Importance of Liquidity in Cash Management
Importance of Liquidity in Cash Management
Importance of Liquidity in Cash Management
Cash is the lifeblood of any business, and with the turmoil in the financial markets, many companies are struggling to ensure the cash flow and liquidity needed to maintain normal operations. Once primarily the domain of cash managers and treasury managers, todays critical cash-flow and liquidity concerns are demanding executive-level attention. With credit restrictions and an overall decline in demand for most goods and services, chief financial officers are witnessing business drivers change from sales growth to liquidity coverage and from return-on-capital-employed to cash-to-cash cycles. Now, liquidity flexibility must be protected first and foremost. Long-term goals will not be achieved if short-term liquidity obligations cannot be met. Against this backdrop, most companies must increasingly depend on their commercial cash flows to sustain operations. This has critical implications for executives across all industries and geographies.
Cash Management:
Cash and liquidity management are important parts of modern day business operation. They are extremely crucial for the proper running of any business concern. Cash and liquidity management is especially applicable in the context of everyday business operations of a company. Financial managers actively attempt to keep cash (non-earning asset) to a minimum It is critical to have sufficient cash to minimize emergencies Steps to improve overall profitability of a firm: Minimize cash balances Have accurate knowledge of when cash moves in and out of the firm The most liquid asset of a company is its cash. Normally it has been observed that the amount of corporate assets held by a particular company is only one to three percent of the amount of cash the company has in its possession.
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Calculating Liquidity:
Several ratios are used when calculating a company's liquidity. Examples include: Current Ratio = Current Assets / Current Liabilities Acid-Test Ratio = (Cash + A/R + Short-term Investments) / Current Liabilities Working Capital = Current Assets - Current Liabilities
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Current ratio - will help you determine the ratio of your current assets to your current
liabilities. Current assets include cash, accounts receivable, inventory, and occasionally other line items such as marketable securities. You need to have more current assets than current liabilities on your balance sheet at all times.
Quick ratio -
will allow you to determine if you can pay your short-term debt
obligations, or current liabilities, without having to sell any inventory. It's important for a firm to be able to do this because, if you sell have to sell inventory to pay bills that means you have to find a buyer for that inventory. Finding a buyer is not always easy or possible.
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