nies with regard to leading and lagging. Leading is the practice of accelerating a fixed payment schedule, while lagging is the practice of delaying such schedules. The practice occurs most often with trade credit, and can have significant effects on a company's liquidity when trade credit terms change from one period to another. For example, a change on an open account from 30 to 60 days can greatly affect a company's cash flow. While these techniques can be used when two distinct companies are involved, a multinational company has the advantage of being able to exercise greater latitude because of the power that their size and diversity gives them.
Some governments have exchange controls that restrict the transfer of funds to nonresidents, or regulations regarding the repatriation of proceeds from export sales. However, even within these restrictions, multinational companies are able to use the earnings of a foreign affiliate to pay dividends to other subsidiaries, or similar arrangements can be made with regard to deferring
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