工商管理外文文献

Thomas M. Krueger. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Greg Filbeck. Schweser Study Program

2009-09-28

An Analysis of Working Capital Management Results Across Industries

ABSTRACT：

Firms are able to reduce financing costs and/or increase the funds available for expansion by minimizing the amount of funds tied up in current assets. We provide insights into the performance of surveyed firms across key components of working capital management by using the CFO magazine’s annual Working Capital Management Survey. We discover that significant differences exist between industries in working capital measures across time. In addition. we discover that these measures for working capital change significantly within industries across time.

Key words: capital management; measures ;funds analysis

Introduction

The importance of efficient working capital management is indisputable. Working capital is the difference between resources in cash or readily convertible into cash (Current Assets) and organizational commitments for which cash will soon be required (Current Liabilities). The objective of working capital management is to maintain the optimum balance of each of the working capital components. Business viability relies on the ability to effectively manage receivables. inventory. and payables. Firms are able to reduce financing costs and/or increase the funds available for expansion by minimizing the amount of funds tied up in current assets. Much managerial effort is expended in bringing non-optimal levels of current assets and liabilities back toward optimal levels. An optimal level would be one in which a balance is achieved between risk and efficiency.

A recent example of business attempting to maximize working capital management is the recurrent attention being given to the application of Six Sigma? methodology. Six Sigma? methodologies help companies measure and ensure quality in all areas of the enterprise. When used to identify and rectify discrepancies. inefficiencies and erroneous transactions in the financial supply chain. Six Sigma? reduces Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). accelerates the payment cycle. improves customer satisfaction and reduces the necessary amount and cost of working capital needs. There appear to be many success stories. including Jennifer Towne’s (2002) report of a 15 percent decrease in days that sales are outstanding. resulting in an increased cash flow of approximately $2 million at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center. Furthermore. bad debts declined from $3.4 million to $600.000. However. Waxer’s (2003) study of multiple firms employing Six Sigma? finds that it is really a “get rich slow”technique with a rate of return hovering in the 1.2 – 4.5 percent range.

Even in a business using Six Sigma? methodology. an “optimal” level of working capital management needs to be identified. Industry factors may impact firm credit policy. inventory management. and bill-paying activities. Some firms may be better suited to minimize receivables and inventory. while others maximize payables. Another aspect of “optimal” is the extent to which poor financial results can be tied to sub-optimal performance. Fortunately. these issues are testable with data published by CFO magazine. which claims to be the source of “tools and information for the financial execut ive.” and are the subject of this research.

In addition to providing mean and variance values for the working capital measures and the overall metric. two issues will be addressed in this research. One research question is. “are firms within a particular industry clustered together at consistent levels of working capital measures?” For instance. are firms in one industry able to quickly transfer sales into cash. while firms from another industry tend to have high sales levels for the particular level of in ventory . The other research question is. “does working capital management performance for firms within a given industry change from year-to-year?”

The following section presents a brief literature review. Next. the research method is described. including some information about the annual Working Capital Management Survey published by CFO magazine. Findings are then presented and conclusions are drawn.

The importance of working capital management is not new to the finance literature. Over twenty years ago. Largay and Stickney (1980) reported that the then-recent bankruptcy of W.T. Grant. a nationwide chain of department stores. should have been anticipated because the corporation had been running a deficit cash flow from operations for eight of the last ten years of its corporate life. As part of a study of the Fortune 500’s financial management practices. Gilbert and Reichert (1995) find that accounts receivable management models are used in 59 percent of these firms to improve working capital projects. while inventory management models were used in 60 percent of the companies. More recently. Farragher. Kleiman and Sahu (1999) find that 55 percent of firms in the S&P Industrial index complete some form of a cash flow assessment. but did not present insights regarding accounts receivable and inventory management. or the variations of any current asset accounts or liability accounts across industries. Thus. mixed evidence exists concerning the use of working capital management techniques.

Theoretical determination of optimal trade credit limits are the subject of many articles over the years (e.g.. Schwartz 1974; Scherr 1996). with scant attention paid to actual accounts receivable management. Across a limited sample. Weinraub and Visscher (1998) observe a tendency of firms with low levels of current ratios to also have low levels of current liabilities. Simultaneously investigating accounts receivable and payable issues. Hill. Sartoris. and Ferguson (1984) find differences in the way payment dates are defined. Payees define the date of payment as the date payment is received. while payors view payment as the postmark date. Additional WCM insight across firms. industries. and time can add to this body of research.

Maness and Zietlow (2002. 51. 496) presents two models of value creation that incorporate effective short-term financial management activities. However. these models are generic models and do not consider unique firm or industry influences. Maness and Zietlow discuss industry influences in a short paragraph that includes the

observation that. “An industry a company is located in may have more influence on that company’s fortunes than overall GNP” (2002. 507). In fact. a careful review of this 627-page textbook finds only sporadic information on actual firm levels of WCM dimensions. virtually nothing on industry factors except for some boxed items with titles such as. “Should a Retailer Offer an In-House Credit Card” (128) and nothing on WCM stability over time. This research will attempt to fill this void by investigating patterns related to working capital measures within industries and illustrate differences between industries across time.

An extensive survey of library and Internet resources provided very few recent reports about working capital management. The most relevant set of articles was Weisel and Bradley’s (2003) article on cash flow management and one of inventory control as a result of effective supply chain management by Hadley (2004).

The CFO Rankings

The first annual CFO Working Capital Survey. a joint project with REL Consultancy Group. was published in the June 1997 issue of CFO (Mintz and Lezere 1997). REL is a London. England-based management consulting firm specializing in working capital issues for its global list of clients. The original survey reports several working capital benchmarks for public companies using data for 1996. Each company is ranked against its peers and also against the entire field of 1.000 companies. REL continues to update the original information on an annual basis.

REL uses the “cash flow from operations”value located on firm cash flow statements to estimate cash conversion efficiency (CCE). This value indicates how well a company transforms revenues into cash flow. A “days of working capital” (DWC) value is based on the dollar amount in each of the aggregate. equally-weighted receivables. inventory. and payables accounts. The “days of working capital”(DNC) represents the time period between purchase of inventory on acccount from vendor until the sale to the customer. the collection of the receivables. and payment receipt. Thus. it reflects the company’s ability to finance its core operations with vendor credit. A detailed investigation of WCM is possible because CFO also provides firm and industry values for days sales outstanding (A/R). inventory turnover. and days payables outstanding (A/P).

Working capital management component definitions and average values for the entire 1996 –2000 period . Across the nearly 1.000 firms in the survey. cash flow from operations. defined as cash flow from operations divided by sales and referred to as “cash conversion efficiency” (CCE). averages 9.0 percent. Incorporating a 95 percent confidence interval. CCE ranges from 5.6 percent to 12.4 percent. The days working capital (DWC). defined as the sum of receivables and inventories less payables divided by daily sales. averages 51.8 days and is very similar to the days that sales are outstanding (50.6). because the inventory turnover rate (once every 32.0 days) is similar to the number of days that payables are outstanding (32.4 days). In all instances. the standard deviation is relatively small. suggesting that these working capital management variables are consistent across CFO reports.

CFO magazine provides an overall working capital ranking for firms in its survey. using the following equation:Industry-based differences in overall working capital management are presented for the twenty-six industries that had at least eight companies included in the rankings each year. In the typical year. CFO magazine ranks 970 companies during this period. Industries are listed in order of the mean overall CFO ranking of working capital performance. Since the best average ranking possible for an eight-company industry is 4.5 (this assumes that the eight companies are ranked one through eight for the entire survey). it is quite obvious that all firms in the petroleum industry must have been receiving very high overall working capital management rankings. In fact. the petroleum industry is ranked first in CCE and third in DWC (as illustrated in Table 5 and discussed later in this paper). Furthermore. the petroleum industry had the lowest standard deviation of working capital rankings and range of working capital rankings. The only other industry with a mean overall ranking less than 100 was the Electric & Gas Utility industry. which ranked second in CCE and fourth in DWC. The two industries with the worst working capital rankings were Textiles and Apparel. Textiles rank twenty-second in CCE and twenty-sixth in DWC. The apparel industry ranks twenty-third and twenty-fourth in the two working capital measures.

Conclusions

The research presented here is based on the annual ratings of working capital management published in CFO magazine. Our findings indicate a consistency in how industries “stack up” against each other over time with respect to the working capital measures. However. the working capital measures themselves are not static (i.e.. averages of working capital measures across all firms change annually); our results indicate significant movements across our entire sample over time. Our findings are important because they provide insight to working capital performance across time. and on working capital management across industries. These changes may be in explained in part by macroeconomic factors. Changes in interest rates. rate of innovation. and competition are likely to impact working capital management. As interest rates rise. there would be less desire to make payments early. which would stretch accounts payable. accounts receivable. and cash accounts.

The ramifications of this study include the finding of distinct levels of WCM measures for different industries. which tend to be stable over time. Many factors help to explain this discovery. The improving economy during the period of the study may have resulted in improved turnover in some industries. while slowing turnover may have been a signal of troubles ahead. Our results should be interpreted cautiously. Our study takes places over a short time frame during a generally improving market. In addition. the survey suffers from survivorship bias – only the top firms within each industry are ranked each year and the composition of those firms within the industry can change annually.

Further research may take one of two lines. First. there could be a study of whether stock prices respond to CFO magazine’s publication of working capital management ratings. Second. there could be a study of which. if any. of the working capital management components relate to share price performance. Given our results. these studies need to take industry membership into consideration when estimating stock price reaction to working capital management performance

托马斯M克鲁格.威斯康星大学拉克罗斯

格雷格Filbeck.Schweser学习计划

对整个行业中营运资金管理的研究

摘要:

企业能够降低融资成本或者尽量减少绑定在流动资产上的成立基金数额来用于扩大现有的资金。我们提供了在调查公司时出具报告中的关键组成部分，调查公司营运资金管理的报告是运用首席财务官杂志的年度资金管理的调查报告。我们发现，行业间的明显差异存在于跨时资金的工作措施上。此外，这些措施在企业营运资金管理中实施后有了显著改变。

关键词：资金管理；措施；资金分析

内容：

高效率的营运资金管理的重要性是不容置疑的。营运资金是资源或随时兑换成现金（流动资产）和即将的现金需要（流动负债）之间的差额。营运资金管理的目标是维持周转的流动资产和流动负债都达到最佳平衡。商业可行性的能力依赖于有效的应收账款、库存和应付帐款的管理。企业能够降低融资成本或增加通过最小化绑定在流动资产上的成立基金数额的资金用于扩大现有。太多的管理工作是消耗在带动流动资产和负债水平回到最佳水平。最理想的水平是达到在风险和效率之间的平衡。

一个最近企业的例子是其试图最大限度地运用营运资金管理。这就是经常受到重视的六西格玛方法的应用。六西格玛方法适用于企业涉及所有范围，能帮助公司测量和保证质量。当前这个方法用来识别和纠正错误的交易效率差异及财务供应链。六西格玛方法减少每天天销售最杰出，以达到加速支付周期、提高顾客

满意度、降低成本的数量和流动资金的需求。似乎有许多成功的事例，包括珍妮汤的（2002）的关于销售天数减少了百分之十五的优秀的销售报告。造成的结果是在蒂博多万区域医疗中心产生的现金流量增加了大约200万美元。此外，坏帐从340万美元下降到60万美元。然而，外克瑟的(2003)研究多个公司雇用六西格玛发现它确实是一个“缓慢致富”技术与回报率悬停在1.2%-4.5%的范围。

即使在一个业务中使用，六西格玛方法论的“最佳”的营运资金管理需要被确认。行业因素可能会影响企业的信贷政策、库存管理和账单支付活动。一些公司可能会更适合尽量减少应收账款和存货，而其他则适应应付款最大化。“最优”的另一个方面是槽糕的财务成果却是使用了最优性能。幸运的是，这些问题是可测试的并被首席财务官杂志所发表。这声称是“工具的来源和财务主管信息”即是本研究的主题。

除了提供均值和营运资金的措施和整体度量。这两个问题将在本研究处其理差异值。一个研究问题是：“在特殊产业内的企业一起采用同样的的营运资金管理措施就能使其的水平一致吗？”例如，在同一行业的企业能够迅速转化为现金销售（即有占应收水平低）。而来自其他行业的企业往往有较高的销售水平。特别是库存水平（即存货周转率高）。另一个研究问题是，“企业营运资金管理能否对企业绩效在行业内逐年改变起做作用？”

以下部分提供了一个简短的文献回顾。对下一步研究方法进行了介绍，包括一些有关这个一年一度的营运资金管理及财务官杂志公布的调查。调查是再提出和结论。

营运资金管理的重要性在于它并不是新的金融文学。20多年前，斯蒂克尼（1980）报告说。当时的小波格兰特的全国连锁百货公司相继破产，应该是因为公司经营了最后10年里经营里有8年的经营赤字，这早就作为一个世界500强的财务管理实践研究的一部分。吉尔伯特和锐彻(1995)发现应收账款的管理模式在使用后，有百分之五十九的公司提高营运资金项目，而库存管理模型应用于百分之六十的公司。最近，法瑞芬.克莱曼和萨胡（1999年）发现百分之五十五的公司中，标准普尔工业指数完成是某种形式的现金流量的评估，但并未提出关于应收账款和存货管理的见解，或任何流动资产的变化帐户或各行业现有资产负债账户的变化。因此，混合证据表明有关营运资金管理技术的使用。

优化贸易信贷限额理论是多年来自许多文章的主题（例如，施瓦茨1974年，

谢尔1996年）注重实际的应收账款的管理。通过有限的样本，温劳布和菲斯海尔(1998)观察到的趋势是目前比率低的公司也有低水平的流动负债。同时调查应收账款和应付账款的问题。希尔·萨尔托里斯和弗格森（1984年）发现方式付款日期的不同的定义。收款人定义付款日期为收到货款的日期，而付款人查看付款日期的邮戳，额外的协作平台了解各企业、行业和时间能够增加这方面的研究机构。

玛尼思和泽特罗（2002年）提供了两个价值创造的模式。纳入有效的短期的财务管理活动。但是，这些模型都是通用的模型并没有考虑独特的企业或行业的影响。玛尼思和泽特罗谈论一小段产业影响包括那些“一个工业公司可能有更多的财富”公司可能影响整体国民生产总值。事实上，发现只有在实际的层面的营运资金管理的公司有各级零星资料。几乎任何事物除了一些游戏项目，如盒装行业因素。“如果商家提供了一个内部的信用卡”。随着时间的推移，没有什么能影响营运资金管理稳定性。这项研究将试图完善调查有关工作措施以填补行业内资金模式这一空白，并说明说明行业间的跨时差异。

一个对图书馆和网络资源进行广泛的调查得到了很少的最新报告是关于营运资金管理。最相关的文章是卫瑟和布拉德利的(2003)现金流量管理和库存管理作为一种有效的供应链管理的途径(2004)。

第一次年度首席财务官营运资金管理的调查。与REL顾问组的联合项目，发表在1997年6月首席财务官杂志上。 REL是英国伦敦为基础的管理咨询公司，专门从事于流动资金问题的服务，面向全球的客户。原来的调查报告的营运资金运用数据的上市公司的标准为1996年。每家公司对其同行的排名是针对整个领域的1000家公司.REL继续更新以前年度基础上的原始资料。

REL使用的业务“现金流”的价值是对企业现金流量表作用于估计现金转换效率（CCE）的。此值表示公司如何转化现金流收入，一个“天的营运资金”价值是基于金额之和，即每个应收账款、库存、应付帐款帐户之和。“日营运资金”代表一个时期购买存货从供应商到销售给客户之间收集的应收账款、付款收据。因此，它反映了公司的核心融资业务能力与供应商信用。一份详细的调查营运资金管理是可能的反应出来的。因为公司首席财务官也提供产业价值、工业销售优秀(天/ R)、存货周转、应付款优秀(天/ P)。

营运资金管理部分的定义和整个96年至00年期间的平均值。在整个调查中

近1000家的经营活动产生现金流。现金除以销售的作业流程被称为“现金转换效率”（CCE）的。平均九个百分点到百分之九十五的信心区间中，从5.6%至12.4%消费支出超出范围。日营运资金（DWC）作为应收款和库存较少除以每日销售的应付款项，平均51.8天或非常相似的日子则为销售的优秀（50.6）。在所有情况下，标准差相对较小，这表明这些营运资金的管理工作的变量都是和首席财务官的报告是一致的。

首席财务官杂志提供了一个其调查公司间的整体营运资金的排名。使用下列公式：在进行整体营运资金管理的差异比较行业中前26名。至少有八家公司在每年的排名中出现。在典型的年份中，首席财务官杂志在此期间970公司的排名。列出的平均周转性能整体的工业企业中在首席财务官杂志中的排名顺序。由于最佳的平均排名中8个最可能的公司在行业中是4.5（这个假设的8家公司的排名是通过八个整体调查之一）。但很显然，在石油行业的所有企业必须有非常高的整体营运资金管理的排名。事实上，石油行业是排名第一的现金转换效率和第三名的日营运资金。另外，石油工业的最低标准偏差范围的排名和营运资金流动资金的排名。其他行业唯一的平均总体排名低于100是电和煤气公用行业。他们现金转换效率排名第二，日营运资金排名第四。这两个行业最大的资金排行是纺织品和服装，纺织品排名第二十二的消费支出和第二十六位营运资金。服装行业排名第二十三和第二十四在两个采取的流动资金的措施。

结论

这里的研究是根据营运资金管理公司的首席财务官杂志公布年度评级为基础。我们的研究结果表明：在产业“较量”中随着时间的推移，越来越受重视的营运资金管理的措施。然而，周转措施本身不是静态的（即平均流动资金措施在所有的企业每年的变化）；我们的结果表明，随着时间的推移我们整个样本有着重要的运动。我们的研究结果非常重要，因为它们提供洞察力。工作时间在资金上的表现，针对各个行业营运资金的管理。这些变化可能是解释部分的宏观经济因素、利率的变化、创新的速度和竞争有可能影响营运资金管理。由于利率上升，将有较少的愿望早日付款。这将延伸到应付帐款、应收帐款、现金帐户，这项研究的影响，包括对不同层次的营运资金管理措施。不同的行业往往会随着时间的推移而得出稳定的结论。许多因素有助于解释这一发现，提高经济时期的研究可

能导致在一些行业的营业额提高销售额，也可能是一个困难的信号。我们的结果应该小心谨慎的解释。本研究以在普遍地方在短时间框架内的市场改善。此外，调查遭受生存威胁的顶级公司偏移在每个行业排名和组成。每年的那些公司在行业排位可以改变。

进一步研究可以采取方法两种之一。首先，可能会有一个研究是关于是否股票价格对首席财务官杂志的出版关于流动资金管理等级的排名有影响。第二，有可能是一个研究关于如果任何营运资金管理的措施，涉及到股票的价格时的表现。由于我们的研究结果，这些研究需要考虑到行业的成员在预测股票价格的反应及营运资金管理的性能。