Give the difference between internal and external sources of raising funds? Explain.

Businesses require financing in order to operate. The source of this finance can be either internal or external and furthermore it can further subdivided into long or short term. Long terms sources are those that provide finance for more than a year while short term provide for less than a year; Internal sources of finance come from within the business and "do not require the agreement of anyone beyond directors and managers of the business." (LOE 2010:317). The long term sources of internal finance include retained profits while short term sources include selling of inventories, extending period of credit from suppliers and stricter credit control over funds owed by credit customers (LOE 2010). Sources of finance are considered short term because they can easily be reversed in the short run. External sources of finance on the other hand "require(s) the compliance of potential shareholders" (LOE 2010:317) and in this case the company owes "outside" institutions or individuals (Brindley 2008). According to LOE (2010), long term sources of external sources of finance include ordinary shares, preference shares, long term loans, finance leases, hire purchase agreements etc. While short term sources of external finance include bank overdrafts, debt factoring and invoice discounting.

Businesses require financing in order to operate. The source of this finance can be either internal or external and furthermore it can further subdivided into long or short term. Long terms sources are those that provide finance for more than a year while short term provide for less than a year; Internal sources of finance come from within the business and "do not require the agreement of anyone beyond directors and managers of the business." (LOE 2010:317). The long term sources of internal finance include retained profits while short term sources include selling of inventories, extending period of credit from suppliers and stricter credit control over funds owed by credit customers (LOE 2010). Sources of finance are considered short term because they can easily be reversed in the short run. External sources of finance on the other hand "require(s) the compliance of potential shareholders" (LOE 2010:317) and in this case the company owes "outside" institutions or individuals (Brindley 2008). According to LOE (2010), long term sources of external sources of finance include ordinary shares, preference shares, long term loans, finance leases, hire purchase agreements etc. While short term sources of external finance include bank overdrafts, debt factoring and invoice discounting.