Manager (M): Hello, Karen. Could I talk to you about those reports that you submitted last week?Accountant (W): Sure. Is there a problem?
Manager: Well, I’m not sure. A couple things caught my eye, but I’m not sure how to interpret them.Accountant: Okay. I’ll see if I can help.
Manager: Great. On the balance sheet, I noticed that our debt is almost twice what it was last period.Accountant: Right. That’s because we took a short term loan to cover some unexpected expenses.Manager: Oh, that’s right. Still, I’m a little worried about it.
Accountant: Are you thinking we should clean it
up?
Manager: Maybe. Do you think we’ll be able to pay
those debts?
Accountant: Let’s see ... we can calculate our working capital. That’ll give us a good idea.
Manager: Okay. Is that a complicated formula?
Accountant: Not at all. Just subtract current liabilities from current assets.
Manager: Oh, I see. That makes sense.
Accountant: It looks like our assets are still about
three times our liabilities.
Manager: Great. That makes me feel better. How
should we start paying off our debt?
Accountant: We should try to collect our accounts
receivable and use those funds to pay our debts.

