Cash Management: Introduction, Nature, Objectives, Scope, Factors, Models, Advantages

Typical investment decisions include the decision to build another grain silo, cotton gin or cold store or invest in a new distribution depot. At a lower level, marketers may wish to evaluate whether to spend more on advertising or increase the sales force, although it is difficult to measure the sales to advertising ratio. The preparation of functional budgets will be a useless job unless the requisite amount of cash is made available to implement them.

Firm’s ability to borrow depends on many factors such as its credit standing, relation with the banks and so on. Cash budget would reveal the quantum as well as periods of cash shortages. Every shortage of cash involves a cost depending upon the quantum and duration of shortfall.

Summary: Budgets and the Budgeting Process

The first step in the budgeting process is the preparation of the sales budget, which is a detailed schedule showing the expected sales for the budget period. An accurate sales budget is the key to the entire budgeting process. Sometimes a budget may be prepared for a shorter period (like monthly budget, quarterly budget, etc.). Short­term budgets are prepared in detail and these budgets help to exercise control over day-to-day operations. The personnel budget is a functional budget that outlines the planned human resources expenses, including salaries, benefits, and training costs. It considers the company’s staffing needs and the cost of attracting, hiring, and retaining employees.

This video discusses the purchases budget for a merchandiser but if you begin at minute 9 it will pick up with the cash disbursement schedule example. You may want to complete the rest of the cash flow budget first to see if major capital expenditures will be feasible this year. If a portion of the item will be financed by borrowing, then include the anticipated loan amount in the “Financing” section. List beginning inventories prior to harvest, and expected new crop production after harvest. Remember to exclude grain transferred to the landlord under a cropshare lease. Finally, estimate the quantity of feed purchases needed, if any, and the quantity available to sell.

What is a cash budget?

The important thing to keep in mind while arriving at these figures is that past experience is important, but so is intuition. The estimates you will need to develop must be based in reality and yet contain a dose of creativity and, if warranted, optimism. The example shows that an inordinately large dividend payment in the second week of the cash budget, coupled with a large asset purchase in the following week, places the company in a negative cash position. Paying out such a large dividend can be a problem for lenders, who do not like to issue loans so that companies can use the funds to pay their shareholders and thereby weaken their ability to pay back the loans. Thus, it may be wiser for the company to consider a small dividend payment and avoid a negative cash position. Significantly, the summary of estimated cash flows presented in a cash budget enable companies to make plans about the future availability of cash.

There is always some time-gap between the issue of cheque by the firm and its presentation to its bank by the creditor’s bank for payment due to transit and processing delays by the creditor. This is used to describe the amount of time that passes in between the reception of a bill and the actual remittance Introduction to Cash Budget of the payment that is due. One of the tactics in the payment process is to wait until the payment due date before dropping the cheque in the mail. Average Collection Period is the approximate amount of time that it takes for a business to receive payments owed, in terms of receivables, from its customers.

Cash Management

The beginning cash balance is the amount of cash the company has at the start of the budget period. The cash inflows section lists the sources of cash for the budget period, such as sales revenue and loans. The total expected unit sales for all products in the budget period are 4,500 units, and the total sales revenue is $243,750. The sales budget table helps the company to plan its production, marketing, and inventory management activities based on the expected sales volume. It also provides a basis for measuring the actual sales performance during the budget period and making adjustments as needed.

• Adequate cash balance with the firm creates an environment of security, confidence, and high morale and creates overall efficiency in a business.
• The supplier will present the draft to his bank for its presentation to the buying company’s bank.
• Outline your tentative plans for livestock and crop production for the year, as shown in Example 1.
• The cash budget shows the net effect on cash resources of all the expected transactions of a company during the budget period.
• Cash inflows and outflows refer to the actual cash amounts in the business.
• Cash balances may fluctuate considerably within a single accounting period, thereby masking cash shortfalls that can put a company in serious jeopardy.

Thus, with the help of the budget, the finance manager can maintain high liquidity without jeopardizing the firm’s profitability. It enables management to obtain a preview of the cash position of the firm. The objective of preparing a cash budget is to enable the management to meet its cash obligations as and when they fall due and to keep idle cash to a minimum level. C) Since fixed assets and stocks will increase in money value, the same quantities of assets must be financed by increasing amounts of capital. A cash budget is prepared for the budget period, however, for effective cash management, it is generally divided monthly, weekly or even daily.

corporate finance

The disbursement float is immediately lost when the payer authorizes a single or recurring electronic debit. Funds are automatically transferred from a customer’s account to the firm’s account on dates generally specified by, or agreed to between, the customer and the firm. Records of payment appear on both the customer’s and the firm’s statements.

• A flexible budget makes it easy to estimate what costs should be for any level of activity within a specified range.
• A schedule of cash payments is similar to the cash collections schedule, except that it accounts for the company’s purchases instead of the company’s sales.
• The disbursement float is immediately lost when the payer authorizes a single or recurring electronic debit.
• Cash budget is also conducive to the formulation of sound dividend policy for the firm.
• Thus, on the basis of the past experience, the finance manager could estimate on an average, the cheques presented on the pay day on the subsequent day for payment.
• The attitude of management towards liquidity and profitability affects the level of cash.