• Whether to borrow additional money to finance operations and, if so, whether the term of the loan
should be 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, or some combination of these. One-year loans are granted at
interest rates corresponding to the company’s current credit rating; 5-year loans carry an additional
0.50% and 10-year loans carry a full 1% interest rate adder. In addition to a lower interest rate, a 1-
year loan has the advantage of quicker debt pay-down and smaller total interest costs, but the
disadvantage of having to re-finance debt next year at perhaps less favorable interest rates should
cash flows not be sufficient to fully fund a 1-year loan repayment. Longer 5 or 10-year loans have the
advantages of locking in what may be an attractive long-term interest rate and lowering annual
principal payments (which has the favorable effect of boosting the default risk ratio); however, 5-year or
10-year loans, in addition to their higher interest rates, have the further disadvantage of paying out
bigger sums for interest over the life of the loan (which, in turn, causes the company to have a lower
interest coverage ratio than it might otherwise have achieved). Company co-managers will have to
decide what loan term appears best at the time any borrowing is needed.