Working Capital Management: A Conceptual Approach

The area of working capital management is concerned with the management of current assets and current liabilities, with the dual objective of minimising the risk of insolvency while maximising return on assets. This way, working capital management influences both a firm's risks and its expected returns. As such, it is an important determinant of a firm's market value. Smart companies know that working capital management is a strategic tool that can fund research and development, acquisitions, share buybacks, and higher dividends. The present book defines what is meant by working capital, examines the issues involved, and outlines a number of different ways in which the components of working capital can be managed. The primary objective of this book is to develop a broad understanding of the short-term financial activities and decisions to provide thorough understanding in the fundamental tools of working capital analysis.

This is a mistaken belief that the understanding of working capital management concepts requires the knowledge of high-level mathematics. Also, some students mistakenly believe that Working Capital Management is an area in which they do not need competency. In spite of this, every finance specialization in a college of business, and many majors in other finance courses, requires the knowledge of short-term financial management fundamentals.

The purpose of Working Capital Management: A Conceptual Approach is to enable the reader to understand short-term financial decision-making process and to interpret the impact of these decisions on a firm's performance. The book, therefore, deals with the major areas in Working Capital Management: Cash Management, Receivable Management, Inventory Management, Banking and Financing aspect. In order to make the book more accessible to non-finance readers, the book includes the 'Glossary of Financial Terms' in the last chapter in which most of the common financial technical terms are explained.

Although the book is designed for specialized courses like MBA, MFC, M.Com., C.A., ICWAL, PGDBM etc., it can be used by all those professionals and students who are directly/indirectly related to finance discipline.