公司理财精要（第6版，双语教学通用版）

FLOAY AND eASH MANAQEMENT
We begin our analysis of working capital management by looking at how firms manage cash. The basic objective in cash management is to keep the investment in cash as low as possible while still operating the firm's activities efficiently and effectively. This goal usu-ally reduces to the dictrm"Collect early and pay late." Accordingly， we discuss ways of accelerating collections and managing disbursements.
In addition， firms must invest temporarily idle cash in short-term marketable secu- rities. As we discuss in various places， these securities can be bought and sold in the finan- cial markets: As a group， they have very little default risk， and most are highly liquid. There are different types of these so-called money market securities， and we discuss a few of the most important ones a bit later.
Reasons for Holding Cash
John Maynard Keynes， in his great work The General Theory of Employment， Interest， and Money， identified three reasons why liquidity is important: the speculative motive， the precautionary motive， and the transaction motive. We discuss these next.
The Speculative and Precautionaty motives The speculative motive is the need to hold cash in order to be able to take advantage of， for example， bargain purchase oppoflunities that might arise， attractive interest rates， and (in the case of intemational firms) favorable exchange rate fluctuations.
For most firms， reserve borrowing ability and marketable securities can be used to satisfy speculative motives. Thus， for a modern firm， there might be a speculative motive for liquidity， but not necessarily for cash per se. Think of it tlus way: If you have a credit card with a very large credit limit， then you can probably.take advantage of any unusual bargains that come along without carrying any cash.
This is also true， to a lesser extent， for precautionary motives. The precautionary m.eiVe is the need for a safety supply to act as a financial reserve. Once again， there probably is a precautionary motive for liquidity. However， given that the value of money market instruments is relativeiy certain and that instruments such as T-bills are extremely liquid， there is no real need to hold substantial amounts of cash fgr precautionary purposes.
The Transaction motive Cash is needed to satisfy the transaction motive， the need to have cash on hand to pay bills. Transaction-related needs come from the normal dis-bursement and collection activities of the firm. The disbursement of cash includes the pay-ment of wages and salaries， trade debts， taxes， and dividends.
Cash is collected from sales， the selling of assets， and new financing. The cash inflows (collections) and outfiows (disbursements) are not perfectly synchronized， and some level of cash holdings is necessary to serve as a buffer. Perfect liquidity is the characteristic of cash that allows it to satisfy the transaction motive.
As electronic funds transfers and other high-speed， "paperless" payment mechanisms continue to develop， even the transaction demand for cash may all but disappear. Even ifit does， however， there will still be a demand for liauiditv and a need to manatle it efficientlv.
Benefits of Nolding cash When a firm holds cash in excess of some necessary mini- mum， it incurs an opportunity cost. The opportunity cost of excess cash (held in currency or bank deposits) is the interest income that could be earned in the next best use， such as investment in marketable securities.
Given the opportunity cost of holding cash， why would a firm hold excess cash? The answer is that a cash balance must be maintained to provide the liquidity necessary for transaction needs-paying bills. If the firm maintains too small-a cash balance， it may run out of cash. If this happens， the firm may have to raise cash on a short-term basis. This could involve， for example， selling marketable securities or borrowing.
Activities such as selling mm:ketable securities and borrowing involve various costs. As we've discussed， holding cash has an opportunity cost. To determine the appropriate cash balance， the firm must weigh the benefits of holding cash against these costs. We dis-cuss this subject in more detailin the sections that follow.
Understanding Float
As you no doubt know， the amount of money you have according to your checkbook can be very different from the amount of money that your bank thinks you have. The reason is that some of the checks you have written haven't yet been presented to the bank for pay- ment. The same thing is true for a business. The cash balance that a firm shows on its books is called the firm's book， or ledger balance. The balance shown in its bank account as available to spend is called its availabte， or collected， balan.ce. The difference between the' available balance and the ledger balance is called the floas， and it represents the net effect of checks in the process of clearing (moving through the banking system).
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