Optimizing Company Cash : a Guide for Financial Professionals
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University of Mississippi eGrove American Institute of Certified Public Guides, Handbooks and Manuals Accountants (AICPA) Historical Collection 2007 Optimizing company cash : a guide for financial professionals Michele Allman-Ward A. Peter Allman-Ward Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_guides 0094D-356_OptBusCash 12/15/06 12:29 PM Page 1 Making the most of a company’s working capital extends beyond the traditional functions of cash O management. Mining, managing and maximizing liquidity is an art and, increasingly, a science. Effective financial management is an integral part of a company’s success—an activity that has a PTIMIZING positive impact on a company’s bottom line and on shareholder value. Optimizing Company Cash is a tool to help financial professionals manage a company’s short-term resources to sustain ongoing activities, mobilize funds, and optimize cash. It contains workflow diagrams, checklists, templates, worked examples and step-by-step processes and tips to carry out the essentials of cash management. OPTIMIZING C OMPANY PRAISE FOR OPTIMIZING COMPANY CASH Comprehensive in scope, easy to use as a reference. A must-have for every Treasury professional’s desktop. C David L. O'Brien ASH COMPANY EDS Treasury Operations • • • • • • • • • • A guide for all professionals who are passionate about and have a vision for the cash management and treasury function—be they on the practitioner or vendor side. This book applies to the broad business of treasury management and represents one of the best references and practical guides I have read. One should add this book to A Guide for one’s professional resource library. Michèle Allman-Ward CASH Brian McArthur President and Director Financial Professionals Treasury Management Association of Canada CCOUNTANTS • • • • • • • • • • A This book does an excellent job of highlighting areas of risk for all finance UBLIC professionals to be cognizant of. The benefit of this book is its emphasis on real life P practices versus theoretical concepts. Caye Hursey • ERTIFIED Treasurer A. Peter Allman-Ward C AMD, Inc. NSTITUTE OF I MERICAN A AICPA Member and Public Information: www.aicpa.org a AICPA Online Store: www.cpa2biz.com AICPA Michèle Allman-Ward ISO Certified 029882 ® A. Peter Allman-Ward c00_FM_Ward_P5.qxp 12/14/06 3:47 PM Page i OPTIMIZING COMPANY CASH c00_FM_Ward_P5.qxp 12/14/06 3:47 PM Page ii c00_FM_Ward_P5.qxp 12/14/06 3:47 PM Page iii Optimizing Company Cash Please replace with the title page you have developed!!! A Guide for Financial Professionals Peter Allman-Ward, FCA, CPA Michèle A. Allman-Ward, CTP, Cert ICM c00_FM_Ward_P5.qxp 12/14/06 3:47 PM Page iv About the Authors The authors, Michèle and Peter Allman-Ward, have been married for over thirty years, despite writing this book together. Although they both work in banking, they are in very different fields. Michèle has worked for a num- ber of the most prominent commercial banks leading cash management and treasury-related businesses for more than 25 years. She now runs her own consulting company, Allman-Ward Associates, Inc.,working world-wide with companies, professional associations and banks. She specializes in strategic planning, business development and training, with particular emphasis on international cash and treasury management. She also works closely with both the Association for Financial Professionals (US) and the Association of Corporate Treasurers (UK) in developing and teaching their respective cash management certification programs, the CTP and the Cert ICM. Her previous books are The Essentials of Managing Corporate Cash (Wiley) and U.S. Cash Management: A Guide for the European Treasurer (Treasury Today Publications). Peter, on the other hand, has worked with lead- ing investment banks in a financial management capacity, most recently as Chief Financial Officer of Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc. When the AICPA approached Michèle to write a reference manual and workbook to help financial professionals to learn more about cash management, it was a logical extension for Peter, who is both a member of the AICPA and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, to provide the context for Michèle’s subject matter expertise. Notice to Readers Optimizing Company Cash: A Guide for Financial Professionals does not represent an official position of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and it is distributed with the understanding that the author and publisher are not rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services in this publication. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Copyright © 2007 by American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Inc. New York, NY 10036-8775 All rights reserved. For information about the procedure for requesting permission to make copies of any part of this work, please visit www.copyright.com or call (978) 750-8400. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 SP 2 0 0 1 9 8 7 ISBN 0-87051-654-X c00_FM_Ward_P5.qxp 12/14/06 3:47 PM Page v Dedication In loving memory of my mother Denise Lawley c00_FM_Ward_P5.qxp 12/14/06 3:47 PM Page vi c00_FM_Ward_P5.qxp 12/14/06 3:47 PM Page vii Contents List of Exhibits . xvii Foreword . xxi Acknowledgments . .xxiii Chapter 1 A Cash Manager’s Perspective on Company Financials . 1 Chapter Goals . 1 Introduction . 1 Interrelationship of the Operating, Cash, and Accounting Cycles . 2 Important Metrics . 3 Liquidity Ratios . 3 Leverage Ratios . 5 Capital Structure—Weighted Average Cost of Capital . 5 Performance Measures . 6 Efficiency Ratios . 6 Risk-Adjusted Performance Measures . 6 Risk Management . 9 Worked Examples of Company Metrics . 9 Practical Applications . 11 Summary of Key Points . 12 Chapter 2 It’s All About the Bottom Line! . 13 Chapter Goals . 13 Introduction . 13 The Major Functions of Cash Management . 14 Factors That Influence the Cash Manager’s Role . 16 A Representative Organization Chart . 16 Important Cash Management Concepts . 17 Cash Flow Timeline . 17 Financial Float . 18 Availability . 18 Finality . 19 vii c00_FM_Ward_P5.qxp 12/14/06 3:47 PM Page viii viii Contents Opportunity Cost of Funds . 20 Transaction Balances . 20 Time Value of Money . 20 Nature of Cash Flows . 22 Practical Applications . 22 Summary of Key Points . 22 Chapter 3 Optimizing Liquidity . 23 Chapter Goals . 23 Introduction . 23 Liquidity Management . 23 Cash Is King . 24 Float in the Financial Supply Chain . 24 Sources and Uses of Liquidity . 26 Optimizing Working Capital . 26 Cash Conversion Cycle . 27 Calculating How Much Liquidity a Company Needs . 28 Costs of Too.