Surecut Shears, Inc.

We noticed the following financial health indicators in our forecast: Clarkson Lumber's ratio of total assets to sales is moving from a position in line with high profit outlets to low profit outlets at 37.7%. This is due to accounts receivable increasing to 14% of sales which is higher than the 13.7% experienced by low profit ratios. Also, inventory as a percentage of sales has steadily increased from 11.5% in 1993 to 13.5% in 1996.

While it is true that Ms. Forthright had always exceeded her budgeted sales, the extent to which she diverts away from the managers projections does not necessarily means that she is violating honesty and integrity. Her decision on what her budgeted sales for the year is highly relevant to the data available to her. Her projections tends to lie between the field manager and the marketing manager’s predictions, which can be reasonable because in the past years, the field manager’s projections tend to be over what the actual sales of the year will be.

Of the total sales indicated, only 10 percent were expected to be for cash. Collections on the remainder were anticipated generally within 60 days of sale. In particular, recent experience had suggested that roughly one-half of credit sales were collected for during the month following the month of sale and that other one-half during the next subsequent month. Mr. Firr intended to use this pattern as the basis for his calculations.

For example, factory production declines from weeks 10-17 because of low margins. Factories cannot produce normally because of the cost constraints facing them. The positive value seen at week 18 means that factories have addressed cost issues hence can meet market demand. A positive trend emerges during week 18 as seen from factory with 1unit and 9units for distributor. The value of -24units from retailers in the same week means that factories can produce but remain cautious about meeting previous production

* Our company’s sales forecast has been based on performance from previous years along with market circumstances. We are looking at the future of the business objectively which we then can evaluate past to

J reflects department store chain. This industry is a retail business; therefore, there is a large amount of inventories. This industry also has high accounts receivable because usually customers pay with credit cards which are billed at the end of the month. However, sometimes, customers forget to pay their bills on time, and the bills are brought to next month. Therefore, the collection period is approximately 2 months.

Greaves provided five years and two months of annual sales data. Using Stat Tools, the following analysis were run: Moving Average, Exponential Smoothing Simple, Exponential Smoothing Holt’s, and Exponential Smoothing Winter’s. Following a comparison on the average on all models, the Exponential Smoothing Winter’s was found to be the most suitable model for the case. A graph

This assumption is reasonable as the business has been shown to have different rates of sales in different months.

3. Refer to the monthly sales forecasts given in the first Table. Assume that these amounts are realized and that the firm’s customers pay exactly as predicted.

|Table 2 |Quick |Current Ratio|Accounts collection period of accounts |Average number of days inventory |

One important category is accounts receivables. The average collection period measures the number of days that the company must wait on average between the time of sale and the time when it is paid. The average collection period is calculated in two steps. First, divide annual credit sales by 365 days to determine average sales per day:

During performing the sales forecast for Victoria's Secret, I learned that for most part that Victoria's Secret has an incline in their profits. They have however hit a few bumps here and there. The causes of this could be more cost for Victoria's Secret purchasing materials and production of their products. Another reason for this could also be a slower rate in sales than usual. Like I said, for the most Victoria Secret has seen an incline in their profits and sales throughout the years. Performing the percentage of sales forecast for Victoria's Secret, I established a forecasted sales of 5 percent which means that they would have to have a sales of $2,808 compared to their last years $2,675. This is a very feasible number for Victoria Secret to achieve, considering that majority of their money in assets outweighs their liabilities.

We decided to tighten accounts receivable and drop poorly selling products because they yielded a percentage decrease in working capital requirement larger than their percentage drop in sales. Also these 2 options fit

* Here you should include a simple table showing the years and the total sales for each year, along with a brief explanation of why sales are expected to rise, fall, change, or stay the same in certain years. Provide a brief explanation of the sales forecast, indicating why you expect sales to rise or fall during the planning horizon. Your explanation should be consistent with the trends and changes in sales found in your table:

Reviewing Exhibit 1 it is indicative that each year their actual inventory ratio continued to increase as opposed to decreasing. Keeping inventory in stock is good for clients but bad for capital when it remains on the shelves and doesn’t sell as quickly as you are producing it.