Definition of cycle time

cycle time

the time between the placement of an order to
the time the goods arrive for usage or are produced by
the company; it is equal to value-added time plus nonvalue-
added time

lead time

see cycle time

Break-even time

Related: Premium payback period.

Business cycle

Repetitive cycles of economic expansion and recession.

Cash conversion cycle

The length of time between a firm's purchase of inventory and the receipt of cash
from accounts receivable.

Cash cycle

In general, the time between cash disbursement and cash collection. In net working capital
management, it can be thought of as the operating cycle less the accounts payable payment period.

Cash flow time-line

Line depicting the operating activities and cash flows for a firm over a particular period.

Expiration cycle

An expiration cycle relates to the dates on which options on a particular security expire. A
given option will be placed in 1 of 3 cycles, the January cycle, the February cycle, or the March cycle. At any
point in time, an option will have contracts with 4 expiration dates outstanding, 2 in near-term months and 2
in far-term months.

Just-in-time inventory systems

Systems that schedule materials/inventory to arrive exactly as they are
needed in the production process.

Market cycle

The period between the 2 latest highs or lows of the S&P 500, showing net performance of a
fund through both an up and a down market. A market cycle is complete when the S&P is 15% below the
highest point or 15% above the lowest point (ending a down market). The dates of the last market cycle are:
12/04/87 to 10/11/90 (low to low).

Market timer

A money manager who assumes he or she can forecast when the stock market will go up and down.

Operating cycle

The average time intervening between the acquisition of materials or services and the final
cash realization from those acquisitions.

Product cycle

The time it takes to bring new and/or improved products to market.

Real time

A real time stock or bond quote is one that states a security's most recent offer to sell or bid (buy).
A delayed quote shows the same bid and ask prices 15 minutes and sometimes 20 minutes after a trade takes place.

Replacement cycle

The frequency with which an asset is replaced by an equivalent asset.

Time decay

Related: theta.

Time deposit

Interest-bearing deposit at a savings institution that has a specific maturity.
Related: certificate of deposit.

Time draft

Demand for payment at a stated future date.

Time premium

Also called time value, the amount by which the option price exceeds its intrinsic value. The
value of an option beyond its current exercise value representing the optionholder's control until expiration,
the risk of the underlying asset, and the riskless return.

Time until expiration

The time remaining until a financial contract expires. Also called time to maturity.

Time to maturity

The time remaining until a financial contract expires. Also called time until expiration.

Time value of an option

The portion of an option's premium that is based on the amount of time remaining
until the expiration date of the option contract, and that the underlying components that determine the value of
the option may change during that time. time value is generally equal to the difference between the premium
and the intrinsic value. Related: in-the-money.

Time value of money

The idea that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the future, because the dollar
received today can earn interest up until the time the future dollar is received.

Time-weighted rate of return

Related: Geometric mean return.

Times-interest-earned ratio

Earnings before interest and tax, divided by interest payments.

Turnaround time

time available or needed to effect a turnaround.

Budget cycle

The annual period over which budgets are prepared.

Lifecycle costing

An approach to costing that estimates and accumulates the costs of a product/service over
its entire lifecycle, i.e. from inception to abandonment.

times interest earned

A ratio that tests the ability of a business to make
interest payments on its debt, which is calculated by dividing annual
earnings before interest and income tax by the interest expense for the
year. There is no particular rule for this ratio, such as 3 or 4 times, but
obviously the ratio should be higher than 1.

Times Interest Earned Ratio

A measure of how well a company is able to meet its interest
payments based on the cash generated by its operations. It is
calculated by dividing the earnings before interest and taxes by the
total interest charges incurred by the firm.

employee time sheet

a source document that indicates, for each employee, what jobs were worked on during the day and for what amount of time

idle time

the amount of time spent in storing inventory or
waiting at a production operation for processing

inspection time

the time taken to perform quality control activities

just-in-time (JIT)

a philosophy about when to do something;
the when is “as needed” and the something is a production,
purchasing, or delivery activity

just-in-time manufacturing system

a production system that attempts to acquire components and produce inventory only as needed, to minimize product defects, and to
reduce lead/setup times for acquisition and production

just-in-time training

a system that maps the skill sets employees
need and delivers the training they need just as they need it

life cycle costing

the accumulation of costs for activities that
occur over the entire life cycle of a product from inception
to abandonment by the manufacturer and consumer

manufacturing cycle efficiency (MCE)

a ratio resulting from dividing the actual production time by total lead time;
reflects the proportion of lead time that is value-added

processing time

the actual time consumed performing the
functions necessary to manufacture a product

product life cycle

a model depicting the stages through
which a product class (not necessarily each product) passes

service time

the actual time consumed performing the functions
necessary to provide a service

timeline

representation of the amounts and timing of all
cash inflows and outflows; it is used in analyzing cash flow
from a capital project

transfer time

the time consumed by moving products or
components from one place to another

Just-in-time manufacturing

The term for several manufacturing innovations that
result in a “pull” method of production, in which each manufacturing workstation
creates just enough product for the immediate needs of the next workstation in the
production process.

cash conversion cycle

Period between firm’s payment for materials
and collection on its sales.

Business Cycle

Fluctuations of GDP around its long-run trend, consisting of recession, trough, expansion, and peak.

Political Business Cycle

A business cycle caused by policies undertaken to help a government be re-elected.

Real Business Cycle Theory

Belief that business cycles arise from real shocks to the economy, such as technology advances and natural resource discoveries, and have little to do with monetary policy.

Time Deposit

See term deposit.

Overtime

A pay premium of 50 percent of the regular rate of pay that is earned
by employees on all hours worked beyond 40 hours in a standard work week

Payroll Cycle

The period of service for which a company compensates its employees.

Timecard

A document or electronic record on which an employee records his or
her hours worked during a payroll period.

Time Clock

A device used to stamp an employee’s incoming or outgoing time
on either a paper document or an electronic record.

Cycle counting

The frequent, scheduled counting of a subset of all inventories,
with the intent of spotting inventory record inaccuracies, investigating root
causes, and correcting those problems.

Just-in-time (JIT)

A cluster of manufacturing, design, and delivery practices designed to
continually reduce all types of waste, thereby improving production efficiency.

Cash Cycle

The length of time between a purchase of materials and collection of accounts receivable generated by the sale of the products made from the materials.

productive capacity

the number of total units that could be
produced during a period based on available equipment time
productive processing time the proportion of total time that
is value-added time; also known as manufacturing cycle
efficiency

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