The excess of the amount of working capital over permanent working capital is known as variable or short-term working capital. The amount of such working capital keeps on fluctuating from time to time on the basis of business activities. It may again be sub-divided into seasonal and special working capital. Seasonal working capital is required to meet the seasonal demands of busy periods occurring at stated intervals. On the other hand, special working capital is required to meet extra-ordinary needs for contingencies. The main sources of short-term working capital are as follows: 1. Indigenous Bankers Private moneylenders and other country bankers used to be the only source of finance prior to the establishment of commercial banks. They used to charge very high rates of interest and exploited the customers to the largest extent possible. Now a day with the development of commercial banks they have lost their monopoly. But even Continue reading
Business Finance Concepts
Primary Purpose of Taxation
Taxation is a means by which governments finance their expenditure by imposing charges on citizens and corporate entities. The main purpose of taxation is to accumulate funds for the functioning of the government machineries. All governments in the world cannot run its administrative office without funds and it has no such system incorporated in itself to generate profit from its functioning. In other words, a government can run its administrative set up only through public funding which is collected in the form of tax. Therefore, it can be well understood that the purpose of taxation is very simple and obvious for proper functioning of a state. Taxes are charges levied against a citizen’s personal income or on property or for some specified activity. As such, one purpose of taxation is to increase in effectiveness and productivity of the nation as government is able to implement various socio-economic development projects such Continue reading
Similarities and Difference between Job Costing and Batch Costing
Job Costing Method is one of the costing methods that analyze the cost of the job. This system considers job as a cost unit which contains a sole order, individual project or contract. This is an isolation of the entire time, material and costs to a sole order or job. This cause for gathering and covering on the expenses and income connect with particular projects or job. Some customers will not order the all product, but they will just order for getting required job. Hence it is essential to discover out that job order’s expenditure throughout this method. Batch Costing method is a modified type of job costing. Batch costing method is using by companies whose products are simply recognized by batches. In here batch of identifiable products are concerned as a sole job among unit price. Simply this is a method whereby recognize units produced are concerned as a Continue reading
Labor Cost – Definition, Types and Importance
Like materials, labor is also one of the prime inputs of production system. All manufacturing concerns require the labor for carrying out their production activities. The labor consists of workers who are essential to convert materials into finished products. The workers operate machine and perform other tasks to help convert materials into final outputs. The labor can be either direct or indirect. The labor who is directly engaged in the conversion process is called direct labor and who is not is called indirect labor. The labor, however, should be properly utilized and satisfactorily paid in order to minimize labor turnover and labor cost. Unlike materials, labor is complex to deal with. Dissatisfied and discontented labor always results in high labor costs and low quality outputs. Therefore there should be proper planning, accounting and controlling of labor. Concept and Meaning of Labor Cost The payment made to the labor in exchange Continue reading
Integrating Material and Financial Flows in a Supply Chain
Firms in the past have mainly focused on improving the material flow in a supply chain using various innovative methods like cross docking, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) etc. Firms have also used IT solutions to automate the material flow. Today, they have also begun to focus on improving the financial flow in the supply chain. Many firms have adopted best practices of cash flow management to improve the financial flow. One of the key elements which helps in efficient financial flow in a supply chain is the use of IT solutions in the purchase-to-pay and order-to-cash processes. By automating these processes firms can minimize inefficiencies and improve the effectiveness of the supply chain.Many firms have automated the same or all of the elements of the financial flow in a supply chain through implementing ERP systems and cash flow management solutions. However, most firms have Continue reading
Understanding Inflation-Linked Bonds (ILBs)
The recent Monetary Policy released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) laid its thrust on controlling the spiraling inflation, especially the food price inflation. One of the reasons behind the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) hike was to “curtail the rising inflationary expectations (higher expected price trends)” In the past RBI has been concerned about the fact that a common man does not have any protection against rising prices, vis No Inflation Hedge. The common man has to rely on traditional but inefficient methods to hedge the real inflation risks, such as Gold and real assets such as commodities or real estate or even excessive stocking of goods In developed markets like US, the government has issues “Treasury Inflation Protected Securities” known as TIPS. Globally more than USD 1 trillion worth inflation linked bonds must be outstanding. Inflation-linked bonds (ILB) securities give an opportunity to market participants and investors to hedge Continue reading