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Optimization of the company's cash flow

This book is about the company's treasuries and financial management, more specifically; it shows how a company can manage its treasury in an efficient and short way.

This book is about the company's treasuries and financial management, more specifically; it shows how a company can manage its treasury in an efficient and short way.

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Anyway many authors have developed models <strong>of</strong> management relating to so-called 'transaction' <strong>cash</strong>, ei<strong>the</strong>r to socalled<br />

<strong>cash</strong> <strong>of</strong> "precaution". Cash transaction is directly attached to <strong>the</strong> operations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> operating cycle, while <strong>cash</strong>'s<br />

caution is justified by unforeseen and significant expenses having a character <strong>of</strong> protection against depreciation,<br />

losses and risks.<br />

B - THE ESSENTIAL VARIABLES INVOLVED IN THE DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMAL AMOUNT OF CASH.<br />

We examine successively <strong>the</strong> following five decision factors:<br />

The nature, behavior and <strong>the</strong> volume <strong>of</strong> <strong>cash</strong> <strong>flow</strong>s.<br />

Revenues and transaction costs, related to <strong>the</strong> securities.<br />

The length <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>cash</strong> <strong>flow</strong>’s forecast period.<br />

The value <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> minimum balance critical <strong>cash</strong>.<br />

The cost <strong>of</strong> breakdown <strong>of</strong> <strong>cash</strong>.<br />

1- THE NATURE, BEHAVIOR AND VOLUME OF THE CASH FLOWS.<br />

A portion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>cash</strong> <strong>flow</strong>s for <strong>the</strong> budgeted period is <strong>the</strong> result <strong>of</strong> decisions taken by <strong>of</strong>ficials <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> firm during this<br />

period; ano<strong>the</strong>r part is generated by decisions taken during previous periods. Naturally <strong>the</strong> Treasurer will honor all<br />

expenses incurred by <strong>the</strong> managers within <strong>the</strong>ir budget, even though <strong>cash</strong> must fall below zero. There is a category<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>cash</strong> on which <strong>the</strong> Treasurer has no control. Similarly, payments <strong>of</strong> claims by <strong>the</strong> customers, as well as sales in <strong>cash</strong><br />

during <strong>the</strong> period, represent receipts on which <strong>the</strong> Treasurer has no power.<br />

Such financial <strong>flow</strong>s correspond to a type <strong>of</strong> transactions to which <strong>the</strong> attitude <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Treasurer is purely passive. On<br />

<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, two sets <strong>of</strong> transactions are normally controlled by <strong>the</strong> head <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Treasury. These are, firstly, shortterm<br />

loans and <strong>the</strong>ir repayment, and <strong>the</strong> purchase and sale <strong>of</strong> securities. Therefore, at <strong>the</strong> level <strong>of</strong> <strong>cash</strong> INFLOWS,<br />

we can distinguish three kinds <strong>of</strong> financial transactions:<br />

Loans’ reimbursement and repayment <strong>of</strong> short-term funds;<br />

Purchases and sales <strong>of</strong> securities;<br />

All o<strong>the</strong>r transactions.<br />

The first two are controllable by <strong>the</strong> financial controller; <strong>the</strong> third, on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, is sustained and sometimes<br />

even random. Consequently four groups <strong>of</strong> financial transactions will play on <strong>the</strong> level <strong>of</strong> INFLOW <strong>cash</strong>:<br />

Loans and repayments <strong>of</strong> funds lent to short term (non-random <strong>flow</strong>);<br />

Purchases and sales <strong>of</strong> securities (non-random <strong>flow</strong>);<br />

O<strong>the</strong>r random transactions;<br />

O<strong>the</strong>r transactions.<br />

The first two groups will be tools for balance between <strong>the</strong> hands <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Treasurer.<br />

2 - TRANSACTION COSTS AND REVENUES ASSOCIATED WITH THE "SECURITIES".<br />

Treasurer who behaves rationally, is expected to invest its funds that are Free <strong>of</strong> any sort <strong>of</strong> engagements in <strong>the</strong> form<br />

<strong>of</strong> "investment securities" (or even in <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> escrow account in Bank). These values should have <strong>the</strong><br />

characteristic to be bought and sold quite quickly and quite easily, and a probability <strong>of</strong> low loss. Transaction costs<br />

relating to <strong>the</strong> purchase and sale <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> securities represent a small percentage <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> amount <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> transaction. But<br />

<strong>the</strong>se costs can be higher than gross income whereas, especially if <strong>the</strong> period <strong>of</strong> detention <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> security is short. In<br />

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