Assignment Tasks

Issue 1: Working Capital Management and Variance Analysis

Questions:

Assignment Tasks

Ambien PLC is a manufacturing company operating in the UK. You have recently been taken on in the position of Financial Controller. You have been asked by management to produce an assessment of a number of current issues facing the company as it seeks to expand its operations. Your assessment should be in the form of a formal business report, which would be suitable for presentation to the senior managers of Ambien PLC.

Issue 1 – Working Capital Management and Variance Analysis

The company utilizes a bank overdraft to manage its short term working capital needs. But the Managing Director has mentioned that he is fed up of ‘being in the red’ and would like some information on the profitability and short term capital planning of the company. He has presented you with the last three months cash budgets (both budgeted and actual:

Cash Budget for the three months ending 30th October 2014
		Budgeted				Actual
	August	September	October		August	September	October
	£,000	£,000	£,000		£,000	£,000	£,000
Cash Receipts	210	200	125		205	200	120
Capital Received		500				500
Br Fwd. Cash on Hand/(OD)	-200				-200
Total	10	700	125		5	700	120
Rental & Rates	5	5	5		5	5	5
Admin & Sales Expenses	3	3	3		3	4	4
Distribution Expenses	2	2	2		1	2	2
Direct Labour	25	25	25		30	30	30
Cash Purchases (Raw Materials)	50	50	50		50	55	60
Capital Investment			50				50
Taxation Paid		500				500
Managerial Wages	20	20	20		20	20	20
Total	105	605	155		109	616	171
Balance	-95	95	-30		-104	84	-51
Crd. Fwd.	-95	0	-30		-104	-20	-71

The following information is also relevant:

• A depreciation charge of £10,000 was made during the period.

• All raw materials are paid for at the end of the month of delivery, the company keeps one month’s supply based on sales projections (i.e. the stock purchased and paid for during the month is used up in the following months production).

• Cash receipts represent the company’s credit terms of two months to its customers.

• The sales department have forwarded the following information to you:

Actual Sales (£,000) for:	September	October
	150	200
Projected Sales (£,000) for:	November	December	January
	210	150	125

Section One of your report should include the following:

• A numerical variance analysis of the previous financial quarter along with a detailed written commentary as to the variances discovered and what might have caused them. This should include your recommendations as to how to improve the production variances in the future.

• A Budgeted and Actual Profit and Loss statement for the period, as well as a Budgeted Profit and Loss Statement and Cash Budget for the current quarter. You will need to make some judgements as to the expenses likely to be incurred in the quarter based on your analysis of the variances above. Assume no further capital investment or taxation paid during the quarter.

• A detailed written analysis of the short term working capital requirements of the company with suggestions & recommendations on how to improve the situation.

Issue 2 – Capital Investment Appraisal

The previous Financial Controller oversaw the recent capital investment of £500,000 in new P&M. Unfortunately he left his working notes in a mess and other than a brief analysis of cash in-flows and out-flows there is not much in the way of proper analysis of this expenditure. Due to your recent studies in the area of capital investment appraisal you feel that you can offer the company a far better analysis of the investment and establish more robust procedures for evaluating future capital investment. In your briefing with the Managing Director you have learned that the company to date has operated a hurdle for capital investment of 3 years to payback. You mentioned at the time that payback is an inferior system for capital investment appraisal, but the MD did not have time to listen to your ideas regarding Net Present Value and the time value of money.

Issue 2: Capital Investment Appraisal

The analysis of cash in and out flows is presented here:

Capital Investment Appraisal
	Year
	0	1	2	3	4	5
Cash Out-Flows
– Cost of Machinery	-500
– Feasibility Study	-20
Total	-520	0	0	0	0	0
Cash In-Flows
– Reduction in Direct O/H		200	150	150	100	100
– Residual Value of the Machinery						50
Total	0	200	150	150	100	150
Net Cash Flow	-520	200	150	150	100	150

The following information is also relevant:

 • The company has a cost of equity capital of 14% and a cost of debt capital of 6%. The company is geared 50:50 debt to equity.

• The feasibility study refers to a long term project on the viability of purchasing new P&M. The previous FC has included this as a direct cost of the project

Section Two of your report should include the following:

• A derivation and explanation of the company’s weighted average cost of capital.

• A detailed analysis of the capital project, including payback analysis (bearing in mind the company’s existing capital budgeting hurdle) and an analysis of NPV.

• A  detailed  commentary  on  the  primacy  of  NPV  analysis  as  a  capital  investment appraisal tool along with recommendations on the future capital budgeting processes at the company.

Issue 3 – Foreign Trade, Exchange and Risk Management

The company is currently planning to expand its operations into new production facilities in Europe. The company has developed a new product which is to be sold in Europe. The Raw Materials for the new product are being shipped in from the United States. At the time of the order €1 = 1.385 $US. The first consignment of Raw Materials cost $500 per unit in direct materials for each unit of production, payment must be made in full on dispatch of the Raw Materials. Further; production, distribution and selling costs are estimated to be €300,000. The selling price per unit is projected to be €750. The first consignment of Raw Materials is due to be delivered from the US in three months from the date of the order. The company has predicted production demand of 1000 units of production in the first run. The company has negotiated with its bank a 3 month forward rate contract of €1 = 1.435 $US.

The previous FC had taken some advice from a FOREX expert on the likely volatility of the exchange rates between Euros and Dollars. He has produced an analysis that the forward rate predicted by the bank could vary by as much as 15% either way.

The new production facility has been financed by the issuing of debentures in the European debt markets. The total value of the bonds is €500,000.

Section Three of your report should include the following:

• A numerical analysis of the total profit or loss that can be expected if the company sells all units on production. This analysis should include the current price, the forward rate and should be adjusted for the predictions that the forward rate could vary by as much as 15%. 

• A written commentary on the nature of risk, bearing in mind that the company has taken on debentures in a foreign currency.This commentary must include recommendations for mitigating the identified risks.

• Variance Analysis

Variance Analysis
Particulars	Budgeted (€,000)	Actual (€,000)	Variance (Actual – Budgeted) (€,000)
Aug	Sep	Oct	Aug	Sep	Oct	Aug	Sept	Oct
Direct Material	50	50	50	50	55	60	0	5	10
Direct Labour	25	25	25	30	30	30	5	5	5
Overheads	30	30	30	29	31	31	-1	1	1

It can be observed that the variances of previous quarter of material are respectively €0, €5000 and €10000. It has gradually increased from one month to another month. This is not favourable for the company. It may be the causes such as hike in market price of material, purchasing of standard materials than lower quality, strong bargaining power of vendors, inefficiency in buying by the procurement staffs, excluding of discount due to purchase of smaller sizes (Diriba, 2013).

The company should implement better practices of procurement such as inviting the suppliers with price quotations. Purchase should be at larger size and Procurement staff should increase their negotiable skill.

Labour variance of every month of the quarter is €5000 which is adverse and there is no improvement from one month to another month. Reason behind of it may be increasing of minimum wage rate, inefficiency in hiring, hiring of large number of skilled labour or existence of strong negotiation by the labour unions.

To convert into favourable position, the company should do effective planning on hiring of labour and should reformulate the standard cost of labour (Bragg, 2001).

Here, overhead includes Rent & Rates, Admin & Sales Expenses, Distribution Expenses and Managerial Wages. On the above table, variance indicates that the company was favourable in the month August where the actual cost was less than the budgeted cost. But suddenly, it has increased in the month of September and it is also remain same in October. This is due to increase in Admin & Sales Expenses and Distribution Expenses.

Admin & Sale Expenses and Distribution Expenses of the organization should be properly managed to reduce the cost.

• Profit & Loss Statement

	£000(AUG)	£000(SEP)	£000(OCT)
PERTICULARS
Cash receipts (sales)	210	200	125
less:
Cash purchase ( raw materials)	50	50	50
Gross Profit	160	150	75
less:
Rental & Rates	5	5	5
Admin and sales expenses	3	3	3
Distribution expenses	2	2	2
Direct Labor	25	25	25
Managerial wages	20	20	20
Net profit before Tax(NPBT)	105	95	20
less:
Taxation paid		500
Net profit after tax (NPAT)	105	-405	20

Budgeted profit & loss account is the expected figure of income and expenses. It is made periodically to plan for the future income and expenses.

ACTUALPERTICULARS	£000(AUG)	£000(SEP)	£000(OCT)
Cash receipts (sales)
less:	205	150	200
Cash purchase ( raw materials)
Gross Profit	50	55	60
less:	155	-5	150
Rental & Rates
Admin and sales expenses	5	5	5
Distribution expenses	3	4	4
Direct Labor	1	2	2
Managerial wages	30	30	30
Depreciation	20	20	20
Net profit before Tax(NPBT)	96	-66	89
less:
Taxation paid		500
Net profit after Tax(NPAT)	96	-566	89

Actual profit & loss statement is compared to budgeted profit & loss account to find out whether the company is meeting the plan. Here, the budgeted and actual profit & loss account statement show that the company has earn less profit than budgeted in the month of August. In the month of September, it has more loss than the budgeted. But, it has earned more profit in month of October than the budgeted. Company is incurred loss in the second month of a quarter because the tax is paid in the second month of a quarter.

Budgeted

PERTICULARS	£000(NOV)	£000(DEC)	£000(JAN)
Cash receipts (sales)	210	150	125
less:
Cash purchase ( raw materials)	55	55	55
Gross Profit	155	95	70
less:
Rental & Rates	5.25	5.25	5.25
Admin and sales expenses	3	3	3
Distribution expenses	2.2	2.2	2.2
Direct Labor	25	25	25
Managerial wages	20	20	20
Depreciation	10	10	10
Net profit before Tax(NPBT)	89.55	29.55	4.55
less:
Taxation paid		475
Net profit after Tax(NPAT)	89.55	-445.45	4.55

PERTICULARS	£000(NOV)	£000(DEC)	£000(JAN)
Cash receipts (sales)	205	150	200
less:
Cash purchase ( raw materials)	55	60	66
Gross Profit	150	90	134
less:
Rental & Rates	5.25	5.25	5.25
Admin and sales expenses	3	4	4
Distribution expenses	1.1	2.2	2.2
Direct Labor	30	30	30
Managerial wages	20	20	20
Depreciation	10	10	10
Net profit before Tax(NPBT)	80.65	20.65	64.65
less:
Taxation paid		475
Net profit after Tax(NPAT)	80.65	-454.35	64.65

 
Assumptions for Profit and loss statement:

• We are assuming that rental and rent has been increased by 5% for next quarter
• Cash purchase has been increased by 10%
• Distribution expenses has been increased by 10%
• Managerial wages, direct labour, Admin and Sales expenses are remain constant.
• Taxation rate has been decreased by 5% for next quarter.

In the current financial quarter, the profit of the company has reduced in the month of August and incurred more loss in the month of more loss in the September than the budgeted. But, in the month of October, the earned amount of profit is more high than the budgeted. This is happening due to the variance of cash receipts on sales.

• Cash Budget

PERTICULARS	£000(NOV)	£000(DEC)	£000(JAN)
RECEIPTS:
Cash receipts	150	200	150
Capital receipts		200	200
Cash in hand / overdrawn	-71	-30.35	263.2
TOTAL RECEIPTS	79	369.65	613.2
PAYMENTS :
Rental and Rates	5.25	5.25	5.25
Admin and sales expenses	3	4	4
Distribution expenses	1.1	2.2	2.2
Direct Labor	30	30	30
Cash Purchase ( Raw Material)	60	55	60
Capital Investment
Taxation Paid
Managerial Wages
Depreciation	10	10	10
TOTAL PAYMENTS	109.35	106.45	111.45
Balance	-30.35	263.2	501.75
Crd Frd	-30.35	0	0

Assumptions for Cash Budget Next quarter

• Capital Received for the month of December and January are £ 200000

Cash budget is estimated cash flows both inflows and outflows for a specific period.

• Analysis of Working Capital Management

Working capital is the short-term capital required to invest for continuing the day-to-business. It is the outcome of time lag between expenses related to purchasing of raw materials and cash collection through selling of finished goods. There are components of working capital such as inventories, cash payables, cash receivables. Each component has contribution to working capital. Working capital is changed time to time for the proportion of the components. Liquidity and profitability can be decided by the requirement of working capital which creates effect on the decisions of investing and financing (Sagner, 2011). If working capital requirement is very less, it may require less amount of financing. As a result, more cash is available for shareholders. But at a same time less amount requirement of working capital may decrease the sales volume. So, profitability may be affected.

For good financial health of an organization, it is very important to manage the proportion of components of working capital management. Operating cycle is an important tool of analyzing the components of working capital (Preve & Sarria-Allende, 2010). All the components are converted in terms of days such as average days taken to collect the account receivables, average days taken to turn over the sale of a product and average number of days taken for paying the account payables to supplier.

Less amount of account receivable means company follows strict collection policies and provides a less amount of credit to sell. As a result, cash inflow can be increased. Following a strict collections policies and less credit may decrease the sale and profits of the company can be reduced. Increase in accounts payables availing a longer credit period from supplier means taking of low quality materials which can reduces the profitability. Decrease in inventory, company may fall in crisis to sell.

There are aspects of working capital: Current Assets and Current Liabilities. The issues can be raised from the both aspects. Current assets are short-term fund to meet the short-term liabilities. Current assets include cash, accounts receivable and inventory, etc. The issues related to current assets may be keeping too much inventory, allowing customer too much time to pay the credit amount. Current liabilities include accounts payable, short-term debt, etc. The issues related to current liabilities may be getting of short-term period to pay the suppliers and increasing of borrowing to keep running the business.

The cash collection policy of the company is not favourable. The payment to suppliers is done at the end of the month of delivery where customers avail two months for payment of credit amount. So, cash collection does not efficient to meet the payment to suppliers.

The company financed both equity and debt capital in equal proportion. Tax rate is not included.  So, the weighted average cost of capital is as follows:

Particulars	Value (%)	Proportion
Cost of equity (%)	14	0.50
Cost of debt (%)	6	0.50
WACC		10

A company has different sources of finance such as Equity, Debt, Retained earnings, Short-term and Long-term Loan. Weighted average cost of capital is the average of all the sources of capital.

Here, the company has two sources of capital, Equity and Debt. WACC is calculated by using the following formula:

WACC= (Proportion of Equity × Cost of Equity) + (Proportion of Debt × Cost of Debt)

WACC is the average rate of return which is expected to compensate all the different investors of the company. Here, the WACC is 10% that means company has to pay $0.10 against $1to its investors.

It is helpful to gauge the expense of funding in future projects. It is also used in discounting cash flows for appraising the capital investment. Lower WACC means the company decides to increase its use of cheaper financing sources. If the cost of debt less than the cost of equity, the company’s weighted average cost of capital will decrease.

In case of this company, it is observed that the proportion of equity and debt capital is equal and also the cost of debt is less than the cost of equity. That means the company would like to face less risk for its capital investment. 

2.1. Pay Back Analysis

Calculation of Pay Back Period
Year	Cash Out-Flows	Cash In-Flows	Cumulative Cash In-Flows
0	-520
1		200	200
2		150	350
3		150	500
4		100	600
5		150	750
Payback Period	3.20

Payback period is calculated to find out the length of time required to recover the cost of investment. According to that the decision is taken whether to undertake the project or not. Longer the payback period is not suitable for investment (Peterson Drake & Fabozzi, 2002). It is usually expressed in years and calculated by using following formula:

Payback period = Cost of Project / Annual Cash Inflows

Cash Inflows are accumulated by year until the Cumulative Cash Inflow becomes positive in respect of its total investment. Here, Cumulative Cash Inflow becomes positive in the 4^th year. So, Payback period is 4 years but in exact, it would be 3.20 years.

The drawbacks of Payback back period are as follows:

1. Payback period method does not consider time value of money. But some companies modified this method by adjusting the time value of money to get to get the discounted Payback period.

2. According to Payback period method, the better investment is that one which has the shorter payback period. But it ignores the any benefits that occur after the payback period. So, it does not measure profitability.

Year	0	1	2	3	4	5
Cash Outflow	-520
Cash Inflow		200	150	150	100	150
Discount Rate	10%	0.90909091	0.826446281	0.751315	0.683013	0.620921
Present Value		181.818182	123.9669421	112.6972	68.30135	93.1382
Total Present Value	579.92
Net Present Value	59.92

A rate of return is assumed or set to discount the net cash inflows from a project. Here, rate of return is assumed 10% which is equal to Weighted Average Cost of Capital derived in previous in previous task.

If, NPV is positive or zero, the project is accepted and project is rejected when it is negative. In case two or more excusive projects having positive NPVs, highest NPV project is accepted (Langdon, 2002).

Here, the NPV is positive (59.92). So, the project may be accepted by the company.

Net Present Value (NPV) is the present value of net cash inflows expected from a project including residual value, if any, less the initial outlay of the project. NPV is used in Capital Budgeting to measure the profitability of an investment or a project. It is one of the most reliable methods because time value of money is adjusted by using discounted cash inflows (Pettinger, 2000).

To calculate the NPV, first the present value of net cash inflows is determined from a project. The net cash flows may be equal or may different. If they are equal, present value can be calculated by using the present value of formula of annuity. However, if they are different the present value of each individual net cash inflow calculated separately (Costantini, 2006).

NPV of annuity is calculated by following formula:

Where,

            ‘R’ is the net cash inflow expected to be received each period;

            ‘i’ is the required rate of return

            ‘n’ are the number of periods

And, NPV of different cash inflows is calculated as follows:

Where,

            ‘i’ is the target rate of return;

            ‘R₁’ is the net cash inflow during the first period;

            ‘R₂’ is the net cash inflow during the second period;

            ‘R₃’ is the net cash inflow during the second period, and so on….

NPV having positive value or zero is accepted. In comparison of two projects, the highest NPV project is accepted (Burger & Hawkesworth, 2013).

The drawback of NPV is that it is based on estimated future cash flows of the project and estimates may far from actual results (Baum & Crosby, 2008). This is due to the assumption of discounting rate. In order to result the particular issue, firm or organization can employ Internal Rate Return (IRR). So, in future budgetary process, organization needs use both NPV and IRR as investment appraisal process (Ballantine, Galliers & Stray, 1995).

At current exchange rate

Current exchange rate: €1=1.385 $US

Raw material cost per unit is $500.

So, total material cost = $500 × 1000 units = $500000

Total material in Euro with current exchange rate = €361010.83

Production, distribution and selling cost = €300000

Selling price per unit = €750

Total revenue from sales = €750 × 1000 units = €750000

Profit = €750000 – (€361010.83 + €300000) = 88989.17

At 15% increasing

Exchange rate will be €1 = 1.593 $US

So, total material cost in Euro = $500000 / 1.593 = €313873.19

Profit = €750000 – (€313873.19 + €300000) = €136126.81

At 15% decreasing

Exchange rate will be €1 = 1.177 $US

So, total material cost in Euro = $500000/1.177 = €424808.84

Profit = €750000 – (€ 424808.84 + €300000) = €25191.16

At 3 month forward contract rate

Three month forward contract is €1 = 1.435 $US

So, total material cost will be in Euro = $500000/1.435 = €348432.05

Profit = €750000 – (€348432.05+ €300000) = €101567.95

The above calculation shows that if the company agrees to buy raw materials from US at spot price, the profit will be affected. The materials will be delivered from US after three months of order and the forward rate may vary as much as 15% either way according to the FOREX expert analysis report. So, at the time payment of raw materials, company has to pay more if the currency value of US dollar decreases by 15% rather than increasing. As well as, company will earn more profit if currency value of US dollar decreases by 15% than increasing. But, there is risk associated with it that it may increase or decrease.

There is another option for going forward contract. So, if the company chooses to buy raw material from US at 3 three months forward contract rate, it can earn a favourable profit avoiding the risk associated with currency rate. Therefore, it will be a better option for the company to choose the 3 month forward contract rate.

Company has to bear risk to choose the debt financing instrument in a foreign currency. The important risk with foreign financing is foreign exchange risk which makes difficult to control the stable and reliable earnings (Crowley & Lee, 2003). Foreign exchange risk depends on the changes of currency rate and value of investment gets affected. When profit is exchanged in domestic currency, earnings of profit from a foreign country can be decreased if domestic currency gets appreciated in respect of the foreign currency. Exchange rate is volatile in nature and it affects on sales and revenue of the company (MacDonald, Menkhoff & Rebitzky, 2009).

Suppose the company has decided to raise it finance of €500000 through debenture in US currency. Assume that, current exchange rate of Euro in respect of US dollar is €1=1.385 US $. If the Euro currency gets depreciated with US dollar (€1=1.152), company has to pay more amounts at the time of interest payment or full payment of debenture (Kikerkova, n.d.).

The exchange risk can be mitigated through hedging the fund. Company can choose to raise the fund through future contract, forward contract and options on currency the currency market (DeRosa, 2011). Suppose the company chooses to issue debenture in foreign currency through forward contract. So, exchange risk can be avoided and company can earn more revenues.

References List

Diriba, H. (2013). Cost Variance Analysis Under Decomposition Method. Saarbrücken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.

Sagner, J. (2011). Essentials of working capital management. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

Preve, L., & Sarria-Allende, V. (2010). Working capital management. New York: Oxford University Press.

Pettinger, R. (2000). Investment appraisal. New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press.

Peterson Drake, P., & Fabozzi, F. (2002). Capital budgeting. New York, NY: Wiley.

Langdon, K. (2002). Investment appraisal. Oxford, England: Capstone Pub.

Costantini, P. (2006). Cash return on capital invested. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Bragg, S. (2001). Cost accounting. New York: John Wiley.

Baum, A., & Crosby, N. (2008). Property investment appraisal. Oxford: Blackwell Pub.

DeRosa, D. (2011). Options on foreign exchange. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

MacDonald, R., Menkhoff, L., & Rebitzky, R. (2009). Exchange rate forecasters’ performance. Munich: Univ., Center for Economic Studies.

Ballantine, J., Galliers, R., & Stray, S. (1995). The use and importance of financial appraisal techniques in the IS/IT investment decision-making process—recent UK evidence. Project Appraisal, 10(4), 233-241

Burger, P., & Hawkesworth, I. (2013). Capital budgeting and procurement practices. OECD Journal On Budgeting, 13(1), 57-104

Crowley, P., & Lee, J. (2003). EXCHANGE RATE VOLATILITY AND FOREIGN INVESTMENT: International Evidence. The International Trade Journal, 17(3), 227-252.

Kikerkova, I. CEFTA-2006 Effects Upon the Macedonian Foreign Trade Exchange. SSRN Journal.