Q. Brown Corporation had average days of sales outstanding of 19 days in the most recent fiscal year. Brown wants to improve its credit policies and collection practices and decrease its collection period in the next fiscal year to match the industry average of 15 days. Credit sales in the most recent fiscal year were $300 million, and Brown expects credit sales to increase to $390 million in the next fiscal year. To achieve Brown’s goal of decreasing the collection period, the change in the average accounts receivable balance that must occur is closest to:
- +$0.41 million.
- –$0.41 million.
- –$1.22 million.
Solution
A is correct. The average accounts receivable balances (actual and desired) must be calculated to determine the desired change. The average accounts receivable balance can be calculated as an average day’s credit sales times the DSO. For the most recent fiscal year, the average accounts receivable balance is $15.62 million [= ($300,000,000/365) × 19]. The desired average accounts receivable balance for the next fiscal year is $16.03 million (= ($390,000,000/365) × 15). This is an increase of $0.41 million (= 16.03 million – 15.62 million). An alternative approach is to calculate the turnover and divide sales by turnover to determine the average accounts receivable balance. Turnover equals 365 divided by DSO. Turnover is 19.21 (= 365/19) for the most recent fiscal year and is targeted to be 24.33 (= 365/15) for the next fiscal year. The average accounts receivable balances are $15.62 million (= $300,000,000/19.21), and $16.03 million (= $390,000,000/24.33). The change is an increase in receivables of $0.41 million
老师，365/sales/AR=days,不应该是 AR=365/(sales*days)这样吗？也就是AR等于0.064啊...
