Working Capital Management: Applications and Case Studies

Stay liquid, think global, and better manage resources with this authoritative guide

Working Capital Management is a comprehensive primer on keeping your business financially competitive in the face of limited access to short-term funds. With detailed insight applicable to each phase in the business cycle, this authoritative guide helps managers revamp current practices for more efficient use of assets and liabilities, including more stringent monitoring and planning of collections, disbursements, and balances. Readers will learn how to minimize investments in idle resources, and how to maximize the use of forecast data to better identify risk and the optimal use of available funds. Case studies illustrate the practical applications of the ideas presented, with particular attention given to cash budgeting, forecasting, banking relationships and other common scenarios with specific requirements.

Managing a company’s short-term resources is both an art and a science. Effectively maintaining funds for ongoing activities – and keeping those funds liquid, mobile, and available – is a masterful skillset lacking in business. Working Capital Management offers practical advice for managers in this challenging position, providing guidance that helps them:

• Learn the specific metrics at work in capital management, and the problems that they can cause
• Improve cash management with robust fraud protection and better use of short-term instruments
• Manage the issues that arise from accounts receivable, inventory, payables, information management, and international sources

• Develop an effective management system for key points in the working capital cycle

The recent liquidity crisis in the U.S. has thrown the spotlight onto those companies that have adjusted well to credit contraction and the weakened economy, and these success stories – some of which are noted in the book – demonstrate that a positive business outcome can be accomplished. Working Capital Management provides a clear look at a complex issue, with practical, actionable, sustainable advice.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Concepts in Working Capital Management
Chapter 2 Working Capital Ratios and Other Metrics
Chapter 3 Cash—Management and Fraud Prevention
Chapter 4 Cash—Credit and Short-Term Financial Instruments
Chapter 5 Managing Bank Relationships
Chapter 6 Accounts Receivable and Working Capital Issues
Chapter 7 Inventory and Working Capital Issues
Chapter 8 Payables and Working Capital Issues
Chapter 9 International Working Capital
Chapter 10 Information and Working Capital
Chapter 11 Managing the Working Capital Cycle
Chapter 12 Introduction to Working Capital Cases

APPENDIX 1 Basic Financial Concepts
APPENDIX 2 Websites of Working Capital Organizations