3m Corporation

By Author: ANTHONY BILLS
Total Articles: 158
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Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) is a multinational company based in Minnesota. The company has over 76,000 employees and produces more than 55,000 different products including: dental products, electronic materials, adhesives, medical products, electrical circuits and optical films among others. 3M operates in over 60 countries and has over 29 international companies operating with 35 laboratories. 3M products are available in more than two hundred countries through distributors and retailers
3M Company controls a big and considerable amount of finance as it is considered to be one of the most successful businesses in the world. The company generates accounting and financial information for decision making and control of its business. In the analysis of how 3M Corporation generate and manage its accounts and finances information for the decision making, there are things to be considered including the current ratio, Acid-test, working capital and the inventory turn over.
3M accounting and financial information for decisions and control
Most of the big multinational companies tend to overlook ...
... the financial models on the time of financial crises and always let their business down. Every account for financial information needs to be looked at in a concise way to get optimized alternatives. The company has a systematic Product Life Cycle (PLC) on the products they manufacture around the world with little adjustments made on their part. The adjustments are rare though there are possible unforeseen factors that may affect their ideological inventory management system. For example, cost is a factor that may include and not exclude the Gross Domestic Product and excessive expenditures on the R&D investments, market exchange rates a well as acquisitions. On the other hand, the higher inventory turnovers are regarded as a management negligent (David 54).
3M is a recognized company that has been serving its customers since its establishment in 1902. The company serves different communities and customers with its diverse and innovative products. The company has about $24 Billion in sales through its distinctive markets that include the consumer and office, graphics and display, Electro and communication, healthcare and industrial and transportation products (Gitman 35).
Short-term investments
Short-term investments improve the working capital performance of the company, which on the other hand, is a big driver of the company’s cash flow. The inventory of the company declined by $374 Million and the returns improved from 3.8 to 4.6. On the other hand, the Accounting Receivables (AR) turns also had an improvement from 6.9 for the year ended on 31st December 2008 to 7.5 for the year that ended on December 31st 2009. This was during the recession period and the 3M accounting and financial information showed impressive improvements. In this regard, 3M can pay its current liabilities through current assets because the fixed assets are based on the market rates (Gitman 630).
Liquid Ratios calculations for 3M Corporation for 2009
Current Ration= current assets / current liabilities
$ 10,795 (in millions) of the current assets/ $4,897 (in millions) =2.20%.
In regard to the results got, the company managed to offset its fixed assets; this sustained profitability and helped to reduce the portfolio risks. Fixed assets are more profitable compared to the current assets because they are used to produce the products and on the other hand reduce the risk of technical insolvency ("Fundamentals-Annual Balance Sheets" 1).
Acid-test (Quick ratio) = current assets-inventories/current liabilities
$10,795 (in Millions) (Current assets) -$2,609 (in millions) (inventories) /$4,897 (in millions) (current liabilities) = to 1.67%. A quick ration of 1.0 or bigger is recommended but if its less than 1.0%, it means that the current assets is highly dependant of the inventory. The company is known to have a market place that handles notes and determines which method would be used to offset debts. In this regard, the company can offset short term debts without relying on the inventories ("Fundamentals- Annual Cash Flows" 1).
Inventory turnover = cost of goods sold/ inventories
$12,109 (in millions) / 2,609 (in millions) =4.64%. In 2008, the inventory turnover was 4.44% which indicates that has improved by 20% ("Fundamentals- Annual Ratios" 1).
Recommendations and conclusion
Diversification strategy is recommended for the company. Among the products the company has, it needs to address each product individually to really understand which product is doing less than others and retrench to accumulate some sales and offset some short investments. Among the six conglomerate subsidiaries, the company should do a thorough analysis and vet each and every product for the better results.
To conclude, financial short-term debts show that there are no short comings when there are strong working capital and strong assets in the company. The analysis is limited to three ratios that are examined and the outcomes are examined to establish the company’s financial position. On the other hand, there is need more financial analysis model to authenticate the information that has been given by 3M Company. However, the company has performed well with their financial decision making and in the control of their multinational businesses.

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