conversion period and receivable collection period, whereas it is
negatively related with payables deferral period.
24. Explain the elements of credit policy of a firm with examples.
A firm‟s credit policy provides guidelines for determining whether to extend credit to a customer
and how much credit to extend. A firm‟s credit policy included three elements: credit standard,
credit terms, and collection policy as described below:
a) Credit standard: credit standards are minimum criteria for the extension of credit to a
customer. Credit standards refer to the financial strength and creditworthiness a customer must
exhibit in order to the quality for credit. Therefore setting a credit standard is the job of assessing
the credit quality of the customer. However assessment of credit quality of the customer on the
basis of given credit standard is totally based on the subjective judgment of credit manager. Firm
can use five Cs scoring factors, which includes character, capacity, capital, collateral and
conditions, to evaluate the credit standard.
Character is the moral state of customer determining the possibility of timely repayment of credit
granted. For evaluating moral character of customers, the credit manager may rely on past
background of customers regarding the behavior and intention of repayment effort. Capital refers
to the indicator of general financial condition of the credit customer as depicted by financial
statement. Collateral refers to the assets that a credit customer can present as security against
credit going to be granted to him. Capacity refers to the ability of customer to generate sufficient
cash required for serving credit granted to him. Finally, condition refers to the general economic
condition of the business with which the credit firm belongs.
b) Credit term: the credit term refers to the condition under which a firm sells its goods and
services for credit. After the creditworthiness of customers has been evaluated, the terms and
conditions on which credits are granted must be determined. Therefore, a firms credit terms
specify the repayment terms required of its entire credit customer.
A typical credit terms may be “ 2/10 net 30” which means that the customer gets a 2% cash
discount if the amount is paid within 10 days from the billing date. If customer fails to accept
discount offer the full amount of credit must be paid within 30 days from the billing date. Such
credit terms cover three components: cash discount, cash discount period and credit period.
A firm may offer cash discount to its credit customer for early payment of dues, when a firm
increase a cash discount, this increase the sales volume and reduce the investment in accounts
receivable, bad debt expenses and ultimately may put positive or negative impact on profit
figure. Therefore, the use of cash discounted for early payment is evaluated on the basis of
relative costs and benefits associated with cash discount offer.
c) Collection policy: collection policy refers to the procedure for collecting accounts receivable
when they are due. The basic aim of any collection policy is to speed up the collection of dues. If
collections are delayed, the firm should have to make alternative arrangements for financing the
production and sales. The effectiveness of collection policies can be evaluated by looking at the
level of bad debt expenses. Assuming the level of bad debts attributable to credit policies
constant, increasing collection expenditures is expected to reduce bad debts. In other words
greater the relative amount expended for credit collection, the lower the proportion of bad debts
and shorter the average collection period, assuming all other things remained constant.

25. Explain the various determinants of working capital for an enterprise.

The working capital requirement for a firm is influenced by a larger number of factors. They are
as follows:
a) Nature and size of business: the nature and business affects the working capital. If a firm
involve in trading or financial sector.it required very less investment in fixed assets than a
manufacturing firm. Thus, the working capital requirement for such firms is relatively larger. It
is more common to maintain larger working capital.
b) Cash conversion cycle: cash conversion cycle represent the length of period lag between the
time cash flow occurs in the form of purchase and investment in inventories and receivables and
the time cash inflows realize in the form of cash sales or collection of credit sales. Longer the
cash conversion cycle larger will be the working capital requirement.
c) Seasonal fluctuation: most firms have seasonal nature of business. For such firms, the
working capital need is relatively larger during the peak season because of increase temporary
working capital over and above the permanent working capital.
d) Production policy: if a firm adopts steady production policy, the investment in inventories
will build up during off seasons. As a result the working capital need of the firm increases.
e) Terms of purchase: if the term of credit purchase is relatively longer, the firm will have
larger spontaneous source of financing in the form of accounts payable, which results into
decline in working capital need.
f) Access to money market: the level of working capital to be maintained by a firm is also
determined by capacity of the firm to borrow on short notice. If the firm has good approach with
bank and finance companies, it can raise short term loans at very short notice so that working
 capital requirement is reduced
g) Credit policy:
h) Growth and expansion:

26. What is the working capital management? Why is the management of working capital
important in a business? Explain the role of cash budget in the management of working
capital.
Working capital management is concerned with managing firm‟s current assets and current
liabilities to maintain a proper trade of between profitability and liquidity. The working capital
management is important for the financial health of the firm due to the following reason:
 It requires significant managerial consideration
 It is helpful to maintaining desired scale of operation
 It assists in maintaining continuous cash flows
 It is more significant to small firm
The extent of firm‟s efficiency of cash management depends on its ability to forecast cash inflow
and outflow, more accurately. If cash inflow and outflow were perfectly predicted, no cash
management would be required. But cash outflows are almost certain whereas cash inflows are
uncertain and fluctuating. Therefore first of all, the firm should determine the extent to which
cash flows are non-synchronized. This required the preparation of a schedule forecasting the cash
receipts and payments during the month of a year. Cash budget, perhaps, serves as the most
important technique of planning and controlling the use of cash. Cash budget is simply defined
as the statement that depicts the firms estimate cash receipt and estimated cash disbursement
during the plan period. It serves the following purpose:
 It shows the amount of cash received from different sources each period
 It shows the cash payment need of the firm for given period
 It suggest on the surplus of deficit cash for the forecasted period
 The firm can plan for investment of surplus cash and financing of deficit cash
Thus, preparation of cash budget can ensure that the firm has sufficient cash during peak times
for purchasing and for other purpose. The firm can meet obligatory cash outflows when they fall
due. It can plan properly for capital expenditure to be incurred.

27. Short note of Re-order level

In real life situation, it is not possible to get the replenishment of inventory as immediately as
required. The basic problem associated with the inventory management is to determine when a
reorder should be placed. EOQ solves the problem of how much to order. Once order is placed it
will take sometimes to receive the delivery as per order placed. Thus, a reorder has to be placed
in advance before previous inventories are completely used. Hence a reorder level refers to the
level of inventory at which a reorder should be placed to receive the inventory at the time when
previous stocks exactly finish. It is worked out as follows:
ROP = (lead time × average usage) + safety stock

28. Economic order quantity.

Economic order quantity refers to the order size of inventory at which total inventory costs
remain at the minimum. EOQ is one of the most commonly used tools for determining the
optimal order quantity for an item of inventory. It takes into considerations the carrying and
ordering costs. Carrying cost is the cost per unit of holding an item of inventory for a specified
time period. Carrying cost includes cost of storage, insurance, and taxes, cost of deterioration and
obsolescence. Ordering cost includes the fixed clerical costs of placing and receiving an order.
They are cost of writing a purchase order cost of processing the paperwork; cost of receiving an
order and checking it against the invoice.
Thus, ordering cost and carrying cost oppositely react to each other in response to the order
quantity. Due to this fact, EOQ is determined at the order size where these two costs are equal
producing the minimum total cost of inventory.
29. What do you understand by inventory management? How do you exercise control over
inventories?
Inventory constitutes one of the important items of current assets, which permits the production
and sale process of a firm to operate smoothly. Inventories involve significant investment of
funds. In this sense, inventory is an investment that the firm ties up its money in it, thereby
forgoing certain other opportunities of investment. As the firm goes on investing more and more
in inventories, the cost of funds being tied up will increase. Therefore inventory management is a
significant part of firm‟s financial management function. So far as it is concerned to financial
management, investment in inventories must be minimized to the extent it is unnecessary. Here
inventory management of a firm attempts to meet two basic and conflicting requirements:
maintaining adequate size of inventory for smooth flow of production and selling activities;
minimizing investment in inventory to enhance firm‟s profitability. The following inventories
control system has close relationship to the determinants of inventory size.
a) ABC system: as inventories from one category to another differ in their value and
significance to the firm, it is not desirable to maintain the same degree of control upon all types
of inventories. The firm should be careful enough to maintain the best and effective control on
those inventories, which have the highest value. ABC system allows selective control on
inventories. It classifies all the inventories into three categories- A, B, and C on the basis of their
value. Category „A‟ consists of those items, which have very high percent of investment value
and category „C‟ include those, which have nominal value. The firm should direct most of its
inventory control efforts to the items included in category „A‟. Inventories in category „B‟
require less attention than those in „A‟ but more than those in „C‟.
b) Just- in- time (JIT) system: JIT is a system of inventory control in which a manufacturer
coordinates production with suppliers so that raw materials or components arrive just as they are
needed in the production process. This system helps to minimize carrying cost of inventory.
c) Red line method: under this system a red line is drawn around the inside of the bin used for
stocking inventories. This red line represents the re-order point of inventories. A re-order is
placed, when the level of inventories reaches down to red line drawn in the bin.
d) Two bin system: under two bins system, inventories are shocked in two separated bins. When
the stock is one bin completely used, the firm places a reorder to fill the bin and inventories are
drawn for use from the second bin.
e) Computerized system: larger firms design a specific computer programming to count the
stock of inventories. It is a system in which a computer is used to determine the reorder point and
adjust inventory balances. The computer starts with the level of inventory counted in memory.
When inventories are drawn the computer records them and balance of inventories is revised.
Determinants of inventories:
 Level of safety stock: if a firm has to maintain high level of safety stock because of
relatively larger degree of uncertainty associated to production and sales, the size of
investment in inventories is also larger.
 Economy in purchase: if the firm likely to receive certain benefits in the form of cash
discount for purchase made currently, the size of investment in inventories is also likely
to be larger because of longer larger quantity purchase.
 Possibility of price rise: if the price of materials is likely to rise in near future, the firm
makes larger quantity purchase at present.
 Cost and availability of funds: if the cost of funds to be invested in inventories is
relatively cheaper and they are conveniently available at present, the firm makes larger
purchase of inventories.
 Length of production cycle: if the length of production cycle is relatively longer the
firm has to maintain investment in work in progress inventories for longer duration of
time, which increase the size investment in inventories.
 Availability of materials: if certain kinds of materials are only available in particulars
season only, the firm has to increase the investment in inventories to keep the larger
stocks in a season.
 Carrying cost: if the cost of holding inventories in stock is relatively lower, the firm
keeps larger stocks of inventories.
 Size of the firm:
 Nature of business:
 Possibility of raise in demand:

30. State the motives for holding cash.

There are several motives for holding cash. They are as follows:
 Transaction motive for holding cash, that is holding cash to satisfy day to day transaction
need
  Precautionary motive for holding cash, that is holding cash to act as financial reserve
against contingencies
 Speculative motive for holding cash, that is holding cash to take the advantage of
profitable opportunities
 Compensating balance motive for holding cash that is holding cash to satisfy the
compensating balance requirement imposed by commercial banks.

31. What are the motives of holding cash? Explain in brief.

There are following motives for holding cash by firm.
a) Transaction motive: transaction motive refers to the need to hold cash to satisfy normal
disbursement collection activities associated with a firm‟s ongoing operation, in its ordinary
course of action, a firm frequently involves in purchase and sales of good or services. A firm
should make payment for the purchase of goods, payment of wages, salary, interest, commission,
brokerage, rent, taxes, insurance, dividends, and so on. In the likewise manner a firm receives
cash in terms of sales revenue, interest on loan given to outsider, return on investment made
outside the firm and so on.
b) Precautionary motives: precautionary motive refers to hold some cash as a safety margin to
act as a financial reserve. A firm should also hold some cash for the payment against unanticipated events. A firm may have
to face different emergencies such as strikes and lockup
from employees, increase in cost of raw materials funds and labor, fall in market demand and so
on. These emergencies also bound a firm to hold certain level of cash but how much cash is held
against these emergencies depends on the degree of predictability associated with future cash
flow. If there is high degree of predictability, less cash is needed against these.
c) Speculative motives: the speculative motive refers to the need to hold cash in order to be able
to take advantage of bargain purchase that might arise, attractive interest rates, and favorable
exchange rate fluctuations. Some firms hold cash in excess than transaction and precautionary
needs to involve in speculation. Speculation need for holding cash required that a firm possibly
may have some profitable opportunities to exploit, which are out of the normal course of
business.
Besides, a firm sometimes should also hold cash to meet the compensating balance requirement
demanded by commercial banks for providing short term loan, specially, commercial banks
demand a regular borrower to maintain an average checking account balance equal to some
percentage of the outstanding loan. The cash kept as compensating balance is not allowable for
the borrower to use. Bank provides different services to the firm. Compensating balance also
represents an indirect charge to bank for providing services by them. Hence, this also represents
the reason why a firm should hold cash.
32. What is the purpose of cash budget? What are the three major sections of a cash
budget?
The extent of firm‟s efficiency on the cash management depends on its ability to forecast cash
inflow and outflow, more accurately. If cash inflow and outflow were perfectly predicated, no
cash management would be required. But cash outflows are almost certain cash inflows and
uncertain and fluctuating. Therefore first of all, the firm should determine the extent to which
cash flows are non-synchronized. This requires the preparation of a schedule forecasting the cash
receipt and payment during the months of a year. The purpose of preparing cash budget is to
determine whether at a given point of time there is surplus or shortage of cash. It serves the
following purpose:
 It shows the amount of cash received from different sources each period
 It shows the cash payment need of the firm for given period
 It suggest on the surplus or deficit cash for the forecasted period,
Preparation of cash budget as a cash flow synchronization model requires several considerations.
The first and foremost consideration is to determine time period for which cash budget is to be
prepared and then determining the cash flow position. The three sections of cash budget are as
follows:
Cash receipt: in this section the forecast of cash receipt are shown. Cash receipt includes cash
sales, collection of credit sales, proceeds realized from the sale of fixed assets, borrowing,
interest and dividend received, and cash receipt from issue of the new share, bonds, debentures,
sale of securities etc.
Cash payment: this section provides the forecast of cash payment of the period. Cash payment
includes cash purchase, payment of credit purchase, payment of wages, salaries, factory, office
and selling & distribution expenses, purchase of fixed assets, payment of interest, tax, dividends,
redemption of shares and debentures and repssurchase of shares and debentures etc.
Cash balance: this section of the cash budget shows the forecast of cash surplus and deficit in
any period. If receipt of cash is higher there will be cash surplus. If payment is higher there will
 be cash deficit. Accordingly, firm should plan for investing surplus cash and financing deficit
cash.
33. How does the days sales outstanding (DSO) affect the investment in accounts
receivables?
The investment in accounts receivable is positively related to the length of day sales outstanding.
Longer days sales outstanding refers that the firm is slower in collecting receivables, which
increase the size of investment in accounts receivable.
34. What are the factors that affect receivable policies? Explain.
A firm‟s receivable policies are concerned with determining whether to extend credit to a
customer and how much and how long credit to extend. It is affected by several factors as
discussed below:
a) Competition: a firm‟s receivable policy is largely affected by the terms of credit offered by
the competitors. The competitors may be very aggressive to capture the market by offering more
liberal policy to the customers. Thus, considerations should be given to the terms of credit the
competitors are offering.
b) Financing cost: the cost of granting credit is an important factor in determining the degree to
which a firm is prepared to extend payment terms, credit terms and period should always be
concerned with the cost of running an overdraft or any other loans obtained to finance credit.
c) Attitude to risk and bad debts: comparative cost-benefit associated with receivable policy is
an important matter to affect the receivable policy. A firm should be able to measure the risk
associated with receivable policy in comparison to the inherent benefits.
d) The nature of the product: receivable policy is also affected by the nature of the product the
firm deals with. It basically affects the credit period offered. For example, the credit period is
shorter in food industry while it is longer in heavy industries such as plant industries.
e) Size of the order: the bigger the order the more the profits and this would warrant a longer
credit as the cost of credit is supported by the profits.
f) General condition of the economy: receivable policy is also dictated by the position of the
underlying domestic economy. For example, if the general condition of economy is in recession,
granting liberal credit may expose the firm toward higher degree of default risk