现金流对营运资本管理的影响和资金投资【外文翻译】.doc

现金流对营运资本管理的影响和资金投资【外文翻译】.doc

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外文翻译

原文

TheCashFlowImplicationsofManagingWorkingCapitalandCapitalInvestment

MaterialSource:

JournalofBusiness&EconomicStudies

Author:

RussellP.Boisjoly

INTRODUCTION

Inrecentyearsmajorcorporationshavediscoveredthatthereareimportantcashflowstreamsavailabletothemiftheyaggressivelymanagetheirworkingcapitalaccounts（accountsreceivable,inventory,accountspayable,andadvancepayments）.Whilesomehavearguedthatcashflowsgeneratedthroughworkingcapitalmanagement（improvinginventoryturnover,aggressiveaccountsreceivablecollectionpoliciesorsuppliermanagementprograms,lengtheningaccountspayablepaymentperiods,etc.）aretransitoryand,therefore,arenotindicativeofafundamentalimprovementintheinternalvaluecreationprocess（businessmodel）,thereislimitedempiricalevidenceonwhetherthesepractices（a）havechangedtheunderlyingprobabilitydistributionsoftherelatedfinancialratios,（b）persistedoverseveralyearsratherthanjust2or3yearsasimpliedbyMulfordandElywhopurportthatchangesaretransitoryortemporary,（c）whetherthesechangesinworkingcapitalmanagementpolicieshaveimpactedmarketvaluespositively（ornegatively）or（d）whetherweunderstandthemodelforcashflowsthroughthefirmadequatelytoproperlyconductempiricaltestsorforecastcashflows.Inadditiontomanagerialpolicies,oneshouldprobablyconsiderchangesintechnologyandchangesinthefinancialenvironment.TypicalDSOorACPratioshavebeenradicallyloweredformostmerchandisersbythenearlyuniversaloutsourcingofthecreditfunctiontocreditcardcompanies.Also,thedeclineofshort-terminterestratesmostcertainlyaffectedWCpoliciesduringtheperiodinquestion,makingfirmslesswillingtoholdcash,andperhapsmorewillingtoincreaseshort-termliabilities.

Thisissueisimportanttoexaminenotonlytodetermineifchangesinmanagementpracticeshaveimpactedcashflowandvaluecreation,butalsotoinvestigatewhetherrationormsmayhavechangedandshiftedthebenchmarksforcomparisonsbetweenfirms.Furthermore,thesebenchmarksarederivedfromthemeasuresofcentraltendency,buttheappropriateuseofthesebenchmarksmaybeinfluenced（orbiased）bythethird（skewness）andfourth（kurtosis）momentsoftheratiodistributionsorindustryeffectsorfinancialcondition.Ifthebiasexistsandiftheskewnessissignificant,thentheappropriatebenchmarksmaydeviatesignificantlyfromthemean,median,ormode.Inthepast,someresearchersexcluded“outliers,”e.g.,introducedbyskewness,fromtheirstudiesbecausetheywereresponsiblefordeparturesfromnormality,ortheymadesquarerootorlogarithmictransformationstothedatatoreestablishormorenearlyapproachnormality.Theseadjustmentstheoreticallywouldleavethe“benchmarks”unaltered.But,thereissubstantialevidencethedistributionsoffinancialratiosexhibitpositiveskewness.

Previousstudiesshowthatdistributionsoffinancialratiosexhibitpositiveskewnessanddeparturesfromnormality.Howevertherehavebeennoattemptstoexplainthesourceoftheskewness.Ifmanagementhasengagedinpracticesthatshouldattenuatemeandeviations,skewness,orkurtosis,thentheremaybeevidenceofthisthatcanbediscoveredbyfollowingfirmsovertime.Ifdistributionshaveshifted（mean,variance,skewness,and/orkurtosis）,thenalongitudinalinvestigationmayleadtotheestablishmentofnewbenchmarksoranewbenchmarkmeasurementprocess,aswellasexaminetheimpactonstockpriceperformance.Also,ifevidenceexistsforratiodistributionshifts,thenthereiscausetoreexaminethevaluecreationprocessandthecausalityofcashflowgenerationtovaluecreation.Therefore,thestartingpointisthislongitudinalstudyofanoriginalsampleof50firmstodetermineifdistributionshaveshiftedduetochangesinworkingcapitalmanagementandcorporatereinvestmentpolicies.

HYPOTHESISFORMULATION

Thisstudywilllookatthedistributionalpropertiesofseveralfinancialratiostiedtotheworkingcapitalmanagementandcapitalinvestmentprocessesofthefirm.Wewillinvestigatewhetherthereisevidencetosupporttheacceptanceofthehypothesesthatcorporations,especiallythelargestfirms,havebecomemorevigorousinmanagingtheirworkingcapitalprocessesorcapitalinvestmentpracticestogeneratesignificantimprovementsincashflow.Specifically,corporationsmayhaveimprovedthemanagementofaccountsreceivable,inventory,accountspayable,andadvancepaymentstosuchanextentthatdistributionsoftherelatedfinancialratioshaveshiftedsignificantly.Thedistributionsalsomaybemoreskewedasaresultofthesechangesincorporatepolicytoacceleratecustomerpaymentsorextendtheperiodtakentopaysuppliers.Inaddition,corporationsmayhavereducedtheirreinvestmentin