Tashay Wilcox is being considered for CFO for Raucous Roasters $($RR$),$ a specialty coffee manufacturer. She is tasked to rethink the company's working capital policy considering a recent scare when RR$\text{'}$s corporate banker citing a nationwide credit crunch, balked at renewing RR$\text{'}$s line of credit. Had the line of credit not been renewed, RR would not have been able to make payroll, potentially forcing the company out of business. Although the line of credit was ultimately renewed, the scare has forced RR to examine carefully each component of RR$\text{'}$s working capital to make sure it is needed, with the goal of determining whether the line of credit can be eliminated entirely. In addition to $($possibly$)$ freeing RR from the need for a line of credit, reducing working capital can also add value to a company by improving its EVA $($Economic Value Added$).$ In her corporate finance course Wilcox learned that EVA is calculated by taking net operating profit after taxes $($NOPAT$)$ and then subtracting the dollar cost of all the capital the firm uses:

EVA $=$ NOPAT $-$ Capital costs $=$ EBIT$(1-$ T$)-$ WACC $($Total capital employed$)$

If EVA is positive, then the firm's management is creating value. On the other hand, if EVA is negative, then the firm is not covering its cost of capital and stockholders' value is being eroded. If RR could generate its current level of sales with fewer assets, it would

need less capital. This would, other things held constant, lower capital costs and increase its EVA. Historically, RR has done little to examine working capital, mainly because of poor communication among business functions. In the past, the production manager resisted efforts to question his holdings of raw materials, the marketing manager resisted questions about finished goods, the sales staff resisted questions about credit policy $($which affects accounts receivable$),$ and the treasurer did not want to talk about the cash and securities balances. However, with the recent credit scare, this resistance became unacceptable amid a company$-$wide examination of cash, marketable securities$,$ inventory, and accounts receivable levels. Wilcox also knows that decisions about working capital cannot be made in a vacuum. For example, if inventories could be lowered without adversely affecting operations, then less capital would be required, the dollar cost of capital would decline, and EVA would increase. However, lower raw materials inventories might lead to production slowdowns and higher costs, and lower finished goods inventories might lead to stock$-$outs and loss of sales. So$,$ before inventories are changed, it will be necessary to study operating as well as financial effects. The situation is the same with regard to cash and receivables. Investigation begun by collecting the ratios shown below.

$\backslash$table$[[,$RR$,$Industry$],[$Current$,1\mathrm{.}75,2\mathrm{.}25],[$Quick$,0\mathrm{.}92,1\mathrm{.}16],[$Total liabilities$/$assets$,58\mathrm{.}76\%,50\mathrm{.}00\%$