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Operating Cycle Assignment / Homework Help
Operating Cycle

Working capital is also known as revolving capital and a circular path of conversion/reconversion takes place. This revolution of cycle is called as the operating cycle. Let us consider an example to better understand operating cycle. A person starts a business with an initial investment. With credit extended by expense creditors, he starts production process. Goods of varying levels of finish results, and thus called as work-in-progress. Once complete processing is done, it is called as finished goods. Until these goods are sold, they remain in stock. Sales may be for cash and/or credit basis. The business person needs to wait a little to realize cash from credit customers. The realized cash is used to pay creditors. But he needs to maintain cash balance for day-to-day operations as well as for meeting sudden spurt in payment obligations accompanied by sluggish cash collections from debtors. Thus a revolution or cycle from cash to raw materials to Work-in-Progress, to finished goods, to debtors, and back to cash takes place. This revolution is called as operating cycle.


Thus, we can say that the term operating cycle, otherwise called as cash cycle refers to the length of time necessary to complete the following cycle of events:
  • Conversion of cash into inventory
  • Conversion of inventory into debtors
  • Conversion of debtors into cash
Operating Cycle Assignment / Homework Help

Stage 1: Cash to Inventory – In this stage, cash first gets converted into raw materials, then work-in-progress and then finished goods in a typical manufacturing concern. As regards non-manufacturing concerns, when the goods are purchased, cash gets converted into inventory.

Stage 2: Inventory to Debtors – The inventory thus produced or purchased, gets converted into debtors or receivables upon credit sales.

Stage 3: The debtors or accounts receivables get in turn converted back into cash when they make payment.


Length of operating cycle: When raw materials remain in store pending issue for production for a less duration, when raw materials gets converted into WIP in a short duration, when finished goods remain in warehouse pending for sales for a short duration only, and when cash realizations out of sales are made quickly and finally when payment to creditors is made slowly, the operating cycle would be smaller and consequently the working capital will also be reasonable. Thus shorter duration of operating cycle indicates an efficient working capital management.


Example:

Computation of length of operating cycle:


Period covered 1 year of 365 days
Average credit period allowed by creditors 16 days
Average total of debtors outstanding $480,000
Total consumption of raw materials per annum $4,400,000
Total production cost per annum $10,000,000
Total cost of sales $10,500,000
Sales during the year $16,000,000
Value of stock maintained:
Raw materials
Work in progress
Finished goods stock
 
$320,000
$350,000
$260,000

Calculate the operating cycle.

Solution:

Age of Raw materials =    $320,000 x 365  =
     $4,400,000
27 days
Age of WIP =   $350,000 x 365  =
   $10,000,000
13 days
Age of finished goods =   $260,000 x 365  =
   $10,500,000
9 days
Age of debtors =   $480,000 x 365  =
    $16,000,000
11 days
60 days
Less: Age of creditors (given) 16 days
Length of Operating cycle 44 days


Computation of Working capital need through Operating cycle

The length of operating cycle can be used to estimate total working capital required. First, we have to calculate the number of operating cycles in the period under study, normally a year.

Therefore, number of operating cycles =       Number of days in a year
                                                                   Length of operating cycle in days
In the above example, the number of cycles per annum would be 365 / 44 = 8.3 times.

Amount of working capital =   Total Operating cost
                                              No. of Operating cycles

If the operating cost per annum is $10,500,000, the amount of working capital would thus come to $10,500,000 ÷ 8.3 = $1,265,060 per operating cycle. Hence the significance of operating cycle concept in the efficient management of working capital.


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