Research
CFO, “Working Capital Scorecard: The Hard Part of Boosting Liquidity,”
With payables stretched to the limit, wringing more cash out of working capital will be a challenge.
What CFO doesn’t want working capital to generate cash rather than consume it? To not have to answer pesky analyst questions about lower quarterly cash levels? To not have to draw on a line of credit because customers are paying on time? No, CFOs would rather be confident that the accounts receivables and payables departments are operating optimally. But that requires attention to detail, and few organizations can focus on this core area consistently.
The 2019 CFO/The Hackett Group Working Capital Scorecard shows that the largest 1,000 U.S. companies remain efficient users of working capital. But, as in most years, they could be doing better, especially at managing inventories.
