Intelligent Cash Flow: Planning and Optimization Using Genetic Algorithms

Abstract

This article describes an intelligent system for financial planning and cash flow optimization, designed and developed by PUC-Rio (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro) for the Souza Cruz, Brazilian tobacco company. The system, named ICF: Intelligent Cash Flow, is a computational tool for decision making support which provides short-term and long-term financial managing strategies, considering financial products of the market. The ICF makes use of Genetic Algorithms, a search and optimization technique inspired in natural evolution and the genetics, in order to elaborate plannings and cash flow projections which offer more profitability and liquidity for the considered period. From the planning alternatives offered by the system, the user can decide each day the investment and resource allocation options that suit better the demands and policy of the firm. The ICF analyses 500.000 different planning options in 20 minutes in order to identify the most profitable cash flows.