Factoring: Alternative Model of Financing

Liquidity represents a company’s ability to pay its short-term obligations. In the following schedule is the calculation of the ratios that are indicators of the liquidity position of a company.

Liquidity is important for any firm as it is an assessment of the ability to pay its' liabilities in the short term. There are two main liquidity ratios: the current and the quick ratio. The current ratios divides the current assets by the current liabilities to assess how many times the current assets can pay the current liabilities (Elliott and Elliott, 2011). Traditional ratios are usually in the region of 1.5, but this may vary depending on the industry and nature of the business (Elliott and Elliott, 2011). The current ratio is shown in table 1.

37. A company is said to be liquid if it has sufficient cash to pay currently maturing debts.

Although the company’s liquidity ratios have dropped their ratios are still outperforming their RMA industry average by 15%. The decrease in the company’s liquidity ratios is the result of their current liabilities increasing 6.5% from fiscal year 2014 and their current assets only increasing 0.7% from fiscal year 2014. The company saw a decrease in cash and equivalents, accounts receivable, and income tax receivable in 2015. While also increasing accounts payable, accrued expenses, and deferred revenue and other liabilities. The combination of the movement in these accounts result in lower liquidity ratios for fiscal year 2015.

The relationship of current assets to current liabilities is an important indicator of the degree to which a firm is liquid (Woelfel, 1994).

Liquidity ratio. The firm’s liquidity shows a downward trend through time. The current ratio is decreasing because the growth in current liabilities outpaces the growth of current assets. The quick ratio is also declining but not as fast as the current ratio. From 1991 to 1992, it only decreased 0.35 units while the current ratio decreased 0.93 units. Looking at the common size balance sheet, we also see that the percentage of inventory is growing from 33% to 48% indicating Mark X could not convert its inventory to cash.

Liquidity ratios measure the ability of a firm to meet its short-term obligations. A company that is not able

MBA − Cases in Corporate Finance The Super Project (HBS) Instructor: Pål E. Korsvold BI Norwegian School of Management

The liquidity position of a company can be evaluated using several ratios which evaluate short-term assets and liabilities and a firm’s ability to settle short-term debts (Gibson, 2011). These ratios can provide insight into a firm’s ability to repay its debts in the short term (Gibson, 2011). In turn they suggest a firm’s capacity for debt-satisfying capabilities into the future (Gibson, 2011). This paper will use financial statement data as cited in Gibson (2011) from 3M Company (3M) to better understand liquidity measures to evaluate a firm’s total liquidity position. The following paper will focus on various liquidity calculations, their meaning, and their interpretation relative to 3M. Finally, an overall view of 3M’s liquidity

Liquidity is an important factor in financial statement analysis since an entity that can not meet its short term obligations may be forced into liquidation. The focus of this aspect of analysis is on working capital, or some computer of working capital.

Investopedia defines liquidity as “The ability to convert an asset to cash quickly” or “The degree to which an asset or security can be bought or sold in the market without affecting the asset 's price” (Investopedia). All companies own

Liquidity of a company is a company’s ability to measure the extent to which a business can convert assets or has cash availability in order to meet the short-term liabilities and immediate obligations. Without this a company can fail very quickly.

Abbot laboratory uses a range of economic ratios to assess the health of the business in numerous capacities. These capacities embrace liquidity, solvency, profitableness, and market prospects. To start, Abbott’s level of liquidity ought to be analyzed to assess what quantity cash business has within the variety of cash and cash equivalents. Liquidity plays a crucial role within the financial and investment areas of business, and the way usually the corporate will expand through mergers and acquisitions. Liquidity is usually outlined because

Factoring is a form of commercial finance which provides funding services to businesses who either do not qualify for traditional financing or who desire to outsource their receivables and credit management to a third party while also having the option of drawing funds against the receivables being managed by the factor. Additionally, companies who are experiencing growth choose factoring as a finance tool due to its availability and flexibility as an aid to fuel their growth.

Financial analysts usually have viewed the liquidity ratios like current ratio and quick ratio as key indicators of a firm 's liquidity performance. But, they fail to distinguish that the fundamental liquidity protection against unanticipated discrepancies in the amount and timing of operating cash inflows and outflows is provided by a firm 's cash reserve investments in conjunction with its unused borrowing capacity rather than by total current asset coverage of outstanding current liabilities. A concentration of current assets in the fewer liquid receivables and inventory forms possibly will generate an increasing current ratio reflecting a worsening capability by the firm to cover its current liabilities rather than an enhanced liquidity position for the firm (Richards & Laughlin,1980). Ruback (2003) in his study showed that Dell and