How would you spend the “excess cash”? If M&A, how would you ID a target? If you needed advisory services, to whom would you turn?
What are some of the pros and cons of this sort of “asset-based” financing? Why did Falcon take the inventory on its books?
Do you think a going concern opinion is a leading indicator of financial viability? Why or why not? If lagging, what is the value of such an opinion?
For the stock buybacks, where did firms’ excess cash come from to buy back the stock? Does it matter if it was from internally generated cash flows, or if it was borrowed? What are the future implications?
How do you decide (as CFO) what to do with the all the cash? How would you describe the effects of governmental fiscal policy in making capital allocation decisions?
If you were the new CFO at Netflix, how would you decide on the “optimal” capital structure, given the timing of cash flows, development time for new content, interest rate uncertainty, and bond ratings?
If you were in the C-suite, what would you recommend be done about the “problem” of so much cash? How would you spend it? How would you decide? Do you believe it is true that European “finance chiefs . . . are often more fiscally conservative than American counterparts”? If so, why do you think that is?
Tesla seems to be renegotiating with vendors after sales have been booked. What are the accounting implications from Tesla’s perspective? From the vendor’s perspective? What ratios are affected by longer payment terms and by rebates? What other sources of capital are available for Tesla at this point?
If you were CFO of Huntsman, your overseas cash just became cheaper and thus more accessible. What would you do with it? How would you decide?
How would you decide, if you were CFO, how to allocate the tax savings among competing interests, such as shareholders, workers (and their pension plans), and others?
If you were a supplier to one of the companies that is taking longer to pay, what course of action would you (could you) take?
Tesla is “burning cash,” yet CEO Musk does not want to address questions about capital needs. What do you think you would propose to him as sources of capital, should it be required? How would you decide on the mix of debt/equity?
So some firms need cash to invest in growth so they are selling “underperforming” assets. Do you think that maybe years of using cash flow to buy back stock has put some companies in this position? Why do firms buy back stock?
