Balance sheet is one of the most significant financial statements. It indicates the financial condition or the state of affairs of a business at a particular moment of time. More specifically, balance sheet contains information about resources and obligations of a business entity and about its owners’ interests in the business at a particular point of time. Thus, the balance sheet of a firm prepared on 31st December 2011 reveals the firm’s financial position on this specific date. In accounting’s terminology, balance sheet communicates information about assets, liabilities and owner’s equity for a business firm as on a specific date. It provides a snapshot of the financial position of the firm at the close of the firm’s accounting period. Assets — Assets, representing economic resources, are the valuable possessions owned by the firm. These possessions should be capable of being measured in monetary terms. Assets Continue reading
Financial Management Tools
Significance of Capital Budgeting
The key function of the financial management is the selection of the most profitable assortment of capital investment and it is the most important area of decision-making of the financial manager because any action taken by the manger in this area affects the working and the profitability of the firm for many years to come. Significance of Capital Budgeting Decisions The significance of capital budgeting can be emphasized taking into consideration the very nature of the capital expenditure such as heavy investment in capital projects, long-term implications for the firm, irreversible decisions and complicates of the decision making. Its importance can be illustrated well on the following other grounds: 1. Indirect Forecast of Sales. The investment in fixed assets is related to future sales of the firm during the life time of the assets purchased. It shows the possibility of expanding the production facilities to cover additional sales shown in Continue reading
The Performance Prism
The Performance Prism is a second generation performance measurement and management framework that has been developed by Neely, Adams and Kennerley to further aid organisations in their pursuit of measuring the overall performance of their operations. The creators of this model suggest that for organisations operating within almost any given industry, the most important aspect of management is to deliver on the expectations of the stakeholders associated with that organisation. The Performance Prism is designed to help with the complex relationships that organisations often possess with their various stakeholders within the context of its operating environment. It provides an innovative and holistic framework that directs management attention to what is important for long term success and viability and helps organisations to design, build, operate and refresh their performance measurement systems in a way that is relevant to the specific issues that they face within their given industry. This model attempts Continue reading
Cost Audit – Definitions, Objectives, Advantages and Limitations
Cost audit is an audit process for verifying the cost of manufacture or production of any article, on the basis of accounts as regards utilization of material or labor or other items of costs, maintained by the company. In simple words the term cost audit means a systematic and accurate verification of the cost accounts and records and checking of adherence to the objectives of the cost accounting. As per ICWA London’ “cost audit is the verification of the correctness of cost accounts and of the adherence to the cost accounting plan.” The ICWAI defines cost audit as “system of audit introduced by the government of India for the review, examination and appraisal of the cost accounting records and attendant information required to be maintained by specified industries” From above definition of cost audit, it is clear that cost audit is a systematic examination of cost accounts to verify correctness Continue reading
Credit Linked Notes (CLN)
Meaning of Credit Linked Notes Certain investors are prevented from entering into derivatives contracts, either by law or by internal investment policies. Credit Linked Notes (CLNs) allow such investors to derive some of the benefits of credit derivatives. Credit Linked Notes (CLNs) are regular debt obligations with an embedded credit derivative. They can be issued either directly by a corporation or bank or by highly rated special purpose vehicles created by dealers. The coupon payments made by a CLN effectively transfer the cash flow of a credit derivatives contract to individual investors. Credit Linked Notes are best understood by a simple example: ABC Investments would like to take on the risk associated with the debt of XYZ Corp., but all of XYZ’s debt is composed of bank loans and ABC Investments cannot simply sell protection in a Credit Default Swap (CDS) because its investment policy prevents it from entering into Continue reading
Steps Involved in the Process of Securitization
Securitization, a process by which illiquid financial assets are transformed into tradable commodities, is one of the most significant innovations of the financial world. Having originated in 1970 in mortgage markets in the USA, securitization has already converted over $90 trillion worth of non-tradable assets into marketable securities. As a powerful tool of liquidity and risk management, securitization has had a tremendous impact on the welfare of the world economy. In mortgage markets in many countries it provides a cheaper source of financing, and thus promotes the demand for housing. In the banking sector, securitization is widely used for allocating capital more efficiently, transforming risk into a tradable security, and reducing the overall cost of capital. It has enabled developing countries to emerging market institutions to raise their sovereign ratings ceilings and thereby tap international capital markets for lower-rate financing. Read More: The Concept of Securitization The process of securitization Continue reading