Non-spontaneous source of funds

Answer 1

Non-spontaneous sources of funds are those fund sources that do not occur on the day-to-day operating level of a firm. A working capital manager, for instance, must deal with cash flow surpluses and deficits from day-to-day-operations (spending cash to purchase inventories from suppliers, then receiving cash from customers who purchased on credit) by generating funds to cover cash flow deficits.

The job of a working capital manager is non-stop and they must always look for ways to finance their day-to-day operations.

For example: a firm purchases raw materials on credit from a supplier. They must pay off this account after 30 days. During this time period, the firm turns these raw materials into consumer goods. Consumers purchase these goods on credit. Before the firm receives the money from the customers who purchased their goods on credit, the firm must pay off the suppliers they purchased the initial materials from (that they used to manufacture the goods that in turn were sold to the customers). This creates a cash flow deficit. The firm must generate the funds needed to pay off their suppliers as they will not receive the money from their own customers until after they are due to pay off their suppliers.

These non-spontaneous sources of funds are typically some form of long-term debt: borrowed from lenders that they will pay back at a later time period.

Spontaneous sources of funds used to cover these cash flow deficits are usually in the form of straight cash (the most liquid of assets) or marketable securities (money market bonds, etc. that can be quickly sold to cover the cost of their cash flow deficits).