Choose Your Sources of Working Capital Finance for Business Credit

Choose Your Sources of Working Capital Finance for Business Credit

You have choices in sources of working capital finance and in business credit solutions.

It is all about understanding the problem and knowing where to go for the solution, so let’s look at those two key issues. Understanding the problem is not something you have to read about, as a business owner and financial manager in Canada you live the capital ‘crunch’ or ‘challenge’ every day.

Working capital is best understood as your operating capital, and you have investments in receivables, inventory, that’s where your investment currently lies, and your goal is to monetize those assets in the best manner possible.

The textbook definition doesn’t really help us out – our accountants and analysts tell us to go to the balance sheet, subtract current liabilities from current assets, and, voila! That’s working capital!

One of the biggest contradictions that you need to understand is the issues of assets, profit, liquidity and turnover. Once you have a handle of those the concept of working capital and, more importantly, the solutions start making more sense.

We hate those textbook definitions we referred to, but we will agree that the calculation we shared needs to be positive – you do need more inventory and receivables combined as measured against payables and other short term liabilities. How you manage those short term assets of A/R and inventory is the challenge.

Many business owners quickly realize that one of their liabilities, i.e. payables, is actually a large asset in measuring capital and managing it. That is because if you can continue to convert inventory into A/R into cash, and slow down payables you are achieving working capital progress.

Is there a perfect way to measure your working capital needs and progress? One of those methods is to check into the ‘cash conversion cycle ‘- It’s …

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Need For Venture Capital Steady in Questionable Economy

Need For Venture Capital Steady in Questionable Economy

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The downward trend of the economy continues. An old axiom in business says that the best time to start a business is during an economic downturn, but all indications point to the same downward trend in available venture capital.

It seems that most venture capital groups are sitting on cash, riding out the uncertainty that dominates the economy. It’s not that the money isn’t there; the groups are just unwilling to take a chance right now. Why is that?

The goal of most start-ups is to make it to initial public offering (IPO) or to be acquired by another company. The rate of failure in business start-ups is alarming. With the rise in fuel costs comes a rise in the cost of everything else, including capital equipment, labor and supplies, as well as construction and real estate. Companies that will not invest in their own business are very likely not going to acquire another company. With the high costs associated with starting a business, people are relying on initial profits fund their new business.

Unfortunately, these businesses that open on a shoestring are not surviving. Consumers simply will not spend money these days, the competition is high, and it costs too much to promote and advertise a new business.

How Venture Capital Helps Small Business Become Big Business

The influx of money in the initial phases of a start-up helps the business to acquire equipment, real estate, and anything else not associated with the day-to-day operation of the business. This type of investment helps the business to grow very quickly. Usually.

In this economy, consumer confidence is low. People are sitting on cash reserves and not buying new products… from small appliances to automobiles, they are either fixing what they have or doing without. Service industries have also …

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