The financial failure of a company can have a devastating effect on all seven users of financial statements e.g. present and potential investors, customers, creditors, employees, lenders, the general public, etc. As a result, users of financial statements as indicated previously are interested in predicting not only whether a company will fail, but also when it will fail e.g. to avoid high profile corporate failures at Enron, Arthur Anderson, and WorldCom, etc. Users of financial statements can predict the financial position of an organization using the Altman Z score model, Argenti A score model, and by looking at the financial statements i.e. balance sheet, income statements, and cash flow statements. Business failure is defined as the unfortunate circumstance of a firm’s inability to stay in the business. Business failure occurs when the total liabilities exceed the total assets of a company, as total assets are considered a measure of the Continue reading
Financial Concepts
Introduction to Commercial Credit Analysis
Businessmen need loans for their businessess. There are many instances when the applicant (businessman), unaware of the bank’s needs, does not present all the details required or presents it in a manner that causes the Bank to reject the application. At other times, as the information given is incomplete, the applicant is harassed by demands for more information and then after he has submitted that asked for for yet some more. Time drags on while the bedeviled applicant runs hither and thither exasperated, frustrated and harrowed. The banker is also exasperated, frustrated and harrowed. He exists to make loans but before he approves the application and permits disbursal, as a responsible professional, he has to be convinced that the borrower has the capacity and the willingness to repay. Nothing thrills him more than a well presented detailed application that addresses all the concerns that he may have. Credit Management seeks Continue reading
The Concept of Time Value of Money
The concept of time value of money suggests that the money received at different point of time has different values. The financial manager must appreciate this fact and understand why they are different and how they are made comparable. Time value of money is a concept to understand the value of cash flows occurred at different point of time. If we are given the alternatives whether to accept $ 100 today or one year fro now, then we certainly accept $ 100 today. It is because there is a time value to money. Every sum of money received earlier has reinvestment opportunity. For example, if we deposited $ 100 in saving account at 5% annual rate of interest, it will increase to $ 105 at the end of one year. Money received at present is preferred even if we do not have reinvestment opportunity. The reason is that the money Continue reading
Case Studies on Debt Recovery Management
Case Study 1: HDFC Bank Recovery Mr.Kaushik Agarwal, about 18 months back had purchased 1 Tata Indigo, financed by HDFC bank. His EMI for this month (May’08) was bounced due to some reasons. The recovery person called him on the 22nd May for the payment of the same. He was out of town at that moment so Mr.Kaushik had asked him to send someone to his office on the 24th to collect cash. Now on 24th it slipped out of Kaushik’s mind that he had to pay cash to HDFC Bank and hence he did not withdraw any cash from the bank. As it was a Saturday so when the person came for collection, he requested him to come on Monday, as the bank was already closed for the day. On this the person, who had called Kaushik earlier on the 22nd, called him again and started shouting at him Continue reading
Factors to Consider when Choosing a Source of Finance
There are many sources of finance available to a business. Finance is needed for several purposes and different purposes need sources of finance which are most suitable to them. When choosing an appropriate source of finance some factors have to be considered. The factors that need to be considered when choosing an appropriate source of finance are: The amount of money needed: This is the amount of finance the organisation wants to raise. Not all sources of finance provide all amounts of funds. Some sources are notable to raise large amounts of funds whereas others are not flexible enough to put up for the small sum of money the business requires. Therefore it is necessary to identify the amount of money needed by the company to choose a suitable source of finance. For example borrowing a commercial loan for a small and short-term cash-flow problem is unwise because loans may Continue reading
Concept of Float in Cash Management
A cash manager, among other tasks, has to collect customers’ payments and concentrate them as well as managing the disbursements related to payments becoming due. In other words he manages the time line of short term cash flows and there under also those related to receivables. Connected with these activities there are often delays. In general a float represents a delay on the collection or on the disbursement of cash flow processes. Obviously, a cash manager’s target is to reduce delays in collections. Furthermore it is common practice that cash manager try also to maximize the float on disbursements within the credit terms agreed while exceeding these terms is, from an ethical point of view, questionable. In relation to either collections or disbursements these delays can be divided into four types or components. While a payment is made by check and sent by mail we know there is a time Continue reading