Chapter 12

Make an Excel spreadsheet to organize your answers to the following problem, and submit your Excel file as an attachment by clicking on the appropriate button on this page.

A company with annual sales of $22,000,000 is considering changing its payment terms from net 40 to net 30 to encourage customers to pay more promptly. The company forecasts that customers would respond by paying on day 32 rather than day 44 as at present (assume a 360 day year) but would decrease their purchases by $400,000 per year. The company also forecasts that its idle cash balance would decrease by $80,000 and administrative costs would be reduced by $30,000 per year. The company's variable costs average 62% of sales, it is in the 35% marginal tax bracket, and it has an 8% cost of capital.

Part A: Calculate the incremental cash flows from accepting this proposal, and organize your cash flows into a cash flow spreadsheet.

Part B: Calculate the proposal's NPV, IRR, and NAB.

Part C: Should the company shorten its payment terms?