Chapter 19 cash and liquidity management

Chapter 19
Cash and Liquidity
Management
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Key Concepts and Skills
•
Understand the importance of float and
how it affects the cash balance
•
Understand how to accelerate collections
and manage disbursements
•
Understand the advantages and
disadvantages of holding cash and some
of the ways to invest idle cash
•
Appendix: Be able to use the BAT and
Miller-Orr models
19-2

Chapter Outline
•
Reasons for Holding Cash
•
Understanding Float
•
Cash Collection and Concentration
•

Managing Cash Disbursements
•
Investing Idle Cash
•
Appendix
–
The Basic Idea
–
The BAT Model
–
The Miller-Orr Model: A More General Approach
–
Implications of the BAT and Miller-Orr Models
–
Other Factors Influencing the Target Cash Balance
19-3

Reasons for Holding Cash
•
Speculative motive – hold cash to take
advantage of unexpected opportunities
•
Precautionary motive – hold cash in case
of emergencies
•
Transaction motive – hold cash to pay the
day-to-day bills
•
Trade-off between opportunity cost of
holding cash relative to the transaction

cost of converting marketable securities
to cash for transactions
19-4

Understanding Float
•
Float – difference between cash balance
recorded in the cash account and the cash
balance recorded at the bank
•
Disbursement float
–
Generated when a firm writes checks
–
Available balance at bank – book balance > 0
•
Collection float
–
Checks received increase book balance before
the bank credits the account
–
Available balance at bank – book balance < 0
•
Net float = disbursement float + collection float
19-5

Example: Types of Float
•
You have $3,000 in your checking
account. You just deposited $2,000 and

wrote a check for $2,500.
–
What is the disbursement float?
–
What is the collection float?
–
What is the net float?
–
What is your book balance?
–
What is your available balance?
19-6

Example: Measuring Float
•
Size of float depends on the dollar amount and
the time delay
•
Delay = mailing time + processing delay +
availability delay
•
Suppose you mail a check each month for
$1,000 and it takes 3 days to reach its
destination, 1 day to process, and 1 day before
the bank makes the cash available
•
What is the average daily float (assuming 30-day
months)?
–
Method 1: (3+1+1)(1,000)/30 = 166.67

–
Method 2: (5/30)(1,000) + (25/30)(0) = 166.67
19-7

Example: Cost of Float
•
Cost of float – opportunity cost of not being able
to use the money
•
Suppose the average daily float is $3 million with
a weighted average delay of 5 days.
–
What is the total amount unavailable to earn interest?
•
5*3 million = 15 million
–
What is the NPV of a project that could reduce the
delay by 3 days if the cost is $8 million?
•
Immediate cash inflow = 3*3 million = 9 million
•
NPV = 9 – 8 = $1 million
19-8

Cash Collection
Payment Payment Payment Cash
Mailed Received Deposited Available
Mailing Time Processing Delay Availability Delay
Collection Delay
One of the goals of float management is to try to reduce the

collection delay. There are several techniques that can reduce
various parts of the delay.
19-9

Example: Accelerating Collections
– Part I
•
Your company does business nationally, and currently,
all checks are sent to the headquarters in Tampa, FL.
You are considering a lock-box system that will have
checks processed in Phoenix, St. Louis and
Philadelphia. The Tampa office will continue to process
the checks it receives in house.

–
Collection time will be reduced by 2 days on average
–
Daily interest rate on T-bills = .01%
–
Average number of daily payments to each lockbox is
5,000
–
Average size of payment is $500
–
The processing fee is $.10 per check plus $10 to wire
funds to a centralized bank at the end of each day.
19-10

Example: Accelerating
Collections – Part II

•
Benefits
–
Average daily collections = 3(5,000)(500) = 7,500,000
–
Increased bank balance = 2(7,500,000) = 15,000,000
•
Costs
–
Daily cost = .1(15,000) + 3*10 = 1,530
–
Present value of daily cost = 1,530/.0001 = 15,300,000
•
NPV = 15,000,000 – 15,300,000 = -300,000
•
The company should not accept this lock-box
proposal
19-11

Cash Disbursements
•
Slowing down payments can
increase disbursement float – but it
may not be ethical or optimal to do
this
•
Controlling disbursements
–
Zero-balance account
–

Controlled disbursement account
19-12

Investing Cash
•
Money market – financial instruments with
an original maturity of one year or less
•
Temporary Cash Surpluses
–
Seasonal or cyclical activities – buy marketable
securities with seasonal surpluses, convert
securities back to cash when deficits occur
–
Planned or possible expenditures – accumulate
marketable securities in anticipation of
upcoming expenses
19-13

Figure 19.6
19-14

Characteristics of Short-Term
Securities
•
Maturity – firms often limit the maturity of
short-term investments to 90 days to
avoid loss of principal due to changing
interest rates
•

Default risk – avoid investing in
marketable securities with significant
default risk
•
Marketability – ease of converting to cash
•
Taxability – consider different tax
characteristics when making a decision
19-15

Quick Quiz
•
What are the major reasons for
holding cash?
•
What is the difference between
disbursement float and collection
float?
•
How does a lockbox system work?
•
What are the major characteristics of
short-term securities?
19-16

Ethics Issues
•
Some corporations routinely pay late
or take discounts that they do not
qualify for.

–
How does this impact the supplier?
–
Does this action have any negative
impact on the company itself?
19-17

Comprehensive Problem
–
A proposed single lockbox system will reduce
collection time 2 days on average
–
Daily interest rate on T-bills = .01%
–
Average number of daily payments to the
lockbox is 3,000
–
Average size of payment is $500
–
The processing fee is $.08 per check plus $10
to wire funds each day.
–
What is the maximum investment that would
make this lockbox system acceptable?
19-18

End of Chapter
19-19