Chapter 62 The Cash Flow Broke
Liu Ran sat down, not understanding what Liu Xin had said.
Just as she was about to ask, the phone on her desk rang.
Liu Ran quickly answered, and the voice of the logistics department manager came from the other end. He said to Liu Ran rapidly, "Director Liu, why hasn't the finance department disbursed the funds yet? This afternoon is the deadline for salary payments. Over thirteen million yuan for salaries has not arrived. We can't communicate with the bank to process the salary payments."
Liu Ran's head buzzed. She quickly said to him, "Okay, I'll ask finance. What's going on over there?"
She hung up the phone, frowning, and looked at Liu Xin.
Liu Xin then giggled, saying smugly, "Sister Liu Ran, I'm just concerned about you, reminding you not to make any mistakes. After all, this Tianliu Department Store is the core asset of our Liu family. You are just a manager. If you ruin our department store, you'll be a sinner to our Liu family."
"Hahahaha..."
Liu Xin laughed and turned away with Yang Long, leaving the office.
Liu Ran's face turned pale. She immediately flipped open the schedule on her desk and looked at it.
Indeed, today was the last day for salary payments. And by rights, yesterday morning, the finance department should have finalized all salary amounts and submitted them to logistics.
The logistics department and the bank would then transfer the money into each employee's salary card.
But now, the finance department had made no move at all.
Liu Ran immediately picked up the phone and dialed the finance department.
After a while, there was a voice from the finance department, but the one who answered was not the finance manager Duan Lili, but a junior employee from the finance department.
Liu Ran frowned and asked the employee, "What's going on with your finance department? Why haven't the salary funds been transferred to logistics yet?"
The employee's voice trembled as she said, "Director Liu, I don't know what's happening. Our manager has been on sick leave for three consecutive days, and both deputy managers are also absent. The crucial point is that the department store's current financial surplus is only 1.08 million yuan, which is not enough for this month's employee salaries."
Hearing this, Liu Ran's head exploded. She put down the phone and said to Chen Yang, "This is bad, Chen Yang. Something has happened. The department store's cash flow has broken."
Chen Yang said, "How is that possible? A department store like this is considered an industry with good cash flow. How could the cash flow suddenly break?"
Liu Ran shook her head and said, "I suspect something might have happened with the finance manager. The finance manager's name is Duan Lili. I've met her once. Although she smiled when she looked at me, there was always a subtle hostility hidden in her eyes."
"I didn't expect such a big problem with the company's finances, and she kept it from me, constantly telling me there was absolutely no problem."
Liu Ran thought for a moment and immediately walked towards the finance department herself.
Chen Yang followed Liu Ran and said, "So you must remember this lesson. The two most important departments in a department store are the security department and the finance department. Therefore, you must have your most trusted people in both the finance and security departments."
Liu Ran nodded and said, "I know. I should have paid closer attention to Duan Lili earlier. I didn't expect that it's the salary payment deadline now. If the salaries can't be paid today, Grandma and the others will definitely use it as an excuse to remove me."
Upon entering the finance department, all three managers had taken leave for various reasons. The person with the highest authority remaining was the team leader of the group that answered the phone.
That team leader was named Liu Xiaomei. Liu Xiaomei had a round face and looked very honest and naive. She was in her thirties and looked like a child.
People like her usually had good relationships in the company but were difficult to be entrusted with important roles. They lacked deep cunning, worked hard, and could only climb up slowly based on their years of service.
Liu Xiaomei said to Liu Ran with trepidation, "Director Liu, I just checked the financial transactions. The department store used to have sufficient funds, but three days ago, there was a large amount of funds lent out."
Hearing this, Liu Ran immediately pressed Liu Xiaomei, "Funds lent out? To whom?"
Liu Xiaomei said, "The recipient is Zhongyuan Shipping Company. Our department store does have business dealings with Zhongyuan Shipping Company. However, their payments are always settled promptly. Three days ago, we suddenly transferred thirty million yuan to Zhongyuan Company."
"But in fact, we don't owe Zhongyuan Shipping Company thirty million yuan. The reason for the transfer was to pay a one-year deposit to Zhongyuan Shipping Company, which is an illegal act."
"However, at that time, you had not yet taken office, and there was no director in the department store. Therefore, this payment was signed by the three managers together and then transferred."
Hearing this, Liu Ran completely understood.
In other words, just as she was about to take office, the department store's finance department managers treated thirty million yuan as an advance payment deposit to Zhongyuan Shipping Company and transferred it to them.
This meant that the department store's funds were suddenly reduced to just over one million yuan, and now, it was time to pay salaries, and the department store did not have enough funds to pay all the employees.
Liu Ran thought for a moment, picked up her phone, and dialed Duan Lili's personal number.
On the other end, Duan Lili coughed as if pretending to be sick.
She said to Liu Ran, "Oh dear, Director Liu, you don't need to worry about my illness. It makes me feel very embarrassed that you're calling specifically to ask about me."
Liu Ran had no patience for her. With a dark expression, she said to Duan Lili, "Manager Duan, I'm not calling to ask about your illness, but about the thirty million yuan. On what grounds did you privately transfer thirty million to Zhongyuan Shipping Company? Do you know that this is illegal?"
Duan Lili immediately replied, "Oh dear, Director Liu, there's no need to rush. Although the funds were delivered in the form of a project deposit, it was actually a loan. Zhongyuan Company said they would borrow thirty million for working capital."
"Today, they will return thirty-three million yuan to our company. Ten percent interest in three days. Where can you find such a deal? So, not only did I make no mistake, but I also brought ten percent profit to the company."
Liu Ran angrily asked, "It's already time to pay salaries. Where is the money? Why hasn't it arrived yet?"
Duan Lili on the other end chuckled and said, "That's not my responsibility. In short, the loan agreement we reached with Zhongyuan Company is like this. If they don't repay the money, you can call the police and sue Zhongyuan Shipping Company to make them repay the money!"
"Anyway, the remaining matters have nothing to do with our finance department. It's your job as director and the public relations department's responsibility."
After speaking, Duan Lili laughed and hung up the phone.