Working Capital Management Policies of the Company

This document discusses the working capital management policies of a company, including the decrease in working capital over the years and its impact on liquidity. It also explores the capital structure determination policy and factors that affect it. Additionally, it provides insights into the company's dividend pay-out ratios and corporate governance structure.

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Working capital management policies of the company:
In respect of the working capital requirements of the company, the amount has decreased
when compared over the period of years from 2014 to 2018. This merely shows that the
amount invested into the company has been increasing year by year. This means that the
amount of the capital being blocked into the company is more and due to which the company
needs to regularly invest more and more money into the business.
In respect of the current ratios which shows the ability of the company to meet its short term
debts or the short term liabilities, the calculation shows a decrease which could mean
liquidity issues for the company in the near future. Though there has not been much of a
change in this ratios but still, the company needs to make sure that this ratio does not
decrease further since that would hinder its liquidity position (Corporate finance institute,
2019).
In respect of the quick ratio which shows the ability of the company to meet its short term
debts or the short term liabilities, the calculation shows an increase which could mean
liquidity stability for the company in the near future. Though there has not been much of a
change in this ratios but still, the company needs to make sure that this ratio does not
decrease further since that would hinder its liquidity position (My accounting course, 2019).
The cash conversion cycle which shows the number of days the company takes to convert its
investments into cash. This is the formula that helps in the measurement of the time, usually
expressed in days that it takes for the company to convert the resource inputs into cash
(Corporate finance institute, 2019).
The calculated number of days shows a decrease which is good for the company since it
indicates that that the company is now taking lesser amount of time for the purposes of
converting investment into cash. Which means less clocking of the capital into the business.

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The company has more investments into the non-current liabilities of the business when
compared over the period of 5 years. This means more debt for the company which pertains
to a longer term.
Further, the company has made more investments into the non-current assets of the company.
This means lesser liquidity for the company.
Capital structure determination policy of the company:
The first ratio which has been calculated is the equity ratios which helps in the measurement
of the amounts of the assets that have been financed by the investments made by the owners
by the way of comparing the total amount of the equity in the company to the total amount of
the assets employed in the business. This ratio is importance since it throws light on the
solvency and on the sustainability of the business (My accounting course, 2019).
The calculated ratio shows that the company has 58% capital employed which belongs to the
shareholders equity. This is fine though since the shareholders of the company are the owners
of the company in one sense.
The second ratio which has been calculated is the debt to equity ratio which is the liquidity
ratio that helps in comparing the total amount of the debt with the total amount of the equity
employed in the business. This is the ratio that helps in the ascertaining of the finances from
the creditors and the investors. A higher debt to equity ratio shows more financing from the
creditors (My accounting course, 2019).
The calculated ratio shows a higher ratio which means that the company is more exposed to
risk. This shows the number of the assets that the company will have to sell in order to pay
off its liabilities. This ratio shows the financial leverage of the company. The companies with
the higher levels of liabilities are more risky (My accounting course, 2019).

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The third ratio is the debt ratio which shows the % of the debt when compared with the total
amount of the capital employed into the business. The higher the debt, the riskier is the
company. In the calculated ratio, the ratio though shows a decrease but more debt should be
reduced so that this % further comes down.
The capital structure employed by the company is not optimal since it shows a higher amount
of risk.
The following are some of the main factors that affect the capital structure of the company:
 Profitability: the company should have a higher amounts of current assets employed
into the business since that would mean that the company is able to convert an
increased amount of assets into cash within a shorter period of time. There is an
operating and financial leverage which is connected with the amount of the
investment. The higher the level of the earnings before taxes. The lower is the chance
of it being fluctuated.
 Liquidity: the analysis of the cash flows of the company to serve the fixed amount of
the charges within a considerable amount of time to carry out the planning of an
optimum capital structure if of an utmost importance. Hence, the degree of liquidity
also has to be kept in mind for the purposes of ascertaining the optimum capital
structure.
 Control: another point in the consideration of this is the planning of the types of the
funds that are to be used is the control of the management over the funds employed
into the business. If the management wants to exercise control over the funds of the
company, then it is recommended that it goes for the issue of shares and if it does not
want to have control over the amount invested into the company, then it should go for
debt or borrowings.

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 Competition: in this, it is stated that the company should have the capital structure
which is in line with the other companies that are operating in the same business. This
means that the company should be exposed to similar business risks as is the case of
the competitors. This could be done by the way of benchmarking (Taub, 2015).
 Nature of the industry: the nature of the industry in which the company functions
also affects the capital structure of the company. In case, the company belongs to the
industry whose sales are subject to a higher degree of fluctuations in sales, then that
company would have a lower financial leverage and if the sales of the company is
exposed to higher fluctuation, then there would be a higher degree of financial
leverage. In the stated case, the company under for review has somewhat equal sales
throughout the year, due to the nature of the products that it offers. So, it would have a
medium financial leverage ratio.
 Timing of the stated issue: it is possible that the company could go for a substantial
amount of the savings through the way of timing issues related with security.
 Characteristics of the company: the nature and the characteristics of the company
also affects the capital structure of the company. This is in light of the size, goodwill
of the company which plays a vital role in the selling of the older securities and the
amount of the equity invested in the capital structure of the company (Your article
library, 2019).
Nature of company’s earnings distribution and divided pay out ratios:
The following table shows the earnings of the company and the dividend pay-out ratios of the
company:
(Amounts in US$ in millions)
Particulars 2018 2017

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Dividend pay-out ratio: 99.54% 36.07%
Amount of dividend
874.0
0
755.0
0
Net profit after taxes
878.0
0
2,093.0
0
From the above calculated %, it cannot be stated that the company employs any specific or
any fixed policy of dividend. This is due to the reason that in the year 2017, the company
pays 36.07% of its profits earned during the year as dividend and during the year 2018, it
pays 9.54% of its earnings as dividend. This merely means that the company is not following
any specific policy of paying dividend.
The company should always employ the dividend policy which is capable of generating more
income. The company should always keep a certain % of its earnings with itself so that it is
able to invest that money in new ventures or is in expanding its business operations. But the
company undertaken for review has distributed all its profits earned during 2018 amongst the
shareholders. This could be due to the reason that the company may not be able to give out
profits in the nest year.
Corporate governance structure of the company:
The corporate governance statement of the company includes the following principles:
 Transparency which means being clear and unambiguous about the structure of the
company along with its business operations and performance. This is both external and

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internal and goes in for the maintained of a clear dialogue and provides an insight to the
stakeholders.
 Integrity which means the development and the maintenance of the corporate culture
which is committed towards an ethical behaviour and compliance with law
 Empowerment which means that the management of the company is allowed to make
decisions with regard to the fulfilment of the objectives of the company and that also
serve the interests of the stakeholders. The management and the staff of the company is
encouraged to think out of the box and in such a manner that it serves the expectations
and the standards of the corporate
 Corporate accountability which makes sure that there is a clarity when it comes to
making the decisions within the company and there is a process in place that gives an
authorised approval to the make the correct and apt decisions.
 Stewardship which is the development and the maintenance of the company wide
recognition of the benefits for the shareholders (FMGL, 2019).
The following is the senior most management of the company during the year 2018:
Andrew Forrest AO: Chairman
Mark Barnaba AM: Lead independent director/ Deputy chair
Elizabeth Gaines: Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director
Sharon Warburton: Deputy Chair
Lord Sebastian Coe CH,KBE: Non-Executive Director
Jennifer Morris OAM: Non-Executive Director
Dr Jean Baderschneider: Non-Executive Director
Penny Bingham-Hall: Non-Executive Director
Dr Cao Zhiqiang: Non-Executive Director
Cameron Wilson: Company Secretary

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Alison Terry: Group Manager Corporate Affairs and Joint Company Secretary
Cao Huiquan: Former Non-Executive Director (Annual report 2018, 2017).
During the year 2014, the company had changed its board. Mr Owen Hegarty was appointed
as the Vice Chairman.
Mr Mark Barnaba has been appointed as Lead Independent Director
Ms Sharon Warburton joins the Audit & Risk Committee (Lee, 2014).
There was no change in the board from the year 2015 to 2018.
Relationship between structural policies and financial management of the company:
The company undertaken for review has been evolving rapidly and has undertaken a huge
amount of diversification of its products along with asset development. The Company has its
business operations in the country of Australia and also across the globe. The company
mainly concentrates on the following areas:
Driving collaboration
Change in the research of global cancer
Ending the modern slavery
Creation of the parity for the Indigenous Australians
Ensuring that all children in the country of Australia reach their full potential
Nurture the new talents
Generation of the world changing research and innovation.
The management of the company has worked together for the purposes of ensuring the target
of 170mt for the year. The company went on to reduce its costs. The company has not debt
repayments due till the year 2022. The company has the refinancing strategy which was
implemented during the past 12 months. The company has a remaining amount of the debt

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structured on the investment grade terms and the conditions that goes on to provide the
flexible capital structure with the operations that are ongoing and also for the future growth
of the company.

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References:
Corporate Finance Institute. (2019). Cash Conversion Cycle - Overview, Example, Cash
Conversion Cycle Formula. [online] Available at:
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/accounting/cash-conversion-cycle/
[Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
Corporate Finance Institute. (2019). Current Ratio Formula - Examples, How to Calculate
Current Ratio. [online] Available at:
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/finance/current-ratio-formula/
[Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
Fmgl.com.au. (2019). Annual report 2017. [online] Available at:
https://www.fmgl.com.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/fy2017-annual-
report.pdf [Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
Fmgl.com.au. (2019). Annual report 2017. [online] Available at:
https://www.fmgl.com.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/fy2017-annual-
report.pdf [Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
Fmgl.com.au. (2019). Annual report 2018. [online] Available at:
http://www.fmgl.com.au/docs/default-source/annual-reporting-suite/fy18-annual-report.pdf
[Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
Fmgl.com.au. (2019). Corporate Governance | Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. [online]
Available at: http://www.fmgl.com.au/about-fortescue/who-we-are/corporate-governance
[Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
Lee, R. (2019). November 2014 - Fortescue Metals Group ASX Release - Changes to Board
of Directors - Owen Hegarty. [online] Owen Hegarty. Available at:

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http://www.owenhegarty.com/november-2014-asx-release-changes-board-directors/
[Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
My Accounting Course. (2019). Debt Ratio | Formula | Analysis | Example | My Accounting
Course. [online] Available at: https://www.myaccountingcourse.com/financial-ratios/debt-
ratio [Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
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[online] Available at: https://www.myaccountingcourse.com/financial-ratios/debt-to-equity-
ratio [Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
My Accounting Course. (2019). Equity Ratio | Formula | Analysis | Example | My
Accounting Course. [online] Available at: https://www.myaccountingcourse.com/financial-
ratios/equity-ratio [Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
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[online] Available at: https://www.myaccountingcourse.com/financial-ratios/quick-ratio
[Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].
Taub, A. (2015). Determinants of the Firm's Capital Structure. [online] www.jstor.org.
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