The most important thing to look at in evaluating business performance is cash accessibility, or the ability of a company to use its free cash when and where it needs it. Businesses may have cash tied up in different places for a variety of reasons — primarily having to do with currency restrictions, banking regulations, and taxes — which can compromise cash accessibility. When money was cheap, there was usually a quick fix for this problem: Take on debt. But two things have changed. Interest rates are starting to rise globally, and tax regulations are shifting worldwide toward dramatically restricting the deductibility of interest expense.
