A manager would like to see a decreasing trend in all of the following operating measures except

Operating cash flow is the cash flow generated from the regular activities of a business. Operating cash flow starts with net income from the income statement, adds back in cash, and then incorporates any changes (adding or subtracting) in working capital.

To create a strategy that avoids declines in cash from operations, businesses should focus on maximizing net income and optimizing efficiency ratios.

The following factors will all decrease cash flow from operating activities:

1. Decrease in Net Income

The cash flow statement begins with net income, which is equal to revenues minus all costs, including taxes. As operating cash flow begins with net income, any changes in net income would affect cash flow from operating activities. If revenues decline or costs increase, with the resulting factor of a decrease in net income, this will result in a decrease in cash flow from operating activities.

2. Changes in Working Capital

The most significant uses of cash from operating activities are the changes in working capital, which includes current assets and current liabilities. Increases and decreases in current assets and liabilities are reflected in the cash flow statement. Growth in assets or decreases in liabilities from one period to another constitutes a use of cash and reduces cash flows from operations.

Working capital management is evaluated by efficiency ratios such as inventory turnover, days sales outstanding, and days payable outstanding.

Lower Inventory Turnover

Inventory turnover is calculated by finding the ratio of sales in a period to inventories at the end of the period. Lower inventory turnover usually indicates less effective inventory management. Poor inventory management expands the level of inventories on the balance sheet at any given time, meaning inventory is not being sold. This is a use of cash that decreases cash flows from operations.

Growth in Days Sales Outstanding

Days sales outstanding measures how quickly a company collects cash from customers. This metric is calculated by multiplying the number of days in a period by the ratio of accounts receivable to credit sales in the period. If days sales outstanding grows, it indicates poor receivable collection practices, meaning a company isn't getting paid for items it sold. This leads to higher current assets, constituting a use of cash that decreases cash flows from operating activities.

Decline in Days Payable Outstanding

Days payable outstanding measures how quickly a business pays its suppliers. It is calculated by multiplying days in the period by the ratio of accounts payable to cost of revenues in a period. When days payable outstanding declines, the time it takes for a company to settle up with its suppliers declines, meaning it is paying its suppliers faster and money is out the door sooner. This reduces accounts payable on the balance sheet. Reducing current liabilities is a use of cash, and this decreases cash flows from operations.

The Bottom Line

Cash flow from operations is an important metric that tells how much cash a company is generating from its business activities. It derives much of its function from the income statement and the balance sheet statement, such as net income and working capital. A change in the factors that make up these line items, such as sales, costs, inventory, accounts receivable, and accounts payable, all affect the cash flow from operations.

1.

LO 9.1Which of the following is not a common goal of an organization?

  1. operational efficiency
  2. being acquired by another business
  3. achieving strategic goals
  4. measuring financial performance

2.

LO 9.1Which of the following does not describe a management control system?

  1. establishes a company’s strategic goals
  2. implements a company’s strategic goals
  3. monitors a company’s strategic goals
  4. a system that only measures profitability

3.

LO 9.1In centralized organizations, primary decisions are made by ________.

  1. an individual at the top of the organization
  2. various managers throughout the organization
  3. outside consultants
  4. low-level management

4.

LO 9.1A key advantage of a decentralized organization is ________.

  1. increased administrative costs
  2. quicker decisions and response time
  3. the ease of aligning segment and company goals
  4. duplication of efforts

5.

LO 9.1Strategic decisions occur ________.

  1. frequently and involve immediate decisions
  2. frequently and involve long-term decisions
  3. infrequently and involve long-term decisions
  4. infrequently and involve immediate decisions

6.

LO 9.2Segments are uniquely identifiable components of the business and can be categorized by all of the following except ________.

  1. products produced
  2. services provided
  3. geographical location
  4. number of employees

7.

LO 9.2Organizational charts ________.

  1. list the salaries of all employees
  2. outline the strategic goals of the organization
  3. show the structure of an organization
  4. help management measure financial performance

8.

LO 9.2In a centralized organization, where are goals established?

  1. at the lower level of the organization and promoted upward
  2. outside the organization based on best practices in the industry
  3. by each segment of the organization
  4. at the highest level of the organization and promoted downward

9.

LO 9.2Managers in decentralized organizations make decisions relating to all of the following except ________.

  1. the company’s stock price
  2. equipment purchases
  3. personnel
  4. prices to charge customers

10.

LO 9.3Which of the following is not a type of responsibility center?

  1. concentrated cost center
  2. investment center
  3. profit center
  4. cost center

11.

LO 9.3A system that establishes financial accountability for operating segments within an organization is called ________.

  1. a financial statement
  2. an internal control system
  3. responsibility accounting
  4. centralization

12.

LO 9.3A responsibility center in which managers are held accountable for both revenues and expenses is called a ________.

  1. discretionary cost center
  2. revenue center
  3. cost center
  4. profit center

13.

LO 9.3A responsibility center structure that considers investments made by the operating segments by using a common cost of capital percentage is called ________.

  1. return on investment
  2. residual income
  3. a profit center
  4. a discretionary cost center

14.

LO 9.3An important goal of a responsibility accounting framework is to help ensure which of the following?

  1. decision-making is made by the top executives.
  2. investments made by each segment are minimized.
  3. identification of operating segments that should be closed.
  4. segment and company financial goals are congruent.

15.

LO 9.4Costs that a company or manager can influence are called ________.

  1. discretionary costs
  2. fixed costs
  3. variable costs
  4. controllable costs

16.

LO 9.4An example of an uncontrollable cost would include all of the following except ________.

  1. real estate taxes charged by the county in which the business operates
  2. per-gallon cost of fuel for the company’s delivery trucks
  3. hourly rate of pay for the company’s purchasing manager
  4. federal income tax rate paid by the company

17.

LO 9.4Internal costs that are charged to the segments of a business are called ________.

  1. controllable costs
  2. variable costs
  3. fixed costs
  4. allocated costs

18.

LO 9.4A transfer pricing arrangement that uses the price that would be charged to an external customer is a ________.

  1. market-based approach
  2. negotiated approach
  3. cost approach
  4. decentralized approach

19.

LO 9.4A transfer pricing structure that considers the opportunity costs of selling to internal rather than external customers uses ________.

  1. the cost approach
  2. the general transfer pricing approach
  3. the market-based approach
  4. the opportunity cost approach

What does efficiency variance measure?

What Is Efficiency Variance? Efficiency variance is the difference between the theoretical amount of inputs required to produce a unit of output and the actual number of inputs used to produce the unit of output. The expected inputs to produce the unit of output are based on models or past experiences.

Which of the following unfavorable cost variances would be the least relevant in evaluating the performance of a production supervisor?

Answer and Explanation: The least controllable standard costing variance is the overhead volume variance.

Which of the following can be used to calculate the material uses variance?

The formula for calculating the material usage variance is: MUV = (Standard Quantity – Actual Quantity) x Standard Price.

When the actual amount of raw material used in production is less than the standard?

If the actual quantity of materials used is less than the standard quantity of materials allowed for the actual output, then the journal entry to record the Direct Material Quantity Variance would be a debit.