WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT You have recently been hired to work in your companys newly established treasury department. The company is a small company that produces cardboard boxes in a variety of sizes for different purchases. The owner of the company, works primarily in the sales and production areas of the company. 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 you have been brought in to do.

The company currently has a cash balance of $305,000 and it plans to purchase new box-folding machinery in the fourth quarter at a cost of $525,000. The machinery will be purchased with cash because of a discount offered. The companys policy is to maintain a minimum cash balance of #125,000. All sales and purchases are made on credit.

The owner has projected the following gross sales for each of the next four quarters.

GROSS SALE Q1= 1,310,000. Q2=1,390,000 Q3= 1,440,000 Q4=$1,530,000

Also, gross sales for the first quarter of the next year are projected at $1,405,000. The company currently has an accounts receivable period of 53 days and an accounts receivable balance of $645,000. 20% of the accounts receivable balance is from a company that has just entered bankruptcy, and it is likely this portion of the accounts receivable will never be collected

The company typically orders 50% of the next quarters projected gross sales in the current quarter, and suppliers are typically paid in 42 days. Wages, taxes and other costs run about 30% of gross sales. The company has a quarterly interest payment of $135,000 on its long tern debt.

The company uses a local bank for its short-term financial needs. It pays 1.5% per quarter on all short-term borrowing and maintains a money market accounts that pays 1% per quarter on all short-term deposits.

You have been asked to prepare a cash budget and short-term financial plan for the company under the current policies. You have also been asked to prepare additional/alternative plans based on changes in several inputs.

REQUIRED: Respond to the following questions. Written responses must comprise at least three complete sentences, with proper grammar and punctuation. Cite any referenced materials using APA format.

In the Excel spreadsheets, all calculations that support your answers must be shown as formulae.

QUESTION: You have looked at the credit policy offered by the competition and determined that the industry standard credit policy is 1/19 net 40. The discount will begin to be offered on the first day of the first quarter. You want to examine how this credit policy would affect the cash budget and short-term financial plan. If this credit policy is implemented, you believe that 40% of all sales will take advantage of it, and the outstanding accounts receivable period will decline to 36 days.

A). Rework the cash budget and short-term financial plan under the new credit policy and a minimum cash balance of $100,000. (Sheet 3)

B). What interest rate are you effectively offering your customers?