Tips for effectively managing work capital

 

Manage procurement and inventory

Careful inventory management is an important element in leveraging your working capital. The cash resources of any corporation may have a heavy burden on excessive stocks. On the other hand, inadequate inventory will cause customer relations to lose sales and harm. It is important to look at the inventory and keep track of what you purchase and what you purchase. The biggest challenge for companies is to achieve optimal stock standards: encouraging enhanced interdepartmental communications and demand forecasts are measures to be taken to avoid an excessive inventory for your business. The stock may be lost if it takes time, in addition to raising prices for phyto sanitary storage and insurance.

When stock levels are not defined, the optimal level cannot be controlled and the company risks losing revenue due to a material shortage. Periodic inventory reviews are useful to track stock levels and notify finance for repeated over- or over-inventory problems.

Control of what is purchased is extremely essential. Working capital will significantly improve by investing in automated procurement solutions. The simplification and centralization of the procurement system permits a strict authorization process. This helps deter maverick spending by ensuring that buying agents can only order products / services approved by preferential vendors.



Pay vendors on time

The discipline of payments should be an essential component of your payable process. Study of working capital ratios reveals that increased payable efficiency and reduced payable days outstanding (DPO) are the main change. Timely paying businesses have stronger ties with their suppliers and are more likely to negotiate better prices, payment rates and discounts. The way to maintain a stable operating capital seems counter-intuitive, but if you keep your vendors satisfied, it might save you money in the long run while having bigger discounts for bulk sales, repeated orders and credit time maximizations.

Improve the receivables process

A strong collection mechanism must be in place in order to shorten the claims time. The sending of invoices is an important part of the working capital. Companies should rethink the method of invoicing to eradicate inadequacies which could lead to delays in the sending of invoices to the debtors (manual sorting, missing invoices, a large amount of management invoices, etc.). Deloitte, a professional service provider, advises that the invoice distribution technology be used to speed up the billing and collection processes and eventually to shorten the cash conversion time. It is also important to guarantee the authenticity of the invoices before they are forwarded to your debtors, so that delays are avoided. Holding a precise debtor leader means you are up to debtor collection dates and can give payment notices in time to your customers.

Manage debtors effectively

The only way to ensure that the working capital comes on time is to ensure the money arrives. It may be important to reassess the contracts and credit arrangements with debtors, so that debtors do not have a window that they can pay for products and services – as that may have a negative effect on the cash flow of their businesses. CFOs should revisit credit agreements with management in order to make sure the debtors' credit levels are sufficient to the cash flow requirements of your business. In order to minimize bad debt, more stringent loan checks must be carried out and efficient credit management measures enforced to push out late-paying borrowers.

Make informed final decisions

Working capital does not have an interest rate, which ensures that a company's cash source is cheapest and quickest. The work capital studies of both the PWC and the Hackett Group mean that most businesses do not need debt funding, instead they should look at working capital opportunities in their balances.

Working capital priority enables businesses to make strategic investment choices that drive operating productivity and profitability. Conversely, inadequate operational liquidity may have a major impact on the cash flow since the assets are connected to stocks or unpaid invoices.

The way to ensure operating capital is handled is in the company to operational level to use main performance measures (KPIs). Include inventory measurements and KPIs such as outstanding revenue days, outstanding payable days and outstanding inventory days, as you map the receivables and debt over time. In order to sustain a sound working capital management plan, continuous metric analysis is important.

 

 

 

Asset based financing

You can borrow the value of your premises, plant and equipment by asset-based financing. This is a long-term lending strategy with favorable interest rates, since the loan is backed with an asset.

In several situations, the alternative lenders use a panel of vendors to negotiate the most competitive rate and the most suitable repayment period, regardless of whether you plan to repay quickly to reduce the overall interest or spread the loan over a number of years to reduce your monthly income.

Invoice factoring and discounting

Factoring or discounting allows you to borrow about 85% of your invoice value as soon as you increase it. Then, after your client has paid you, you repay the loan, interest and charges. Choose factoring and the debtor chief is owned and manages all facets of lending control by the financial firm. Possibly, their experience would mean quicker payments and therefore lower interest rates.

You can, however, want to retain leverage over your own debtors so that your customers don't negotiate with a third party. In this situation, you can opt for a discount on the invoices that simply funds the invoice.

But you decide to answer the question, if you want to remain in company, it is important to maintain adequate working capital. Make the right decisions and have the cash to pay your employees and suppliers, take on additional orders and new customers, particularly investing in your future business development.

 

(Five Tips for Effectively Managing Working Capital - SoftCo, n.d.)

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