What is working capital? Discuss five important determinants of working capital requirement?
The capital invested in current or working assets such as stock of materials and finished goods, accounts receivable, bills receivable, short-term securities and cash or bank balance for meeting day-to-day expenses is known as working capital or current capital.
Five important determinant of working capital requirement are:
Nature of Business: The basic nature of a business influences the amount of working capital. A trading organisation and a service industry firm usually needs a smaller amount of working capital as compared to a manufacturing organisation.
Scale of Operations: Organisations which operates on a large scale, their quantum of inventory and debtors required is generally high. Such organizations, therefore, require large amount of working capital as compared to the organisations which operates on a lower scale.
Business cycle: Different phases of business cycles affect the requirement of working capital by a firm. In case of a boom, the sales as well as production are likely to be larger and, therefore, larger amount of working capital is required. As against this, the requirement for working capital will be lowers during the period of depression, since the sales as well as production will be less.
Seasonal Factors: Some of the businesses have seasonal operations. During peak season, larger amount of working capital is required because of higher level of activity.
As against this, the level of activity as well as the requirement for working capital will be lower during the lean season.
Production cycle/operating cycle: Production cycle is the time span between the receipt of raw material and their conversion into finished goods. Some businesses have a longer production cycle while some have a shorter one. Duration and the length of production cycle affect the amount of funds required for raw materials and expenses.
NCERT questions are designed to test your understanding of the concepts and theories discussed in the chapter. Here are some tips to help you answer NCERT questions effectively:
Welcome to the NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Business Studies - Chapter . This page offers a step-by-step solution to the specific question from Excercise 3 , Question 1: What is working capital? Discuss five important determinants of working capital requirement?....
Comments