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Working Capital Essay

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Working capital provides an important indication of a firm's short-term financial health. Calculated as the difference between current assets and current liabilities, working capital tells whether an organization is able to cover its short-term liabilities (Sagner, 2010). If current liabilities exceed current assets, then it means a firm may have difficulty meeting its financial obligations in the next 12 months. Firms avoid such a scenario by effectively managing cash flow, cash balances, inventory, accounts payable, and accounts receivable. In this paper, the working capital structures of two companies are compared: Costco Wholesale Corporation (Costco) and Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft). The former is a retailer while the latter is a technology firm.Working capital has three major components: accounts receivable, inventory, and accounts payable (Sagner, 2010). Accounts receivable are part of the company's current assets. They basically denote cash the company expects to receive in the short-term as a result of products or services delivered to a customer. Accounts payable on the other hand are part of the company's current liabilities. They refer to the money the company owes its suppliers. Accounts payable may also include money owed to lenders. Inventory denotes the goods a company holds at a given point in time.

For the two selected companies, this analysis focuses on the companies' latest annual reports (2016). In the period in question, the two companies recorded the following figures as far as working capital is...

First, Costco has a significantly larger component of inventory compared to Microsoft. For Costco, inventory comprises nearly 60% of its total current assets. However, Microsoft's inventory comprises less than 2% of the firm's total current assets. This difference can be attributed to the fact that the two firms operate in totally different industries. Indeed, the industry of operation usually affects working capital (Sagner, 2010). While Costco is a retailer, Microsoft is a technology firm. For retailers, holding huge amounts of inventory is common as retailers deal with merchandise. This is different for Microsoft and other…

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