Piepkorn Manufacturing Working Capital Management, Part 1

You recently have been hired by Piepkorn Manufacturing to work in its newly established treasury department. Piepkorn Manufacturing is a small company that produces cardboard boxes in a variety of sizes. Gina Piepkorn, the owner of the company, works primarily in the sales and production areas. Currently, the company puts all receivables in one shoe box and all payables in another. Because of the disorganized system, the finance area needs work, and thats what youve been brought in to do. The company currently has a cash balance of $138,000 and plans to purchase new box-folding machinery in the fourth quarter at a cost of $275,000. The purchase of the machinery will be made with cash because of the discount offered. The companys policy is to maintain a target cash balance of $100,000. All sales are in cash and all purchases are made on credit. Gina Piepkorn has projected the following gross sales for each of the next four quarters:

Gross sales $777,500 $826,500 $896,000 $832,000

Gross sales for the first quarter of next year are projected at $815,000.

Piepkorn typically orders 50 percent of next quarters projected gross sales in the current quarter, and suppliers are typically paid in 53 days. Wages, taxes, and other costs run about 30 percent of gross sales. The company has a quarterly interest payment of $105,000 on its long-term debt. The company uses a local bank for its short-term financial needs. It pays 1.5 percent per quarter on all short-term borrowing and maintains a money market account that pays 1 percent per quarter on all short-term deposits. Gina has asked you to prepare a cash budget and short-term financial plan for the company under the current policies. She also has asked you to prepare additional plans based on changes in several inputs

QUESTIONS

1. Use the numbers given to complete the cash budget and short-term financial plan.
2. Rework the cash budget and short-term financial plan assuming Piepkorn changes to a target balance of $80,000