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by Ravindra Beleyur
Sales become more important in a growing needs to be managed well- in times good
economy than managing cash well. As a and bad.
result, many businesses need more cash
than required to run their operations. It is It is not uncommon to hear that cash is
easy to get more credit in good times but locked up in inventory and account
securing more working capital during an receivables (Exhibit 1). But, without looking
economic crisis is not as easy. No doubt, for ‘cash sinks’ in their business, managers
the situation has improved but banks and try to make up for the shortfall by
other financial institutions still need to additional finance from banks or other
loosen their purse strings. sources. Many a times, they also end up
delaying payments to the suppliers.
The recent financial crisis has made
businesses introspect and take drastic This article presents the reasons why
actions to keep the wheels rolling. businesses find themselves in cash crunch
Managers have learnt that cash is king situations and what steps they can take to
during recession. However, cash always improve such a situation.
Ravindra Beleyur (ravi@kanvic.com) is cofounder and a partner at Kanvic where he leads corporate
finance practice.
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Accounts
receivable
Raw material
Finished goods
Accounts
payable
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You have got cash! Know how to free it up.
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manufactured based on confirmed orders customer on right time. Given the complexity
but, sometimes managers initiate material of today’s business operations and
procurement and other planning activities geographically dispersed teams, customer
without actually receiving the confirmed requirements may not be communicated well to
order. In such a case, if the customer planning and production departments, leading
changes her mind, either canceling the order to wrong procurement of materials or mistakes
or changing the specifications, these goods in final products which customers refuse to
will end up as non-moving inventory. accept.
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You have got cash! Know how to free it up.
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Next, a detailed analysis of each non-moving to develop and implement a robust credit
receivable should be done along with the policy. Credit manager can assess credibility
account manager. If there is a dispute for of prospective customer, expected sales
any receivable, managers should resolve it value, credit terms and the risk which the
quickly to convert the outstanding into cash. company may be willing to take.
When receivables are difficult to recover, it Credit policy should require strict adherence
may be possible to recover the goods from to the credit limits while despatching goods.
the customer if the goods are in perfect It needs to have a built-in system to review
condition. Taking back the goods will result credit limit while booking orders. If the
in reversal of sales and profit booked earlier credit limit is likely to exhaust with new
but it is better than not recovering at all. order, it should be communicated to the
The company may have to sell such returned customer to either receive the payment
items at a discount if the goods are sensitive before delivery or to at least take an
to change in seasons (either climatic or assurance that payment will be made on
festive seasons). Even then, it makes more delivery.
sense to convert such receivable into cash
rather than keep it as an irrecoverable Credit policy should also have a provision for
amount. any overdue outstanding bill. Such cases
should be treated as if credit limit is not
Finally, if the overdue outstanding is very available, and no despatches should be
high and if it looks impossible to recover the made until overdue outstanding is paid by
amount in ordinary course of business, the customers.
managers may have to recover through legal
means. This action may also help in sending Deciding credit limit should not be a one-
out a message to other customers who may time affair. The limits should be reviewed at
require a similar approach. Of course, taking least twice a year even in the normal course.
legal recourse should be the last option after However, if there are continuous defaults by
weighing value of customer in the long run, customers, the limits should be reviewed
costs of litigation and the value recoverable. and revised without waiting for the periodical
review. The review should take into account
Develop a robust credit policy sales history and payments.
Prevention is always better than cure. For
supplying goods on credit, companies need
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You have got cash! Know how to free it up.
Keep a dynamic inventory clearance discounts or to make use of the items for
plan some final products which could be saleable.
Like receivables, it is also important to Finally, they chose the option best suited to
adopt a segmented approach towards meet their specific situation.
inventory. All inventory including raw
materials, work-in-process1 and finished If non-moving finished goods include some
goods should be classified as moving or non- unsaleable items like water heater or small
moving based on nature of industry, type of boilers, then management may have to take
process, the item and its value. As a first a decision to dismantle the system, make
step, consider any item, not moved for more use of parts wherever possible and sell the
than six months as non-moving. remaining as scrap because there will be no
gain by keeping the items in stock. (Please
Next, check non-moving items for physical see the box on page 9 to know what
availability and the quantities available. happens when a bold decision is not taken).
Based on this, the management can consider
various options to convert non-moving When a company receives orders for export,
stocks into cash. it is unlikely to make all products as per the
standard requirements. Invariably, some
Segmenting inventory into moving and non- export leftovers remain, which need to be
moving items needs to become a regular disposed of in the local market. If the
feature of any reporting system about leftovers are not the standard items sold in
inventory but it should go beyond reporting the local market, they may command far
to real action to improve cash situation. less price than the export price or a
comparable price. Managers should accept
A company known to us prepared a list of the fact and make a decision to dispose of
over 500 swatches of various coloured yarns such items at the earliest instead of waiting
while identifying non-moving items. Then, for a particular price2. This can make more
management looked for options to dispose of sense instead of allowing leftovers as non-
the stocks. Some options considered were to moving inventory, tying up cash.
sell non-moving stocks at substantial
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Logically there should not be any non-moving work in process; but there are possibilities of such items
if a custom product is produced without understanding or receiving complete specifications, leaving the
work-in-process item unsuitable for the customer
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There was a time when polyester textured 100 denier product was not a standard product sold in
Indonesia and export leftovers could be sold far below the export price.
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The yarn SBU head was unbending in realising the market price
without even thinking how much value had already been lost in
keeping the inventory. Moreover, the group as a whole would have
made a gain of $25,000. (It was a time when the bank interest rate
had exceeded 18% per annum).
Despite a clear gain to the group, yarn SBU head did not reduce the
price and sell yarn to the weaving unit. I am sure that yarn could be
lying there even today virtually worth nothing!
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You have got cash! Know how to free it up.
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About Kanvic
K anvic is a management consulting firm helping businesses winning
strategies, develop drive profitable growth and achieve operational
excellence to reap long lasting rewards in fast growing Indian economy. We
work with C-level executives to develop innovative solutions for business
challenges of 21st century India by bringing in leading edge management
thinking informed by in-depth research and sound analysis.
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