Question

Cash $ 14,000 Accounts payable $ 42,000 Receivables 70,000 Other current liabilities 28,000 Inventories 210,000 Total CL $ 70,000 Total CA $294,000 Long-term debt 70,000 Net fixed assets 126,000 Common equity 280,000 Total assets $420,000 Total liab. and equity $420,000 Sales $280,000 Net income $ 21,000 The new CFO thinks that inventories are excessive and could be lowered sufficiently to cause the current ratio to equal the industry average, 2.30, without affecting either sales or net income. Assuming that inventories are sold off and not replaced to get the current ratio to the target level, and that the funds generated are used to buy back common stock at book value, by how much would the ROE change?

Answer 1

Answer:

The ROE will increase by 7.69% to 14.29% from 7.5%

Explanation:

Current liabilities:

account payable 42,000

Other  28,000

Total Liabilities: 70,000

IF we want a current ratio of 2.3 then:

70,000 x 2.3 = 161,000 Current assets are needed.

Right now, the companny has 294,000 current assets so it will make inventories decrease by:

294,000 - 161,000 = 133,000

Then with that will purchase common stock:

280,000 - 133,000 = 147,000 common stock will be outstanding

The Return on equity will be:

21,000 / 147,000 = 0.142857 = 14.29%

While currently the ROE is:

21,000/280,000 = 0.075 = 7.5%

There will be an increase for: 14.29 - 7.5 =  6.79%