Consider this.

 

Wayne industries. A huge manufacturing-based corporation. Huge R&D spend on products that never make it to mass production. Massive internal stakeholder conflicts. A CEO/major stockholder whose priorities lie ourside of the business.

 

If you are not with me it, let me refresh your memory to where it all begins. And for those who lack the background knowledge on Wayne Industries, heres the quick overview.

 

According to the recently leaked internal audit of Wayne Industries by the accounting firm PWC we now have great insight into the internal workings and management of Wayne Industries, a once successful icon of American enterprise. According to the auditors Wayne Industries barely manages to keep within the boundaries of GAAP in the process of financing Mr. Bruce Wayne numerours personal activities and interests (heir to the Wayne empire). This includes the jet (rocket?) plane, the rocket-powered car and numerous other expensive-to-develop hi-tech devices. Further expenses accrue from equipping Mr. Wayne's close friend and partner Mr. Dick Grayson with similar state-of-the-art toys. While the actual equipment runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars, if we include other overhead such as the R&D costs, the custom production facilities and the ongoing maintaenance (apparently Mr. Wyane's personal aircraft is a gas-guzzler even by supersonic standards because of the extensive use of after-burners and heavy armour) the total tally runs into several times that amount. And it does not end there. In order to ensure the high level of secrecy Mr.Wayne likes to maintain, the company uses a very inefficient and highly complex procurement system - orders for low-voume custom work are massively inflated to make these look like mass-production contracts. The leaked report highlights one glaring example of this when Wayne Industries placed an order for 10,000 units of special head-wear with a Chinese company, when infact the actual need was for one unit! Further the memo indicates that this order is in direct violation of the stated corporate policy against outsourcing to China. Holy Batsh*&!!

 

 

Which brings me to the whole point of this post. Here you have a large manufacturing company, a once magnificent symbol of entreprenurial spirit that is being hit by macro-economic forces such as out-sourcing, not to mention mis-management. You get the picture. Now, put yourself in Batman's shoes. If you had to maintain this rather expensive crime-fighting lifestyle, what would be the *minimum* cash-flow you would need? I am not asking you to throw out the Rolls and the chaffeur, but does the situation not warrant a plan?