Title: Factors Affecting External Financing Requirements and Changes in AFN for a Firm

Please answer/solve the question/problem below:
-Name five key factors that affect a firm’s external financing requirements. 
-What is meant by the term “self-supporting growth rate”? How is this rate related to the AFN equation, and how can that equation be used to calculate the self-supporting growth rate? 
-Suppose a firm makes the following policy changes listed. If a change means that external, nonspontaneous financial requirements (AFN) will increase, indicate this by a (1); indi-cate a decrease by a (2); and indicate no effect or an indeterminate effect by a (0). Think in terms of the immediate effect on funds requirements. 
a. The dividend payout ratio is increased. 
b. The firm decides to pay all suppliers on delivery rather than after a 30-day delay in order to take advantage of discounts for rapid payment.
c. The firm begins to offer credit to its customers, whereas previously all sales had been on a cash basis. 
d. The firm’s profit margin is eroded by increased competition, although sales hold steady. 
e. The firm sells its manufacturing plants for cash to a contractor and simultaneously signs an outsourcing contract to purchase from that contractor goods that the firm formerly produced. 
f. The firm negotiates a new contract with its union that lowers its labor costs without affecting its output.