Working Capital Policy: Aggressive & Defensive

1. Conservative Approach

A conservative strategy suggests not to take any risk in working capital management and to carry high levels of current assets in relation to sales. Surplus current assets enable the firm to absorb sudden variations in sales, production plans, and procurement time without disrupting production plans. It requires to maintain a high level of working capital and it should be financed by long-term funds like share capital or long-term debt.

Availability of sufficient working capital will enable the smooth operational activities of the firm and there would be no stoppages of production for want of raw materials, consumables. Sufficient stocks of finished goods are maintained to meet the market fluctuations. The higher liquidity levels reduce the risk of insolvency.

But lower risk translates into lower return. Large investments in current assets lead to higher interest and carrying costs and encouragement for inefficiency. But conservative policy will enable the firm to absorb day to day business risks and assures continuous flow of operations.

Under this strategy, long-term financing covers more than the total requirement for working capital. The excess cash is invested in short-term marketable securities and in need, these securities are sold-off in the market to meet the urgent requirements of working capital.

Financing Strategy

Long-term funds = Fixed assets + Total permanent current assets + Part of temporary current assets

Short-term funds = Part of temporary current assets

2. Aggressive Approach:

Under this approach current assets are maintained just to meet the current liabilities without keeping any cushion for the variations in working capital needs. The core working capital is financed by long-term sources of capital, and seasonal variations are met through short-term borrowings. Adoption of this strategy will minimize the investment in net working capital and ultimately it lowers the cost of financing working capital.

The main drawbacks of this strategy are that it necessitates frequent financing and also increases risk as the firm is vulnerable to sudden shocks. A conservative current asset financing strategy would go for more long-term finance which reduces the risk of uncertainty associated with frequent refinancing.

The price of this strategy is higher financing costs since long-term rates will normally exceed short term rates. But when aggressive strategy is adopted, sometimes the firm runs into mismatches and defaults. It is the cardinal principle of corporate finance that long-term assets should be financed by long-term sources and short-term assets by a mix of long and short-term sources.

Financing Strategy

Long-term funds = Fixed assets + Part of permanent current assets

Short-term funds = Part of permanent current assets + Total temporary current assets