After determining the level of working capital, a firm has to decide how it is to be financed. The need for financing arises mainly because the investment in working capital/current assets - that is, raw materials, work/stock-in-process, finished goods and receivables - typically fluctuates during the year.

Although long-term loans partly finance current assets and provide the margin money for working capital, such assets/working capital is virtually exclusively supported by short-term sources. When talking about small business loans, it is necessary to understand the term trade credit.

Trade credit refers to the credit extended by the supplier of goods and services in the normal course of transaction/business of the firm. According to trade practices, cash is not paid immediately for purchases but after an agreed period of time. Thus, trade credit represents a source of finance for credit purchases. There are no legal instruments or acknowledgements of debt, which are granted on an open account basis.

A variant of accounts payable is bills/notes payable. Unlike the open account nature of accounts payable, bills/notes payable represent documentary evidence of credit purchases and a formal acknowledgement of obligation to pay for credit purchases on a maturity date, failing which legal action for recovery will follow. A notable feature of bills/notes payable is that they can be rediscounted and the seller does not necessarily have to hold it until maturity to receive payment.

However, it creates a legally enforceable obligation on the buyer of goods to pay on maturity whereas the accounts payable have more flexible payment obligations. Although most trade credit is on open account as accounts payable, the suppliers of goods do not extend credit indiscriminately. Their decision as well as the quantum is based on a consideration of factors such as earnings record over a period of time, liquidity position of the firm and past record of payment.