When we want to begin or expand an activity, the need to invest in permanent assets is profoundly analyzed, but little attention is given to the investment in clients and inventories.Thus, the terms granted to clients or the option to increase the level of inventories, which are both values registered under the current asset, may mean an investment decision that is as lasting as or even more lasting than that one made in permanent assets. The Working Capital Need (WCN) and its variations may cause bankruptcy for many companies, especially small or medium-sized ones. Besides monetary concerns, a business has to ensure the going concern of its permanent and operational physical structure that is needed for its activity. The profit obtained by means of the Restated Current Cost (RCC) needs some adjustments in order to be considered fully distributable. In our point of view, WCN variation is one of these adjustments. The main idea of this article is the creation of a Capital Reserve called Working Capital Need Variations Reserve (WCNVR), as a way of ensuring the maintenance of the business' physical capital. It adjusts the distributable profit by accounting for WCN variations. The paper is divided into four sections.The first one explores the theoretical foundations. Next, the second part introduces the aims and premises and describes the creation and accounting treatment of WCNVR.The third section provides tree numerical examples with their respective Balance Sheets and Income Statements, demonstrating the proposed use of WCNVR. Finally, the last part presents some conclusions.
Working Capital Need (WCN); Physical Capital (PC); Restated Current Cost (RCC); Distributing Profit (DP); Working Capital Need Variations Reserve (WCNVR)
