22.

State any four factors which affects the requirements of working capital of a company.  

1) Nature of Business: The type of business has a bearing upon the fixed capital requirements. For example, a trading concern needs lower investment in fixed assets compared with a manufacturing organisation; since it does not require to purchase plant and machinery, etc.

2) Scale of Operations: A larger organisation operating at a higher scale needs bigger plant, more space etc. and therefore, requires higher investment in fixed assets when compared with the small organisation.

3) Choice of Technique: Some organisations are capital intensive whereas others are labour intensive. A capital-intensive organisation requires higher investment in plant and machinery as it relies less on manual labour. The requirement of fixed capital for such organisations would be higher. Labour intensive organisations on the other hand require less investment in fixed assets. Hence, their fixed capital requirement is lower.

4) Growth Prospects: Higher growth of an organisation generally requires higher investment in fixed assets. Even when such growth is expected, a company may choose to create higher capacity in order to meet the anticipated higher demand quicker. This entails larger investment in fixed assets and consequently larger fixed capital.