  The basic financial purpose of an enterprise is maximization of its value.
Trade credit management should also contribute to realization of this
fundamental aim. Many of the current asset management models that are found in
financial management literature assume book profit maximization as the basic
financial purpose. These book profitbased models could be lacking in what
relates to another aim (i.e., maximization of enterprise value). The enterprise
value maximization strategy is executed with a focus on risk and uncertainty.
This article presents the consequences that can result from operating risk that
is related to purchasers using payment postponement for goods and/or services.
The present article offers a method that uses portfolio management theory to
determine the level of accounts receivable in a firm. An increase in the level
of accounts receivables in a firm increases both net working capital and the
costs of holding and managing accounts receivables. Both of these decrease the
value of the firm, but a liberal policy in accounts receivable coupled with the
portfolio management approach could increase the value. Efforts to assign ways
to manage these risks were also undertaken; among them, special attention was
paid to adapting assumptions from portfolio theory as well as gauging the
potential effect on the firm value.
