1. Credit Control ( AR Management)
Dr Clive Vlieland-Boddy

2. Working Capital Management
Working capital management requires managing current assets (cash balances, accounts receivable and inventory) and current liabilities (accounts payable and short-term debt) when faced with political, foreign exchange, tax and liquidity constraints.
The overall goal is to reduce funds tied up in working capital while simultaneously providing sufficient funding and liquidity for the conduct of global business.
Working capital management should enhance return on assets and return on equity and should also improve efficiency ratios and other performance measures. 2

3. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE MANAGEMENT
The level of accounts receivable is dependant on two factors:
The volume of credit sales
The average collection period
Economic conditions cannot be controlled, but a business can
control its collection policies with an effect on both sales and
average collection period.
CREDIT POLICIES
There are four elements of a credit policy:
Credit Period
Cash Discounts
Credit Standards
Collection Policy 3

4. Accounts Receivable Management: The Five Cs of Credit
Character: The applicant’s record of meeting past obligations.
Capacity: The applicant’s ability to repay the requested credit.
Capital: The applicant’s debt relative to equity.
Collateral: The amount of assets the applicant has available for use in securing the credit.
Conditions: Current general and industry-specific economic conditions.

5. The 4 Elements of credit policy
Credit Period – How long to pay? Shorter period reduces DSO and average A/R, but it may discourage sales.
Cash Discounts – Lowers price. Attracts new customers and reduces DSO.
Credit Standards – Tighter standards tend to reduce sales, but reduce bad debt expense. Fewer bad debts reduce DSO.
Collection Policy – How tough? Tougher policy will reduce DSO but may damage customer relationships.

6. To increase sales by attracting new customers;
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE MANAGEMENT
Credit Terms
A business may wish to increase its rate of discount for three reasons:
To increase sales by attracting new customers;
To encourage existing customers to pay more quickly;
To reduce bad debts.
A business can increase its rate of discount to the point where the
marginal cost of discount equals the marginal profit generated. 6

7. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE MANAGEMENT
Collection Policy
Is the action a firm takes to recover its overdue accounts.
A weak collection policy will save on collection costs but probably result in bad debts.
On the other had a severe collection policy may reduce bad debts but may result in high collection costs, lost sales and loss of customer goodwill.
Most businesses would prefer to tread a middle path.
A company may increase its collection expenditure to a point in which the costs of such effort equal the revenues earned as a result. 7

8. AR Management Quality of Length of Trade Account Credit Period Average
Collection Period
Bad-debt
Losses
Firm
Collection
Policy
Possible Cash
Discount

9. CASH AND LIQUID ASSET MANAGEMENT
Businesses must hold sufficient cash to meet its debts, but excessive cash balances are unproductive, as they could be invested in other assets to generate income.
A business will hold cash for
- transaction motive
- precautionary motive
- speculative motive 9

10. CASH AND LIQUID ASSET MANAGEMENT
Other Liquid assets
Deposits, securities that are easily converted to cash in short time
Can earn income in meantime until needed
Control Cash via Cash Budget
Synchronising cash
Cash sales/purchases
Credit sales/purchases
Wages, other expenses 10

11. The Risk of tight credit policy?
Yes, a tighter credit policy may discourage sales. Some customers may choose to go elsewhere if they are pressured to pay their bills sooner.

12. Credit Standards Costs arising from relaxing credit standards
A larger credit department
Additional clerical work
Servicing additional accounts
Bad-debt losses
Opportunity costs (Loss of the use of the money)

13. Collection Policy and Procedures
The firm should increase collection expenditures until the marginal reduction in bad-debt losses equals the marginal outlay to collect.
Collection Procedures
Letters
Phone calls
Personal visits
Legal action
Saturation
Point
Bad-Debt Losses
Collection Expenditures

14. Analyzing the Credit Applicant
Obtaining information on the credit applicant
Analyzing this information to determine the applicant’s creditworthiness
Making the credit decision

15. Sources of Information
The company must weigh the amount of information needed versus the time and expense required.
Financial statements
Credit ratings and reports
Bank checking
Trade checking
Company’s own experience
May be use a simple matrix

16. A credit analyst is likely to utilize information regarding:
Credit Analysis
A credit analyst is likely to utilize information regarding:
the financial statements of the firm (ratio analysis)
the character of the company
the character of management
the financial strength of the firm
other individual issues specific to the firm

17. Other Credit Decision Issues
Credit-scoring System
A system using a simple matrix, to decide whether to grant credit by assigning numerical scores to various characteristics related to creditworthiness.
Line of Credit
A limit to the amount of credit extended to an account. Purchaser can buy on credit up to that limit.
Streamlines the procedure for shipping goods.

18. Trade Credit ( AP Management)
Dr Clive Vlieland-Boddy

19. What is trade credit?
Trade credit is credit furnished by a firm’s suppliers.
Trade credit is often the largest source of short-term credit, especially for small firms.
Spontaneous, easy to get, but cost can be high.

20. I’m ready for some leisure time.
Bye for now!
I’m ready for some leisure time.
Please ensure you
Prepare for next session 20