1. Why is trend analysis important to management? What may you do as a health care financial manager to ensure that the accounts receivables are managed effectively?

2. Are you or your immediate supervisor responsible for staffing? Does your organization report time as "productive" and "nonproductive"?

3. You notice that your accounts receivable days outstanding has doubled in the first 6 months. Do you give someone a bonus or put him or her on probation? Why?

4.Can you think of good outside sources that could be used to obtain ratios for comparative purposes? If the outside information was available, what ratios would you choose to use? Why?

5. In my experience your are right on track with your decision. In our readings Baker and Baker (2014) make it very clear that your receivables are an asset to your company. From what we have learned about financial statements assets appear in your statements (you can locate the accounts receivable balance on more than one of PFCH's financial statements). Although the days outstanding is not a metric that appears on the statements themselves I am sure that you can imagine that delayed conversion of receivables to cash may become apparent to financial statement recipients over time as a stagnant or growing receivables total. What do you think the impact of this might be on investor decisions or confidence?

6. In my experience, probation is the least of the negative consequences that would be employed. Would it be better to place the employee on probation while you investigate to prevent possible further degradation of your position and then return them to work if they are not the root cause?

7. Although the days outstanding is not a metric that appears on the statements themselves I am sure that you can imagine that delayed conversion of receivables to cash may become apparent to financial statement recipients over time as a stagnant or growing receivables total. What do you think the impact of this might be on investor decisions or confidence?

8. Chap 13- Do any of the reports you receive in the course of your work use trend analysis? Why do you think so? . Do any of the reports you receive in the course of your work use common sizing? Why do you think so?

9. Before granting a loan, bankers closely evaluate an organization's debt-to-equity ratio. Explain why this ratio is so important to bankers.

10. How would an organization's debt-to-ratio allow bankers to understand whether or not a company might be able to make timely payments?