A business organization may be financially sound today but it may loose strength tomorrow because of losses. Therefore it is necessary to maintain a judicious balance between the owned capital and borrowed capital. The following ratios have been calculated to analyze the capital structure of a company. 1. Capital Gearing Ratio Capital Gearing Ratio of an organization measures the relationship between equity share capital to preference capital and loan capital. ‘Capital gearing’ refers to the ratio between the variable cost bearing capital and fixed cost bearing capital of the organization and helps to frame the capital structure of the organization. Capital gearing may be of three types: High Gearing Capital, which indicates the excess of interest bearing long-term finance over the equity funds; Low Gearing Capital, which indicates the excess of equity funds over the interest bearing long-term finance; and Evenly Geared, which indicates the equality between the interest bearing Continue reading
Financial Management Concepts
Assessment of Fixed Capital Requirements
The fixed capital of an industrial concern is invested in fixed assets like plant and machinery, land, buildings furniture, etc. These assets are not fixed in value; in fact, their value may record an increase of decrease in course of time. They are fixed in the sense that without them, the business of the concern cannot be carried on. This means that the fixed capital is used for meeting the permanent or long-term needs of the concern. While making an assessment of the fixed capital requirements, a list of the fixed assets needed by the concern will have to be prepared, say, by promoter. Having compiled a list of the fixed assets which will be required, it is not difficult to estimate the amount of funds required for the purpose. The prices of land are generally known, or can be easily ascertained. A contractor can be relied upon to give Continue reading
Types of Costing Systems
Some costs are direct while others are indirect, direct costs can be identified to a specific products but indirect costs which are not identifiable to specific products, need to be allocated on some objective and rational basis for product costing and pricing which can be justifiable to customers. Costing systems are the systematic allocation of cost to products. It can be used for planning, decision making and control purpose as well. Budgeted figures are used for costing of products as actual prices are not known at time when prices are decided. Important Types of Costing Systems 1. Absorption Costing System Absorption costing system is the method of allocating overheads (Fixed and variable) to products based on pre-determined absorption rate. To find the pre-determined rate total budgeted overhead cost is divided by activity level. The basis on which costs are allocated are subjective and difficult to justify. Absorption costing system gives Continue reading
Concept of Surplus in Financial Management
There are different views regarding the meaning and concept of surplus in financial management. According to one school of thought, the balance remaining after deducting the liabilities and share capital from the total of assets is known as ‘surplus‘. In the opinion of the other school, ‘surplus‘ represents the ‘undistributed earnings’ of a company, i.e., the balance of profits remaining after paying dividends to the shareholders. Still, there are others in whose opinion ‘surplus‘ is a left over which represents an addition to assets that is carried over on the ‘equity side’. But, surplus is solely equity of stock-holders and not an asset in any sense of the word. In simple words, ‘surplus‘ may be described as the net income of the company remaining after payment of dividend and all other expenses. It is the difference between the book value of the assets and the sum of liabilities and capital. Continue reading
Statement of Cash Flows
The statement of cash flows is one of three very important financial reports that managers and investors look at when analyzing a company’s past or present financial status. The balance sheet and the income statement are the other two reports. All of these reports are very important in running a successful business, but the statement of cash flows is the most important. It is like the blood of a company since it would not survive successfully without it. Cash on hand can actually be much more important than income, profits, assets, and liabilities put together, especially in the early stages of any company. The statement of cash flows tells us how much cash we have on hand after all costs are met. It shows how much cash we started with and how much we pay out. There are two parts to the statement of cash flows which are the top Continue reading
Zero Based Budgeting
Traditional budgeting starts with previous year expenditure level as a base and then discussion is focused on certain “additions” or “cuts” to be made in the previous year spending. The top management finally gives its approval after hearing the arguments for and against the “additions and “cuts”. In Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) reference, is not made to previous level of spending. A convincing case is made for each decision unit to justify the budget allotment for that unit during that period. Zero Based Budgeting differs from traditional budgeting on many points and following tire a few points of difference between the two systems of budgeting: Traditional Budgeting Vs Zero Based Budgeting Traditional budgeting is accounting-oriented and mainly lays its emphasis in previous year expenditure. Zero Based Budgeting is decision-oriented and makes all projects and programmes old and new to complete for scarce resources. In traditional budgeting, past expenditure forms the Continue reading