| Course | GF583 Treasury Management I |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Disbursement timing memo |
| Length | About 750 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MS in Finance |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GF583 Unit 4
On the Due Date, Not Before and Never After: A Unit 4 Disbursement Timing Memo on a $59.1 Million Friday
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GF583: Treasury Management I
Unit 4 Disbursement Timing Memo
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The distributor, its supplier and every figure are composite and illustrative; the article and textbooks cited are real.
Memorandum
To: Treasurer From: Treasury Analyst Date: February 9, 2026 Re: Timing of the week-seven payments
Recommendation
Pay the $38.5 million pre-season vaccine invoice by wire or same-day ACH settling on its due date, Friday of week seven, instead of mailing a check five days early as the accounts payable team has done in past years. This saves about $28,000 in interest on this invoice alone and about $168,000 a year across the six largest manufacturer payments. Do not pay any of these invoices late.
The Week-Seven Problem
The thirteen-week forecast shows three payments falling on the same Friday: the vaccine manufacturer's pre-season invoice of $38.5 million, a biweekly payroll of $9.4 million including tax deposits, and an estimated federal tax payment of $11.2 million. Together they total $59.1 million and push borrowing on the revolving credit line to its quarterly peak.
The Current Habit
Accounts payable mails large checks about five business days before the due date, to be safe. The supplier deposits them on receipt, and they clear two to three days before the due date. The company therefore borrows the money about five calendar days earlier than it must.
The Cost of Paying Early
Borrowing on the revolver costs about 5.30 percent. Paying $38.5 million five days early costs about $38.5 million times 5.30 percent times 5 divided by 365, about $28,000. The company makes about six manufacturer payments of similar size each year, so the habit costs roughly $168,000 a year.
Why Electronic Payment on the Due Date
A wire or same-day ACH payment can be scheduled to settle on the exact due date, so the company holds its cash, or avoids borrowing, until the obligation is due. It also removes the uncertainty of mail and check clearing, which is why accounts payable has paid early. Electronic payment costs about $15 to $30 per wire, trivial against the interest saved (Bragg, 2010).
Why Not Pay Late
Paying a few days late would save more interest, about $5,600 a day on this invoice. It is not recommended, for three reasons.
The terms. The manufacturer's pre-season program grants 120-day terms only to distributors that pay on time. Losing the program would cut the company's payable days by about 6.8 and require about $37 million more financing, costing about $2 million a year.
Late fees. The contract imposes 1.5 percent a month on overdue amounts, about $190,000 for a ten-day delay, more than three times the roughly $56,000 of interest such a delay would save.
Reputation. Vaccine allocations are tight in a bad flu or rabies season, and manufacturers favor distributors that pay reliably.
Paying on the due date captures the interest that early payment gives away, while paying late would put at risk a supplier program worth about thirty times the interest a ten-day delay saves, so the right target is the due date itself, executed electronically so it can be hit exactly.
The Forgone-Discount Question
The manufacturer does not offer an early-payment discount on pre-season orders, so there is no reason to pay before the due date. For suppliers that do offer discounts, such as 1 percent for paying within ten days on net-thirty terms, the annualized cost of skipping the discount is about 18 percent, far above the revolver rate, and those discounts should always be taken (Kallberg & Parkinson, 1993).
Supplier Relations
The manufacturer's credit department will be told in advance that payments will now arrive by wire on the due date. Most suppliers prefer electronic payment because it removes check handling and gives them certainty. Work on trade credit argues that suppliers lend to customers partly because their sales relationship gives them information banks lack, so a customer's payment record is part of what keeps that credit flowing (Petersen & Rajan, 1997).
Controls
Moving to electronic payment requires dual approval for wires above $1 million and a positive-pay file for remaining checks, both already in place for other payments.
Next Steps
Set the week-seven vaccine payment as a scheduled wire, update the payables policy so that payments above $1 million settle electronically on the due date, and report the interest saved each quarter.
References
Bragg, S. M. (2010). Treasury management: The practitioner's guide. Wiley.
Kallberg, J. G., & Parkinson, K. L. (1993). Corporate liquidity: Management and measurement. Irwin.
Petersen, M. A., & Rajan, R. G. (1997). Trade credit: Theories and evidence. The Review of Financial Studies, 10(3), 661-691. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/10.3.661
GF583 Unit 4 instructions, in plain terms
Unit 4 of GF583 asks for a memo recommending when and how to pay a large obligation. Lead with the recommendation and its value. Describe the payments due and why their timing matters to the cash forecast. Explain the current practice and price it, using the interest rate the company actually pays or earns. Show how an electronic payment scheduled for the due date would work and what it costs. Then make the case against paying late, quantifying late fees and any supplier program at risk. Address early-payment discounts where they exist, with the annualized cost of skipping them. Consider supplier relations and the controls the change requires. End with next steps that make the change permanent. Cite treasury texts and research on trade credit in APA 7.
How this GF583 Unit 4 example is built
The memo leads with the recommendation and annual saving. A section describes the week-seven problem from the forecast. The current habit of mailing checks early is priced at about $28,000 on this invoice. A section explains due-date electronic payment and its small cost, citing Bragg. Three reasons not to pay late follow: the manufacturer's extended terms, a late fee of about $190,000 for ten days and supply allocations in a bad season. The highlighted sentence balances early and late. A note on discounts computes the 18 percent cost of skipping 1/10 net 30, citing Kallberg and Parkinson. Sections on supplier relations, citing Petersen and Rajan, and on controls precede next steps that change the payables policy.
Where the points sit in the GF583 Unit 4 rubric
Instructors score GF583 disbursement memos first on the dollar cost attached to paying early, on time and late, and on whether the timing advice rests on those numbers. Graders then examine the interest cost of early payment, the value of due-date payment, and the costs of paying late, including fees and any program at risk. Using the company's actual borrowing or investment rate earns credit for realism. The analytical share rewards weighing interest saved against supplier consequences and treating discounts correctly. Instructors in the MS in Finance program value attention to controls and supplier communication. Opening with the answer, and listing the trade credit study and treasury texts in APA 7, completes the rubric.
GF583 Unit 4 help: mistakes that cost points
The most frequent GF583 Unit 4 error is recommending paying as late as possible to maximize float, ignoring late fees and supplier programs. Others treat early payment as costless because the cash was available, missing the interest it would have saved. Discount math is reversed or annualized incorrectly. Electronic payment is proposed without the controls that make it safe. Supplier relations are mentioned vaguely or not at all. For any payment decision your case presents, keep the memo's order: recommendation, the payments, current practice priced, due-date alternative, the case against lateness, discounts, relations, controls and next steps.
Get a GF583 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
What does your Unit 4 case supply: invoice amounts, terms, the payment method in use, a week the forecast flags? Pass those along with the prompt and rubric. Each timing choice is then priced against the correct rate for that week in a custom memo that arrives in 24-48h, and the first one costs nothing. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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GF583 Unit 4 questions, answered
Is paying on the due date instead of early fair to suppliers?
Yes, when the terms say so. Terms define when payment is owed, and paying on that date honors them exactly. A memo can note that some firms pay small suppliers early as a matter of policy, which is a legitimate choice whose cost should be stated. What most rubrics treat as poor practice is paying after the agreed date without the supplier's consent.
Could the firm negotiate longer terms instead of timing payments?
Often, and the memo can mention it as a separate lever. Longer terms change when payment is owed, which is cleaner than managing release dates, but suppliers usually price them in, through a higher invoice or a withdrawn discount. A memo comparing the two should state the cost of each on the same basis, dollars a year, before recommending either.
How is the cost of a forgone discount calculated?
Divide the discount by the amount paid after taking it, then multiply by the number of periods per year that the extra days represent. For 1/10 net 30, that is 1 divided by 99, times 365 divided by 20, about 18.4 percent. Compounding the same figure gives roughly 20.1 percent. Either is acceptable in most sections if the method is stated.
Where can I find a free GF583 Unit 4 sample paper?
A complete GF583 Unit 4 disbursement timing memo is available here, pricing early, due-date and late payment of a $38.5 million vaccine invoice, with supplier risks and APA 7 references.
Why not pay the vaccine invoice a few days late?
The contract charges 1.5 percent a month, about $190,000 for ten days, and late payment could cost the 120-day pre-season terms worth about $2 million a year, far more than the interest saved.