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Personal Finance Case

Decent Essays

McLaughlin (2009) states that the example organizations balance sheet (p. 125) does not show adequate cash assets (line 45), given a supposed annual budget of $3.5 million dollars, to provide adequate daily cash flow needs (p. 124). With year-end cash assets of only $16,190, working down the list of liquidable assets—using McLaughlin’s ‘water’ metaphor—savings and short term cash investments, A/R, and (in the case of for profit industry) inventories for sale, the companies working capital could be substantially increased providing more cash reserves.
While it appears that the example organization has sufficient assets that could be easily converted into cash, given the financial information provided, their cash position seems to be ‘delicate’, …show more content…

Because there isn’t adequate information regarding some of the troubling items mentioned, it should be pointed out that McLaughlin (2009) makes it clear that tangible assets are preferred sources of collateral for loans—another relatively easy source of working capital. Once again, given that the information on the example balance sheet does not provide much budgeting information, initial suggestions for creating a strong cash position would be implementing a definitive strategy for budgeting and establishing an adequate cash reserve. McLaughlin (2009) writes of cash reserves, “…days in receivables number 15 then the amount of cash needed on hand is at least 45 days’ worth of the entities’ average expenses. Given this scenario, the company would need to raise over $430,000 just to be in a comfortable cash position, not including, as McLaughlin goes on to write, “…allowing for slippage and unforeseen expenses” (p. 135). A National Council of Nonprofits report (2016) states that it is common for …show more content…

Fortunately, there is an abundance of information available for nonprofit organizations regarding financial risk assessments. Our example company would certainly benefit with a much larger cash reserve, but it would also help to have, as mentioned, an understanding of cash flow needs well described within a definitive budget. Having an understanding of approximate times required to acquire cash from various assets would be helpful as well. External evaluation tools such as provided by companies like Grant Thornton could be used to improve risk assessments, or perhaps just getting a second (or third) opinion from an accounting agency to cover items possibly overlooked by internal analysis. Klein (2013), writing for Grant Thornton, outlines their reserves planning packet: 1. Develop a baseline long-term financial forecast. 2. Perform a detailed analysis of potential risks. 3. Quantify your average annual risk exposure. 4. Establish your target reserves level and funding approach (text). These types of outlines could help establish a basis for understanding what any agencies financial reserves should

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