1. Basic concepts A Aa E During the wake of the financial crisis, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that shortening the cash cycle and better use of working capital" are the most important factors as private sector businesses struggle to overcome the current economic volatility and difficulty in accessing capital markets (IBM Global Business Services, "Managing Working Capital in the New Economic Environment, http://www.935.ibm.com/services/uk/bcs/pdf/working capital paper.pdf). Considering how important worldng capital management is, Spentworth Co. decided to evaluate the amount of working capital being used in the firm and explore the prospects of how its working capital will be financed. Spentworth Co. reported the following results for current assets and liabilities on its most recent balance sheets. Interestingly, the company's sales did not change-it reported sales of $5,550 for its most recent year as well as for last year. The columns labeled "Ending ($)" show results at the end of the most recent year, and the columns labeled "Beginning (5)' show results at the end of the previous year: Beginning ($) Ending ($) Beginning ($) Ending ($) Current assets Cash Accounts receivable Inventory 1,300 2,500 1,950 2,500 2,000 1,700 Current liabilities Accounts payable Notes payable Accruals 2,400 1.600 2.450 1,800 Using the information given and a 365-day year, calculate days of working capital, net working capital, and net operating working capital for Spentworth Co. Use your calculations to complete the following statements: Spentworth Co.'s days of working capital improved from days in the previous year to days at the end of the most recent year. The company's net working capital increased from $1,750.00 in the previous year to at the end of last year. Spentworth Co.'s net operating working capital increased from In the previous year to $3,750.00 at the end of last year. Consider the following statement: If Spentworth Co. overoptimizes its manufacturing process, reducing its goods-in-process inventory to below Industry levels, it would completely eliminate business risk Based on your understanding of working capital, operating assets, and nonoperating assets, kentify whether the preceding statement is true for Spentworth Co. This statement is false for Spentworth Co. This statement is true for Spentworth Co