Concept of Credit Policy The discharge of the credit function in a company embraces a number of activities for which the policies have to be clearly laid down. Such a step will ensure consistency in credit decisions and actions. A credit policy thus, establishes guidelines that govern grant or reject credit to a customer, what should be the level of credit granted to a customer etc. A credit policy can be said to have a direct effect on the volume of investment a company desires to make in receivables. A company falls prey of many factors pertaining to its credit policy. In addition to specific industrial attributes like the trend of industry, pattern of demand, pace of technology changes, factors like financial strength of a company, marketing organization, growth of its product etc. also influence the credit policy of an enterprise. Certain considerations demand greater attention while formulating the credit Continue reading
Business Finance Terms
What is Under Capitalization?
Concept of Under Capitalization The phrase under capitalization should never be misconstrued with inadequacy of capital Gerstenberge says “A corporation may be under capitalized when the rate of profit is exceptionally high in relation to the return enjoyed by similarly situated companies in the same industry or it has too little capital to conduction business”. It’s against over capitalization, under capitalization implies an effective utilization of finance, a high rate of dividend & the enhanced price of share. Here the capital of the company is less in proportion to its total requirements. In this state of affairs the real worth of the assets exceeds their book value and the rate of earning is higher than a corporation is able to offer. When a company succeeds in earning abnormally large income continuously for a pretty long time symptoms of under capitalization gradually develop in the companies. Under capitalization is an index Continue reading
Concept of Economic Value Added (EVA)
The onset of liberalization and globalization of the Indian economy over the ten years has resulted in shift of the corporate goals from socio-economic focus to an increasing shareholders value. Therefore, the present day need is to choose the right metrics that would help to measure organizational progress in meeting the above mentioned strategic goal. Although there are few traditional performance metrics like balance sheet measures (namely, rate of return, shareholders’ profit, earning per share) and market driven measures (namely, market capitalization, price earning ratio), these are subject to certain deficiencies. Balance Sheet based measures are veiled in accounting anomalies that generally measure notional profit, not real ones and market driven measures are prone to volatility of the bourses. The need is for a mix and match measure that factor in a market’s assessment of a company’s value. At the same time, it should be a real measure of its Continue reading
Purpose of Budgeting
Budgeting is a basic and essential process in a business which allows businesses to gain many goals in one course of action. The budgeting process may be carried out by individuals or by companies to estimate whether the person/company can continue to operate with its projected income and expenses. There are several purposes to create and implement a budget include control and evaluation, planning, communication, and motivation. Control and Evaluation This is most important matter after finalized a budget is providing sufficient control and evaluating its performance.If performance does not meet the budget, action can be taken immediately to adjust activities. Budgeting allows a company to have a certain range of control over costs, such as reducing many types of unnecessary expenses or assigning responsibility for these expenses. A budget also gives a company a benchmark by which to evaluate business units, departments, and even individual managers. Unfortunately this purpose Continue reading
Capital Sources for Business: Bonds
A bond is a type of loan. Bonds are certificates of debt that is issued by a government or corporation in order to raise money with a promise to pay a specified sum of money at a fixed time in the future and carrying interest at a fixed rate. Generally, a bond is a promise to repay the principal along with interest (coupons) on a specified date (maturity). The main types of bonds are corporate bond, municipal bond, Treasury bond, Treasury note, Treasury bill, and zero-coupon bond. It is a tradable debt instrument that might be sold at above or below par (the amount paid out at maturity), and are rated by bond rating services to specify likelihood of default. Bonds are relatively more secured than equity and has priority over shareholders if the company becomes insolvent and its assets are distributed. There is no legal distinction between a debenture Continue reading
Interest Rate Concepts
In market economy, there are many economic-financial categories, including credit and credit interest rate which are two of the most important ones. Credit activities are borrowing and lending activities. The capital-using relationship between borrowers and lenders bases on the principles of reimbursement. Lenders who are in excess of capital have opportunities not only to preserve but also capital get profit. Borrowers who are short of capital have chances to get additional capital to meet production, business or living needs. Therefore, owing to the credit activities that a large proportion of capital in the economy are mobilized, concentrated and distributed from temporary capital surplus sections to shortage ones to meet different needs of all entities in the economy. Indispensable leverage and tool in credit activities is interest rate. Interest rate of bank credit is the ratio in percentage between income and amount of loan for a certain period. Thus, interest rate Continue reading