Business Finance: Needs

and Sources
Finance is the money required in the business. Finance is needed to set up the business, expand it
and increase working capital (the day-to-day running expenses).
Start-up capital is the initial capital used in the business to buy fixed and current assets before it can
start trading.
Working Capital finance needed by a business to pay its day-to-day running expenses
Capital expenditure is the money spent on fixed assets (assets that will last for more than a year). Eg:
vehicles, machinery, buildings etc. These are long-term capital needs.
Revenue Expenditure, similar to working capital, is the money spent on day-to-day expenses which
does not involve the purchase of long-term assets. Eg: wages, rent. These are short-term capital
needs.
Sources of Finance
Internal finance is obtained from within the business itself.
 Retained Profit: profit kept in the business after owners have been given their share of the profit. Firms can
invest this profit back in the businesses.
Advantages:
– Does not have to be repaid, unlike, a loan.
– No interest has to be paid
Disadvantages:
– A new business will not have retained profit
– Profits may be too low to finance
– Keeping more profits to be used as capital will reduce owner’s share of profit and they may resist the decision.
 Sale of existing assets: assets that the business doesn’t need anymore, for example, unused buildings or spare
equipment can be sold to raise finance
Advantages:
– Makes better use of capital tied up in the business
– Does not become debt for the business, unlike a loan.
Disadvantages:
– Surplus assets will not be available with new businesses
– Takes time to sell the asset and the expected amount may not be gained for the asset
 Sale of inventories: sell of finished goods or unwanted components in inventory.
Advantage: 
– Reduces costs of inventory holding
Disadvantage:
– If not enough inventory is kept, unexpected increase demand form customers cannot be fulfilled
 Owner’s savings: For a sole trader and partnership, since they’re unincorporated (owners and business is not
separate), any finance the owner directly invests from hos own saving will be internal finance.
Advantages:
– Will be available to the firm quickly
– No interest has to be paid.
Disadvantages:
– Increases the risk taken by the owners.
External finance is obtained from sources outside of the business.
 Issue of share: only for limited companies.
Advantage:

 A permanent source of capital, no need to repay the money to shareholders
no interest has to be paid
Disadvantages:

 Dividends have to be paid to the shareholders

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  If many shares are bought, the ownership of the business will change hands. (The ownership is decided by
who has the highest percentage of shares in the company)
 Bank loans: money borrowed from banks
Advantages:

 Quick to arrange a loan
 Can be for varying lengths of time
 Large companies can get very low rates of interest on their loans
Disadvantages:

 Need to pay interest on the loan periodically
 It has to be repaid after a specified length of time
 Need to give the bank a collateral security (the bank will ask for some valued asset, usually some part of the
business, as a security they can use if at all the business cannot repay the loan in the future. For a sole trader,
his house might be collateral. So there is a risk of losing highly valuable assets)
 Debenture issues: debentures are long-term loan certificates issued by companies. Like shares, debentures will
be issued, people will buy them and the business can raise money. But this finance acts as a loan- it will have to
be repaid after a specified period of time and interest will have to be paid for it as well.
Advantage:

 Can be used to raise very long-term finance,  for example, 25 years
Disadvantage:

 Interest has to be paid and it has to be repaid
 Debt factoring: a debtor is a person who owes the business money for the goods they have bought from the
business. Debt factors are specialist agents that can collect all the business’ debts from debtors.
Advantages:

 Immediate cash is available to the business
 Business doesn’t have to handle the debt collecting
Disadvantage:

 The debt factor will get a percent of the debts collected as reward. Thus, the business doesn’t get all of their
debts
 Grants and subsidies: government agencies and other external sources can give the business a grant or subsidy
Advantage:

 Do not have to be repaid, is free
Disadvantage:

 There are usually certain conditions to fulfil to get a grant. Example, to locate in a particular under-
developed area.
 Micro-finance: special institutes are set up in poorly-developed countries where financially-lacking people
looking to start or expand small businesses can get small sums of money. They provide all sorts of financial
services
 Crowdfunding: raises capital by asking small funds from a large pool of people, e.g. via Kickstarter. These
funds are voluntary ‘donations’ and don’t have to be return or paid a dividend.
 

Short-term finance provides the working capital a business needs for its day-to-day operations.
 Overdrafts: similar to loans, the bank can arrange overdrafts by allowing businesses to spend more than what is
in their bank account. The overdraft will vary with each month, based on how much extra money the business
needs.
Advantages:

 Flexible form of borrowing since overdrawn amounts can be varied each month
 Interest has to be paid only on the amount overdrawn
 Overdrafts are generally cheaper than loans in the long-term

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 Disadvantages:

 Interest rates can vary periodically, unlike loans which have a fixed interest rate.
 The bank can ask for the overdraft to be repaid at a short-notice.
 Trade Credits: this is when a business delays paying suppliers for some time, improving their cash position
Advantage:

 No interests, repayments involved
Disadvantage:

 If the payments are not made quickly, suppliers may refuse to give discounts in the future or refuse to supply
at all
 Debt Factoring: (see above)
 

Long-term finance is the finance that is available for more than a year.
 Loans: from banks or private individuals.
 Debentures
 Issue of Shares
 Hire Purchase: allows the business to buy a fixed asset and pay for it in monthly instalments that include
interest charges. This is not a method to raise capital but gives the business time to raise the capital.
Advantage:

 The firms doesn’t need a large sum of cash to acquire the asset
Disadvantage:

 A cash deposit has to be paid in the beginning
 Can carry large interest charges.
 Leasing: this allows a business to use an asset without purchasing it. Monthly leasing payments are instead
made to the owner of the asset. The business can decide to buy the asset at the end of the leasing period. Some
firms sell their assets for cash and then lease them back from a leasing company. This is called sale and
leaseback.
Advantages:

 The firm doesn’t need a large sum of money to use the asset
 The care and maintenance of the asset is done by the leasing company
Disadvantage:

 The total costs of leasing the asset could finally end up being more than the cost of purchasing the asset!
 

Factors that affect choice of source of finance

 Purpose: if a fixed asset is to be bought, hire purchase or leasing will be appropriate, but if finance is needed to
pay off rents and wages, debt factoring, overdrafts will be used.
 Time-period: for long-term uses of finance, loans, debenture and share issues are used, but for a short period,
overdrafts are more suitable.
 Amount needed: for large amounts, loans and share issues can be used. For smaller amounts, overdrafts, sale of
assets, debt factoring will be used.
 Legal form and size: only a limited company can issue shares and debentures. Small firms have limited sourced
of finances available to choose from
 Control: if limited companies issue too many shares, the current owners may lose control of the business. They
need to decide whether they would risk losing control for business expansion.
 Risk- gearing: if business has existing loans, borrowing more capital can increase gearing- risk of the business-
as high interests have to be paid even when there is no profit, loans and debentures need to be repaid etc. Banks
and shareholders will be reluctant to invest in risky businesses.
 

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 Finance from banks and shareholders
Chances of a bank willing to lend a business finance is higher when:
 A cash flow forecast is presented detailing why finance is needed and how it will be used
 An income statement from the last trading year and the forecast income statement for the next year, to see how
much profit the business makes and will make.
 Details of existing loans and sources of finance being used
 Evidence that a security/collateral is available with the business to reduce the bank’s risk of lending
  A business plan is presented to explain clearly what the business hopes to achieve in the future and why finance
is important to these plans
Chances of a shareholder willing to invest in a business is higher when:
 the company’s share prices are increasing- this is a good indicator of improving performance
 dividends and profits are high
 the company has a good reputations and future growth plans

Cash Flow Forecasting and Working Capital

Why is cash important?

If a firm doesn’t have any cash to pay its workers, suppliers, landlord and government, the business
could go into liquidation– selling everything it owns to pay its debts. The business needs to have an
adequate amount of cash to be able to pay for all its short-term payments.

Cash Flow
The cash flow of a businesses is its cash inflows and cash outflows over a period of time.
Cash inflows are the sums of money received by the business over a period of time. E.g.:
 sales revenue from sale of products
 payment from debtors– debtors are customers who have already purchased goods from the business but didn’t
pay for them at that time
 money borrowed from external sources, like loans
 the money from the sale of business assets
 investors putting more money into the business
Cash outflows are the sums of money paid out by the business over a period of time. Eg:
 purchasing goods and materials for cash
 paying wages, salaries and other expenses in cash
 purchasing fixed assets
 repaying loans (cash is going out of the business)
 by paying creditors of the business- creditors are suppliers who supplied items to the business but were not paid
at the time of supply.
The cash flow cycle:

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 Cash flow is not the same as profit! Profit is the surplus amount after total costs have been deducted
from sales. It includes all income and payments incurred in the year, whether already received or paid
or to not yet received or paid respectfully. In a cash flow, only those elements paid by cash are
considered.
Cash Flow Forecasts
A cash flow forecast is an estimate of future cash inflows and outflows of a business, usually on a
month-by-month basis. This then shows the expected cash balance at the end of each month. It can
help tell the manager:

 how much cash is available for paying bills, purchasing fixed assets or repaying loans
 how much cash the bank will need to lend to the business to avoid insolvency (running out of liquid cash)
 whether the business has too much cash that can be put to a profitable use in the business
Example of a cash flow forecast for the four months:

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 The cash inflows are listed first and then the cash outflows. The total inflows and outflows have to be
calculated after each section.

The opening cash/bank balance is the amount of cash held by the business at the start of the month
Net Cash Flow = Total Cash Inflow – Total Cash Outflow
The net cash flow is added to opening cash balance to find the closing cash/bank balance– the amount
of cash held by the business at the end of the month. Remember, the closing cash/bank balance for
one month is the opening cash/bank balance for the next month!
The figures in bracket denote a negative balance, i.e., a net cash outflow (outflows > inflows)

Uses of cash flow forecasts:

 when setting up the business the manager needs to know how much cash is required to set up the business. The
cash flow forecast helps calculate the cash outflows such as rent, purchase of assets, advertising etc.
 A statement of cash flow forecast is required by bank managers when the business applies for a loan. The
bank manager will need to know how much to lend to the business for its operations, when the loan is needed,
for how long it is needed and when it can be repaid.
 Managing cash flow– if the cash flow forecast gives a negative cash flow for a month(s), then the business will
need to plan ahead and apply for an overdraft so that the negative balance is avoided (as cash come in and the
inflow exceeds the outflow). If there is too much cash, the business may decide to repay loans (so that interest
payment in the future will be low) or pay off creditors/suppliers (to maintain healthy relationship with
suppliers).
 

How can cash flow problems be overcome?

When a negative cash flow is forecast (lack of cash) the following methods can be used to correct it:

 Increase bank loans: bank loans will inject more cash into the business, but the firm will have to pay regular
interest payments on the loans and it will eventually have to be repaid, causing future cash outflows
 Delay payment to suppliers: asking for more time to pay suppliers will help decrease cash outflows in the
short-run. However, suppliers could refuse to supply on credit and may reduce discounts for late payment
 Ask debtors to pay more quickly: if debtors are asked to pay all the debts they have to the firm quicker, the
firm’s cash inflows would increase in the short-run. These debtors will include credit customers, who can be
asked to make cash sales as opposed to credit sales for purchases (cash will have to be paid on the spot, credit
will mean they can pay in the future, thus becoming debtors). However, customers may move to other
businesses that still offers them time to pay

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 Delay or cancel purchases of capital equipment: this will greatly help reduce cash outflows in the short-run,
but at the cost of the efficiency the firm loses out on not buying new technology and still using old equipment.
In the long-term, to improve cash flow, the business will need to attract more investors, cut costs by
increasing efficiency, develop more products to attract customers and increase inflows.
Working Capital
Working capital the capital required by the business to pay its short-term day-to-day
expenses. Working capital is all of the liquid assets of the business– the assets that can be quickly
converted to cash to pay off the business’ debts. Working capital can be in the form of:
 cash needed to pay expenses
 cash due from debtors – debtors/credit customers can be asked to quickly pay off what they owe to the business
in order for the business to raise cash
 cash in the form of inventory –  Inventory of finished goods can be quickly sold off to build cash inflows. Too
much inventory results in high costs, too low inventory may cause production to stop.

Income Statements
Accounts are the financial records of a firm’s transactions.
Final Accounts are prepared at the end of the financial year and give details of the profit or loss made
as well as the worth of the business.
Profit
Profit =  Sales Revenue – Total cost 
When the total costs exceed the sales revenue, then a loss is made.

How to increase profit?

 Increase sales revenue
 Cut costs
Why is profit important to a business?
 It is a reward for enterprise: entrepreneurs start businesses to make a profit
 It is a reward for risk-taking: entrepreneurs has to take considerable risks when they invest capital in a
venture, and profits are a compensation/reward to them for taking these risks (paid in the form of profits or
dividends)
 It is a source of finance: after payments to owners, profits are reinvested back into the business for further
expansion (this is called retained earnings)
 It is an indicator of success: more profits indicate to investors that the business/industry is worth their time and
money, and they will invest more either int he firm or new firms of their own, in the hopes of gaining good
returns on their investment
For social enterprises, profit is not one of their primary objectives, but welfare of the society is.
However, they will also strive to make some profit to reinvest it back into the business and help it
grow.

Profit is not the same as cash flow! Profit is the surplus amount after total costs have been deducted
from sales. It includes all income and payments incurred in the year, whether already received or paid
or to not yet received or paid respectfully. In a cash flow, only those elements paid in cash
immediately are considered.
Income Statement
An income statement is a financial document of the business that records all income generated by the
business as well as the costs incurred by the business and thus the  profit or loss made over the
financial year. Also known as profit and loss account.

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 A simple Income
Statement
Sales Revenue = total sales
Cost of Sales = total variable cost of production + (opening inventory of finished goods –  closing
inventory of finished goods)
Gross Profit = Sales Revenue – Cost of Sales
Expenses: all overheads/fixed costs
Net Profit = Gross Profit – Expenses

Profit after Tax = Net Profit – Tax

Dividends: share of profit given to shareholders; return on shares
Retained Profit for the year = Profit after Tax – Dividends. This retained earnings is then kept aside for
use in the business.

Onl
y a very small portion of the sales revenue ends up being the retained profit. All costs, taxes
and dividends have to be deducted from sales.
Uses of Income Statement
Income statements are used by managers to:

 know the profit/loss made by the business

 compare their performance with that of previous years’ and with that of competitors’. If profit is lower than
that of last year’s why is it falling and what can they do to correct the issue? If it is lower than that of
competitors’ what can they do to be more profitable and be competitive in the market?
 know the profitability of individual products by preparing separate income statement for each product. They
may decide to stop production of products that are making losses.
 help decide what products to launch by preparing forecast income statement for the first few years.
Whichever product is forecast to have a higher profit, the business will choose to launch that product

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 Statement of
Financial Position
The balance sheet, along with the income statement is prepared at the end of the financial year.
It shows the value of a business’ assets and liabilities at a particular time. It is also known as ‘statement
of financial position’.
Assets are those items of value owned by the business.
 Fixed/non-current assets (buildings, vehicles, equipment etc.) are assets that remain in the business for more
than a year – their values fall over time in a process called depreciation every year.
 Short-term/current assets (inventory, trade receivables (debts from customers), cash etc) are owned only for a
very short time.
 There can also intangible (cannot be touched or felt) non-current assets like copyrights and patents that add
value to the business.
Liabilities are the debts owed by the business to its creditors.
 Long-term/non-current liabilities (loans, debentures etc.)- they do not have to be repaid within a year.
 Short-term/current liabilities (trade payables (to suppliers), overdraft etc.)- these need to be repaid within a
year.
CURRENT ASSETS – CURRENT LIABILITIES = WORKING CAPITAL
This is because the liquid cash a company has with them will be the liquid (short-term) assets they
own less the short-term debts they have to pay.
Shareholder’s Equity is the total amount of money invested in the company by shareholders. This will
include both the share capital (invested directly by shareholders) and reserves (retained earnings
reserve, general reserve etc.).
Shareholders can see if their stake in the business has risen or fallen by looking at the total equity
figure on the balance sheet.

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 Check whether the equations on the right are satisfied in this balance sheet!

SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY = TOTAL ASSETS – TOTAL LIABILITIES

 

TOTAL ASSETS = TOTAL LIABILITIES + SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY

CAPITAL EMPLOYED = SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY + NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
This is because non-current liabilities like loans are also used for permanent investment in the
company.
Uses of a statement of financial position
 When the current assets subtotal is compared to the current liabilities subtotal, investors can estimate whether a
firm has access to sufficient funds in the short term to pay off its short-term obligations i.e., whether it is liquid
 One can also compare the total amount of debt (liabilities) to the total amount of equity listed on the balance
sheet, to see if the resulting debt-equity ratio indicates a dangerously high level of borrowing. This information
is especially useful for lenders and creditors, (especially banks) who want to know if the firm will be able to
pay back its debt
 Investors like to examine the amount of cash on the balance sheet to see if there is enough available to pay them
a dividend
 Managers can examine its balance sheet to see if there are any assets that could potentially be sold off without
harming the underlying business. For example, they can compare the reported inventory assets to the sales to
derive an inventory turnover level, which can indicate the presence of excess inventory, so they will sell off the
excess inventory to raise finance

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 Analysis of Accounts
The data contained in the financial statements are used to make some useful observations about the
performance and financial strength of the business. This is the analysis of accounts of a business. To
do so, ratio analysis is employed.
Ratio Analysis
 Profitability Ratios: profitability is the ability of a company to use its resources to generate revenues in
excess of its expenses. These ratios are used to see how profitable the business has been in the year ended.
 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE): this calculates the return (net profit) in terms of the capital
invested in the business (shareholder’s equity + non-current liabilities) i.e. the % of net profit earned on each
unit of capital employed. The higher the ROCE the better the profitability is. The formula is:

 Gross Profit Margin: this calculates the gross profit (sales – cost of production) in terms of the sales, or in
other words, the % of gross profit made on each unit of sales revenue. The higher the GPM, the better. The
formula is:

 Net profit Margin: this calculates the net profit (gross profit-expenses) in terms of the sales, i.e. the % of
net profit generated on each unit of sales revenue. The higher the NPM, the better. The formula is:

 Liquidity Ratios: liquidity is the ability of the company to pay back its short-term debts. It if it doesn’t have
the necessary working capital to do so, it will go illiquid (forced to pay off its debts by selling assets). In the
previous topic, we said that working capital = current assets – current liabilities. So a business needs current
assets to be able to pay off its current liabilities. The two liquidity ratios shown below, use this concept.
 Current Ratio: this is the basic liquidity ratio that calculates how many current assets are there in
proportion to every current liability, so the higher the current ratio the better (a value above 1 is favourable).
the formula is:

 Liquid Ratio/ Acid Test Ratio:  this is very similar to current ratio but this ratio doesn’t consider inventory
to be a liquid asset, since it will take time for it to be sold and made into cash. A high level of inventory in a
business can thus cause a big difference between its current and liquidity ratios. So there is a slight
difference in the formula:

Uses and users of accounts

 Managers: they will use the accounts to help them keep control over the performance of each product or each
division since they can see which products are profitably performing and which are not.
 This will allow them to take better decisions. If for example, product A has a good gross profit margin of
35% but its net profit margin is only 5%, this means that the business has very high expenses that is causing

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 the huge difference between the two ratios. They will try to reduce expenses in the coming year. In the case
of liquidity, if both ratios are very low, they will try to pay off current liabilities to improve the ratios.
 Ratios can be compared with other firms in the industry/competitors and also with previous years to see
how they’re doing. Businesses will definitely want to perform better than their rivals to attract shareholders
to invest in their business and to stay competitive in the market. Businesses will also try to improve their
profitability and liquidity positions each year.
 Shareholders: since they are the owners of a limited company, it is a legal requirement that they be presented
with the financial accounts of the company. From the income statements and the profitability ratios, especially
the ROCE, existing shareholders and potential investors can see whether they should invest in the business by
buying shares. A higher profitability, the higher the chance of getting dividends. They will also compare the
ratios with other companies and with previous years to take the most profitable decision. The balance sheet
will tell shareholders whether the business was worth more at the end of the year than at the beginning of the
year, and the liquidity ratios will be used to ascertain how risky it will be to invest in the company- they won’t
want to invest in businesses with serious liquidity problems.
 Creditors: The balance sheet and liquidity ratios will tell creditors (suppliers) the cash position and debts of the
business. They will only be ready to supply to the business if they will be able to pay them. If there are
liquidity problems, they won’t supply the business as it is risky for them.
 Banks: Similar to how suppliers use accounts, they will look at how risky it is to lend to the business. They
will only lend to profitable and liquid firms.
 Government: the government and tax officials will look at the profits of the company to fix a tax rate and to see
if the business is profitable and liquid enough to continue operations and thus if the worker’s jobs will be
protected.
 Workers and trade unions: they will want to see if the business’ future is secure or not. If the business is
continuously running a loss and is in risk of insolvency (not being liquid), it may shut down operations and
workers will lose their jobs!
 Other businesses: managers of competing companies may want to compare their performance too or may want
to take over the business and wants to see if the takeover will be beneficial.
Limitations of using accounts and ratio analysis
 Ratios are based on past accounting data and will not indicate how the business will perform in the future
 Managers will have all accounts, but the external users will only have those published accounts that contain only
the data required by law- they may not get the ‘full-picture’ about the business’ performance.
 Comparing accounting data over the years can lead to misleading assumptions since the data will be affected
by inflation (rising prices)
 Different companies may use different accounting methods and so will have different ratio results, making
comparisons between companies unreliable.

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