Dump Course Packet Q's Pre-Midterm Flashcards
What is a corporation?
A corporation is a legal entity that can enter into contracts.
Who owns a corporation?
Shareholders own the corporation.
Who runs the corporation?
Managers run the corporation as caretakers for the Shareholders.
Does the makeup of the shareholders affect the operation of the corporation?
The makeup of the shareholders can change without affecting the operation of the corporation.
What are most well-known companies?
Most companies that you have heard of are public corporations, meaning they have a wide shareholder base and their ownership claims (stock) trade on a public exchange.
What is the role of financial managers in corporations?
Caretakers of the shareholders’ money.
What decisions do financial managers make about projects?
Pick which projects to invest in.
How do financial managers decide how to fund projects?
How to pay for these projects (debt vs. equity) and what the overall mix of debt and equity should be for the firm.
What is another responsibility of financial managers?
Ensure that the firm has enough money to meet its obligations and invest in all profitable projects.
What are the 2 principal decisions in financial management?
- Investment or capital budgeting decisions (real assets): Pick which projects to invest in.
- Capital structure (Financing) decisions (financial assets): How to pay for these projects (debt vs. equity) and what the overall mix of debt and equity should be for the firm.
What questions arise in investment decisions?
In what should we invest? Should we expand, shrink, or diversify?
What questions arise in capital structure decisions?
How much cash should we raise? How should we raise cash? What types of financial claims should we have? How much cash should we return to investors?
Why is finance important?
Any time your company needs to spend money on something to help it make money in the future, you will need to use finance to determine whether it is worth it.
Why does someone in marketing need finance?
Decide whether an ad campaign is worth the cost. Determine the value of a brand.
Why does someone in IT need finance?
Decide whether your company should invest in new managerial software. Decide whether to invest in a new, faster server.
Why does someone in accounting need finance?
Investors and lenders will use the financial statements you put together to conduct financial analyses. Knowing how your numbers are used will make you a better accountant.
Why does someone in operations need finance?
Investment decisions are some of the most important decisions an operations manager makes. You need to use finance to evaluate investment decisions.
What information is contained in the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows?
Investors and other stakeholders in the firm need regular financial information to help them monitor the firm’s progress. Accountants summarize this information in a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows. The balance sheet provides a snapshot of the firm’s assets and liabilities. The assets consist of current assets that can be rapidly turned into cash and fixed assets such as plant and machinery. The liabilities consist of current liabilities that are due for payment within a year and long-term debts. The difference between the assets and the liabilities represents the amount of the shareholders’ equity.
Why use market values in place of book values?
Market Value of Equity (Market Capitalization) is Market Price per Share x Number of Shares Outstanding. It cannot be negative and often differs substantially from book value as valuable assets may not be on the balance sheet.
Why is accounting numbers important?
Accounting numbers are important in determining taxes.
Why is free cash flow important?
Market value of a firm equals the present value of expected free cash flow the firm will generate in the future. This is because free cash flow represents the amount of cash flow that can be paid to the firm’s owners (stockholders and creditors). The underlying objective of decision-making is to maximize shareholders’ wealth, so free cash flow is an important idea.
What is free cash flow?
Free cash flow is the amount of cash flow generated by a company’s operations net of investment in working capital and long-term assets.
What is the interest rate or required rate of return?
Interest rate or required rate of return is the return investors require in order for them to invest their money.
What determines an interest rate or required return?
Real rate of interest, Expected inflation, Risk.
What is a perpetuity?
Perpetuity: a special case of multiple cash flows where there is a level cash payment (c or pmt) that goes on forever. The cash payment is infinite, or perpetual.
What is an annuity?
Annuities: a level stream of cash flows that ends at some point. The equal payment mortgage or installment credit agreement are common examples of annuities.
What are the three rules of time travel in finance?
- Only the present value (PV) is known for certain.
- All future cash flows are uncertain.
- Given the first two rules, we should expect to be compensated for bearing risk.
How do you calculate the Present Value (PV) of a perpetuity with growing cash flows?
It’s similar to the Gordon Growth Model: A model for determining the intrinsic value of a stock, based on a future series of dividends that grow at a constant rate.
What is the difference between an annuity and a perpetuity?
An annuity is a level stream of cash flows that ends at some point, while a perpetuity is a constant cash payment that goes on forever.
How can the present value of an annuity be useful?
It can help determine the amount needed in a retirement account at retirement, calculate monthly payments for consumer bank loans based on an interest rate and number of periods, and evaluate capital budgeting situations where equipment produces equal cash flow for a fixed number of periods at a set interest rate.
How is the Present Value (PV) of an annuity calculated?
Using the formula: PV = c * [(1 - (1 + r/m)^(-n*m)) / (r/m)] where c is the level cash payment, r is the nominal annual interest rate, m is the number of compounding intervals per year, and n is the number of years receiving cash payments.
What is the purpose of the Future Value (FV) annuity formula?
It helps determine how much one will have in a retirement account if a specific payment (the annuity) is placed into an account at the end of each time period (month or year).
How can the FV annuity formula assist a corporation with bonds?
A corporation can determine how much it must pay yearly (sinking fund) for a certain number of years at a set rate of return to repay bondholders when the bonds mature.
How can the FV annuity formula help in planning for a child’s college education?
By knowing the desired amount for a future college education, one can determine the amount to pay (the annuity) into a college fund at the end of each period for a set number of periods at a fixed interest rate.
How can a business owner use the FV annuity formula for a loan with a balloon payment?
The owner can determine how much to invest at the end of each time period for a certain number of periods at a fixed interest rate to ensure the balloon payment can be made.
Is it possible to derive formulas algebraically to solve for variables C and N from the FV formula?
Yes, it’s possible to algebraically derive formulas to solve for the variables C (payment per period) and N (number of years) from the FV formula.