Financial Managent
DBA
By
Mojgan Mashayekhi
June 2011
I. Introduction:
and transacts with the other entities present in the economic environment. These
Shareholders, etc. who deal with the organisation in several ways. Most of these
dealings result in either money flowing in or flowing out from the company. This
the company. Managing this flow of funds efficiently is the purview of finance. So
we can define finance as the study of the methods which help us plan, raise and
problems.
1. Provide the link between the business and the other entities in the
environment; and
Let us first look at what we mean by investment and financial decision making.
Financing could be through two ways: debt (loans from various sources like
banks, financial institutions, public, etc.) and equity (capital put in by the investors
The cost of capital is a term used in the field of financial investment to refer to
the cost of a company's funds (both debt and equity), or, from an investor's point
minimum return that investors expect for providing capital to the company, thus
Sources of capital
Component costs
WACC
Why is the cost of retained earnings cheaper than the cost of issuing new
common stock?
When a company issues new common stock they also have to pay
Issuing new common stock may send a negative signal to the capital
In the form of either debt or equity, capital is a very limited resource. There is a
limit to the volume of credit that the banking system can create in the economy.
Commercial banks and other lending institutions have limited deposits from
which they can lend money to individuals, corporations, and governments. In
addition, the Federal Reserve System requires each bank to maintain part of its
need to consider the impact that increasing loans would have on the overall cost
of financing.
In reality, any firm has limited borrowing resources that should be allocated
among the best investment alternatives. One might argue that a company can
the number of shares of company stock, however, will serve only to distribute the
The argument that capital is a limited resource is true of any form of capital,
earnings, accounts payable or notes payable, and so on. Even the best-known
Once this point has been reached, the firm will either be denied more credit or be
charged a higher interest rate, making borrowing a less desirable way to raise
capital.
Faced with limited sources of capital, management should carefully decide
one project, management must identify the projects that will contribute most to
profits and, consequently, to the value (or wealth) of the firm. This, in essence, is
5. Accept the project if PV of inflows > costs. IRR > Hurdle Rate and/or
Evaluation Techniques
A. Payback period
E. Profitability index
IV. OPERATING AND FINANCIAL LEVERAGE
One of the most important of the various financial decisions is how much
the degree to which it incurs fixed costs. A fixed cost is one that remains the
same regardless of the level of operations. As sales increase, fixed costs don't
increase in the same proportion. Some fixed costs do not increase at all till a
particular point. As a result, profits can rise faster during good times. On the
other hand, during bad times fixed costs don't decline, so profits fall more rapidly
than sales do. The degree to which a firm locks itself into fixed costs is referred
to as its leverage position. The more highly leveraged a firm, the riskier it is
because of the obligations related to fixed costs that must be met whether the
firm is having a good year or not. At the same time, the more highly leveraged
the greater the profits during good times. This presents a classic problem of
There are two major types of leverage - financial and operating. Financial
leverage is specifically the extent to which a firm gets its cash resources from
greater the debt compared to equity, the more highly leveraged the firm because
debt legally obligates the firm to interest payments. These interest payments
represent a fixed cost. Operating leverage is concerned with the extent to which
a firm commits itself to high levels of fixed costs other than interest payments. A
firm that rents property using cancellable leases has less leverage than a firm
that commits itself to a long-term noncancellable lease does. A firm that has
supplier. Raw materials will now cost the company less, because it doesn't have
to buy them from an outside firm. But when times are bad, the firm will have to
bear the fixed costs associated with the supplier subsidiary. Had there still been
two separate companies, the big company could have simply slowed its
purchases of raw materials from supplier without having to bear its fixed costs.
In the cases of both financial and operating leverage, the crucial question is how
but we will help you understand the topic. This understanding should make it
simpler to make appropriate choices or to understand what went into making the
Operating Leverage
While decisions about financial leverage is strictly the domain of the firm's
the line managers of the firm. The level of operating leverage a firm selects
should not be made without input from the managers directly involved in the
production process. For example, one of the most significant operating leverage
technology available is not always in the best interests of the business. Suppose
that we are opening a chain of copy centres. Each centre will provide a full
service operation. Customers can drop work off in the morning and pick it up later
in the day or the week. The employees will do the actual photocopying. We are
faced with the choice of renting a relatively slow copy machine, or the newest
considerably more expensive to lease. It will generally be the case that newer
technology has a higher fixed cost and lower variable cost than the older
technology. Variable costs are those that vary directly with volume. If we double
the number of copies made, we double the amount of paper, printing ink toner,
and labour time needed for making the copies. One of the principle functions of
new technology is to reduce the variable costs of production. It may turn out that
a machine that can reduce the variable costs is more expensive to make, and
thus has a higher purchase or lease price than the older generation machine.
However, even if it doesn't cost more to make, its manufacturer will charge more
for the new machine than for the older machine. Intuitively, if the new machine is
in some respect better than the old machine (that is, it lowers the variable cost
without reducing quality), and doesn't cost more to buy, then no one will buy the
older machine. Thus, anytime we see two technologies being sold side by side,
such as slow and fast copy machines, we can expect the faster machine to have
a higher rental fee or purchase price, and therefore a higher fixed cost.
V. RAISING CAPITAL
Raising capital for small business expenses is not the easiest step of starting a
small business but it is necessary. One major reason why small businesses fail is
because the owner lacked necessary funds. Money is needed for equipment,
property and more essentials for your small business. You may wonder how you
There are two major sources of funding you can seek for your business: Equity
VS Debt Financing. Below there are listed various methods of raising capital for a
small business including forms of equity and debt financing. Analyze each option
below and determine which method/ methods is better suited for your particular
small business.
1. Saving up your own money- When starting a small business you may not
have all the money needed for start up costs; however you should have some
money saved up for the purpose of starting your business. Bank lenders in
particular are more suspicious of entrepreneurs who don’t invest in their own
business. As a result they can decline a loan because of your lack of investment.
2. Borrow from Friends and Family- I know raising capital for small business
expenses by asking friends and family for money isn’t fun, but hopefully you can
win them over with your great business idea. To avoid complications in the future
make sure to have a written agreement stating terms and details of the loan. You
wouldn’t want to fight with loved ones over money. Be sure to present your
them why they should invest in you, and answer all their questions. If someone is
giving you money for your business as a gift, be sure you obtain a letter from
them stating the amount of money and that it was a gift. This is precaution to
3. Getting a small business loan- When raising capital for small business
expenses many entrepreneurs go this route. However before attaining a loan you
should be aware that there are many factors associated with business loans such
as interest rates, late charges and collateral. Local community banks are often a
great place to obtain a business loan. Click here for SME Loans and other Fund
sources here.
4. Find a business partner and use their funds- Another way of raising capital
who can invest in your business. Make sure to present them with a persuasive
incorporate their businesses for the purpose of raising capital for small business
expenses. When you incorporate your small business, you will be able to sell
shares of stocks. However when you sell shares of stocks you will also be selling
a percentage of the ownership over the business. So if you sell 50% of your
corporation’s shares of stocks you are selling 50% of the business ownership.
in businesses that show a high growth potential. Not only do venture capitalists
provide funding for their clients by investing in their business but they also
invest in your business it demonstrates to others that they viewed your chances
your business they often have a say on how it should be run. Since venture
capitalists invest in businesses that demonstrate very high and fast growth rates,
companies are venture capitalists targeted for small businesses. They are
partnered with the government and provide small businesses with funding in
for small business expenses. Angel investors are simply private investors who
invest money in your business with the belief and hope that in a couple of years
they will see a higher return on their investment. After a 5 year period an angel
investor may expect a return of at least double their initial investment. Of course
starting a small business is risky business so the angel investor may not see any
return if your small business fails. Naturally an angel investor will want
guaranteed exit provisions in the case that your small business fails. You can find
an angel investor by networking with other business owners and small business
professionals. You can also subscribe to angel network firms that can match you
9. Credit Cards – Many small businesses have turned to credit cards in order to
pay their small business expenses. Credit Cards may seem like a quick fix but
Before raising capital for small business expenses it is important that you first
determine how much capital you need for your small business. Create a business
money is needed to run a small business and fail to expect the unexpected. For
example what if your equipment gets damaged and you need replacements…do
you have a back up plan? That is why it is a good idea to always have extra
facility or within multiple locations of a supply network to protect the regular and
materials or goods. The scope of inventory management also concerns the fine
demand forecasting
assortment while ordering, shipping, handling, and related costs are kept
in check.
inventory status.
This would include the monitoring of material moved into and out of
may include ABC analysis, lot tracking, cycle counting support etc.
• Management of the inventories, with the primary objective of
to balance the need for product availability against the need for minimizing
• Financing receivables
• Terms of sale
= Credit period
• Revenue Effects
• Cost Effects
• Cost of the sale is still incurred even though the cash from the sale has
• Cash discount – some customers will pay early and pay less than the full
sales price
Five Cs of Credit
• Manufacturing firm
• Work-in-progress
• Remember that one firm’s “raw material” may be another firm’s “finished
good”
to describe major changes within a company. These changes usually affect basic
or how certain parts of its business plan are approached. The type of
restructuring depends on the elements of the business being affected and the
Internal Restructuring
complete tasks. Sometimes a particular segment of the business will start to fail,
and the company will need to reallocate resources in order to support it.
Sometimes a business may have expanded to much, and needs to refocus on its
core abilities. At other times a business may need to restructure its financial
competitors are embracing. Not all reasons for restructuring are negative, and
Financial restructuring deals with all changes the businesses makes to its debts
and equity, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other deals.
Technological Restructuring
that changes the way an industry operates. This type of restructuring usually
affects employees, and tends to lead to new training initiatives, along with some
involves alliances with third parties that have technical knowledge or resources.
Restructuring Methods
control, and ownership structure. The last two, corporate control and ownership
control, for instance, is a method where the company buys back enough shares
to be able to make its own decisions again. Expansion occurs with acquisition,
mergers, or joint ventures. Refocusing can take many forms, including business
periods.
The comparative financial statements are chalked out in a columnar form (in
majority of the cases). One is also able to view comparative accounts of different
companies.
Comparative financial statements, like all other financial statements have the
• Income statements
• Balance Sheet
Income statements:
Also known as profit and loss financial statement, these types of comparative
amount of money lost by a company. Loss or profit may not always mean, loss or
profit of money, it may also include any asset or stock, which has an economic
statement, is first worked on. This is generally followed by the statements of cash
flow and balance sheet. In the preparation of a balance sheet, information from
Balance sheet:
Records information about movement of cash within and outside the company.
statements are very helpful in carrying out company analysis. This type of
financial statement is also helpful in observing trends. The auditor traces the
auditor may suggest measures to improve the financial health of the company.
IX. FINANCIAL RATIOS
situation. Most ratios can be calculated from information provided by the financial
statements. Financial ratios can be used to analyze trends and to compare the
firm's financials to those of other firms. In some cases, ratio analysis can predict
future bankruptcy.
Financial ratios can be classified according to the information they provide. The
• Liquidity ratios
• Profitability ratios
Liquidity Ratios
Liquidity ratios provide information about a firm's ability to meet its short-term
credit to the firm. Two frequently-used liquidity ratios are the current ratio (or
Current Assets
Current Ratio =
Current Liabilities
Short-term creditors prefer a high current ratio since it reduces their risk.
Shareholders may prefer a lower current ratio so that more of the firm's assets
are working to grow the business. Typical values for the current ratio vary by firm
and industry. For example, firms in cyclical industries may maintain a higher
One drawback of the current ratio is that inventory may include many items that
are difficult to liquidate quickly and that have uncertain liquidation values. The
quick ratio is an alternative measure of liquidity that does not include inventory in
the current assets. The quick ratio is defined as follows:
The current assets used in the quick ratio are cash, accounts receivable, and
notes receivable. These assets essentially are current assets less inventory. The
Finally, the cash ratio is the most conservative liquidity ratio. It excludes all
current assets except the most liquid: cash and cash equivalents. The cash ratio
is defined as follows:
The cash ratio is an indication of the firm's ability to pay off its current liabilities if
Asset turnover ratios indicate of how efficiently the firm utilizes its assets. They
management ratios. Two commonly used asset turnover ratios are receivables
Receivables turnover is an indication of how quickly the firm collects its accounts
receivables and is defined as follows:
The receivables turnover often is reported in terms of the number of days that
credit sales remain in accounts receivable before they are collected. This number
is known as the collection period. It is the accounts receivable balance divided by
the average daily credit sales, calculated as follows:
Accounts Receivable
Average Collection Period =
Annual Credit Sales / 365
365
Average Collection Period =
Receivables Turnover
Another major asset turnover ratio is inventory turnover. It is the cost of goods
sold in a time period divided by the average inventory level during that period:
The inventory turnover often is reported as the inventory period, which is the
number of days worth of inventory on hand, calculated by dividing the inventory
by the average daily cost of goods sold:
Average Inventory
Inventory Period =
Annual Cost of Goods Sold / 365
The inventory period also can be written as:
365
Inventory Period =
Inventory Turnover
Other asset turnover ratios include fixed asset turnover and total asset turnover.
firm. Unlike liquidity ratios that are concerned with short-term assets and
liabilities, financial leverage ratios measure the extent to which the firm is using
Total Debt
Debt Ratio =
Total Assets
Total Debt
Debt-to-Equity Ratio =
Total Equity
The times interest earned ratio indicates how well the firm's earnings can cover
the interest payments on its debt. This ratio also is known as the interest
coverage and is calculated as follows:
EBIT
Interest Coverage =
Interest Charges
Profitability ratios offer several different measures of the success of the firm at
generating profits.
The gross profit margin is a measure of the gross profit earned on sales. The
gross profit margin considers the firm's cost of goods sold, but does not include
other costs. It is defined as follows:
Return on assets is a measure of how effectively the firm's assets are being used
to generate profits. It is defined as:
Net Income
Return on Assets =
Total Assets
Return on equity is the bottom line measure for the shareholders, measuring the
profits earned for each dollar invested in the firm's stock. Return on equity is
defined as follows:
Net Income
Return on Equity =
Shareholder Equity
Dividend policy ratios provide insight into the dividend policy of the firm and the
prospects for future growth. Two commonly used ratios are the dividend yield
A high dividend yield does not necessarily translate into a high future rate of
return. It is important to consider the prospects for continuing and increasing the
dividend in the future. The dividend payout ratio is helpful in this regard, and is
defined as follows:
Attention should be given to the following issues when using financial ratios:
are used to calculate ratios may increase or decrease at the end of the
the value of the ratio. Average values should be used when they are
available.
decisions about risks that are acceptable versus those that are not. The passive
ontracts, such as futures, forwards, options, and swaps, is derived from the price
commodities, equity and fixed income securities, credit, and even weather. The
products and strategies used by market participants to manage financial risk are
the same ones used by speculators to increase leverage and risk. Although it can
derivatives enables those who wish to reduce risk to pass it along to those who
seek risk and its associated opportunities. The ability to estimate the likelihood of
often fail in the analysis of financial markets. Risks usually do not exist in
treasury, sales, marketing, legal, tax, commodity, and corporate finance. The risk
management process involves both internal and external analysis. The first part
of the process involves identifying and prioritizing the financial risks facing an
competitors, pricing, industry trends, balance sheet structure, and position in the
tolerance for risk. Once a clear understanding of the risks emerges, appropriate
exposures may be managed with derivatives. Another strategy for managing risk
is to accept all risks and the possibility of losses. There are three broad
be hedged.
execute decisions and monitor outcomes, both before and after strategies are
taken to mitigate them. Since the risk management process is ongoing, reporting
management. Decisions about potential loss and risk reduction provide a forum
A loan can be a big financial commitment. By taking one out, you will be required
to give up a portion of your salary every month until the loan is paid off, and
ailing to do so could result in serious consequences. There are two main types of
loan: secured and unsecured. Each have their advantages and disadvantages,
depending on a) your financial health and b) how much you want to borrow.
Secured loan
‘asset’) – and failing to repay the loan could result in the lender taking possession
The asset in a secured loan will normally be your home, but it can also be your
car or another item of a high value.
• It’s usually possible to borrow more than with an unsecured loan. It’s also
possible to spread payments over a longer period of time. Since the lender
knows they have your asset as backup, there is much less uncertainty
about whether they are going to get all their money back.
• Even if you have a bad credit history, you may be able to get a secured
loan. Your secured asset will reassure lenders that they are able to get all
their money back. However, if you currently have other debt problems,
Unsecured loan
An unsecured loan does not require you to secure anything against the loan –
Because there is no security and the risk they are taking is therefore greater, the
amount you can borrow tends to be less, and the repayment period is usually
shorter.
The lending criteria also tend to be tighter: lenders generally charge a higher
interest rate which is determined mainly by your credit history and level of
income.
• You don’t need a property or any other expensive assets to take out an
unsecured loan.
• It’s cheaper than credit/store cards for smaller purchases. Credit and store
repaying over a few months, you can save a lot of money by taking out an
current assets and current liabilities. After learning working capital management,
commerce students can use this tool for fund flow analysis. Working capital is
very significant for paying day to day expenses and long term liabilities.
Working capital is that part of company’s capital which is used for purchasing raw
material and involve in sundry debtors. We all know that current assets are very
important for proper working of fixed assets. Suppose, if you have invested your
money to purchase machines of company and if you have not any more money
to buy raw material, then your machinery will no use for any production without
raw material. From this example, you can understand that working capital is very
useful for operating any business organization. We can also take one more liquid
item of current assets that is cash. If you have not cash in hand, then you can not
pay for different expenses of company, and at that time, your many business
works may delay for not paying certain expenses. If we define working capital in
very simple form, then we can say that working capital is the excess of current
Total or gross working capital is that working capital which is used for all the
current assets. Total value of current assets will equal to gross working capital.
Net working capital is the excess of current assets over current liabilities.
This amount shows that if we deduct total current liabilities from total current
assets, then balance amount can be used for repayment of long term debts at
any time.
3. Permanent Working Capital
Sometime, it may possible that we have to pay fixed liabilities, at that time we
need working capital which is more than permanent working capital, then this
Ist Point
After study the nature of production, we can estimate the need for working
2nd Point
Have you achieved the optimum level of working capital which has invested in
current assets? Because high amount of working capital will decrease the return
on investment and low amount of working capital will increase the risk of
business. So, it is very important decision to get optimum level of working capital
where both profitability and risk will be balanced. For achieving optimum level of
working capital, finance manager should also study the factors which affects the
manage cash, debtor and inventory, then working capital will automatically
optimize.
3rd Point
Policies are the guidelines which are helpful to direct business. Finance manager
Liquidity policy
Under this policy, finance manager will increase the amount of liquidity for
reducing the risk of business. If business has high volume of cash and bank
balance, then business can easily pays his dues at maturity. But finance manger
should not forget that the excess cash will not produce and earning and return on
Profitability policy
Under this policy, finance manger will keep low amount of cash in business and
try to invest maximum amount of cash and bank balance. It will sure that profit of
business will increase due to increasing of investment in proper way but risk of
business will also increase because liquidity of business will decrease and it can
create bankruptcy position of business. So, profitability policy should make after
seeing liquidity policy and after this both policies will helpful for proper
thorough study of the company records. The accounting and the audit firms make
sure that the company is obeying and operating as per norms laid down by the
Basically, there are four different types of financial statements. The different
types of financial statements indicate the different activities occurring in a
• Balance Sheet
• Income statement
Balance sheet:
The balance sheet provides an insight into the financial status of a company at a
are prepared by taking into account the financial health of the company over a
Income statements:
Also known as the P&L statement or the Profit And Loss Statement. This
statement, ascertains the profit and loss of any business. This can be again of
two types:
This financial statement denotes alterations in the title rights of equities, in any
business.
Cash flow statement:
This statement highlights flow of cash over a period of time. The cash flow may
XIV. CONCLUSION
these processes, and discusses the means to measure the value realized from IT
solutions.
• Manage finances.