Financial function Flashcards
What are the financial concepts?
- Income
- Expenses
- Cash flow
- Owner’s equity
- Drawings
- Assets
- Liabilities
- Costs
- Breaking even
- Safety margin
Discuss the concept of income.
- Business received income when services are rendered (e.g. delivery service or goods are sold e.g. sales… clothing)
- Income earned will show in the statement of comprehensive income
Examples of income: - Current income (from services rendered)
- Sales (when products are sold)
- Rent income (when property is rented)
- Interest income (from money saved in the bank/investments)
Discuss the concept of expenses.
- Business incurs expenses when it has to pay for a service rendered to the business
- Shown in Statement of Comprehensive Income
- Examples: Water, electricity, advertising, repairs, insurance, salaries (paid monthly), wages (paid weekly)
Discuss the concept of profit and cash flow.
Profit = income - expenses.
- Cash flow refers to the cash portion of various transactions
- Not all sales or trading stock will be in cash
- Business may sell goods on credit to debtors
- Cash may be obtained from other sources (shareholders, loans etc)
Discuss the concept of owner’s equity.
Owner’s equity is the portion of a company’s assets that an owner can claim; it’s what’s left after subtracting a company’s liabilities from its assets. Owner’s equity is listed on a company’s balance sheet. Owner’s equity grows when an owner increases their investment or the company increases its profits.
Discuss the concept of drawings.
- If the owner takes out money or assets out of the business for their own use, it is known as drawings.
- Drawings decrease owner’s equity
- Owner’s equity is shown in the Statement of Financial Position (balance sheet; assets = owner’s equity + liabilities)
Discuss the concept of assets.
- The possessions owned by the business
- Assets are used by the business to make money
- Shown in the Statement of Financial Position (Balance sheet)
- Two types of assets: non-current (long term) assets and current (short term) assets.
Give examples of non current assets.
(Longer than 12 months)
E.g.:
- land
- buildings
- vehicles
- equipment
- long term (> 1 year) investments in the bank
Give examples of current assets.
(Within 12 months)
E.g.:
- Cash (positive bank balance)
- Debtors
- Trading inventory
Discuss the concept of liabilities.
- The debt owed by the business
- What the business is liable to pay
- Shown in the Statement of Financial Position (balance sheet)
- Two types: Non current (>12months) and current (<12 months
What types of costs are there?
Fixed and variable.
Discuss the concept of fixed costs.
- Remain the same irrespective of output (units produced)
- Includes: insurance, rent expenses, fixed salaries (e.g. cleaners/managers/secretaries; not involved in production process) etc
Discuss the concept of variable costs.
- Vary according to output (units produced)
- Will increase when production increases
- Includes: water & electricity, raw materials, wages of workers being paid according to output, etc
What are total costs?
The sum of fixed and variable costs.
What is cost per unit?
Calculated by dividing the total costs by the number of units produced.
Describe a basic break even graph.
(Very NB) - please google it for reference!! I can’t paste images here
x axis: showing units sold over time
y axis: shows revenue over time
a line across the x axis shows the costs incurred. Below it are fixed and variable costs. If the number of units sold is below this line, the business is making a loss. If the number of units sold is above the line, the business makes a profit. The point at which the total units sold intersects the total cost line is called the break even point (BEP).
It is important for businesses to maintain a safety margin - the difference between actual profitability and the BEP.
Discuss the concept of a safety margin.
- The safety margin shows how far above the BEP the business has to perform in order to ensure the business can safely continue to exist.
- Defined by the difference between gross revenue and BEP.
What is the break even point?
The point at which the business’s revenue covers costs but nothing more. In other words, the business does not make a loss nor a profit.
Discuss the concept of feasibility studies.
- The process of assessing the potential of a new business idea - will it be workable?
- Important to know ASAP whether a project has the potential to succeed or not, preferably before large amounts of time/money are invested.
Why is a feasibility study important?
- Helps determine the posiibility of success if new ideas are implemented before the plan is developed
- Forces entrepreneur to remove emotion from the equation and focus solely on facts, thus forced to think critically
- Feasibility studies must be put in writing so that they can be referred to at a later stage and used as a guide to develop a business plan.
What are the steps of a feasibility study?
Note: This is a potential exam application question.
- Describe the project/idea.
- Describe the market.
- If it is a viable idea, what next?
Discuss step one of a feasibility study.
- Describe the business or project idea.
Ask questions such as:
- who will manufacture the product?
- Is there a patent to protect intellectual property?
- Who and where is the potential supplier, if the product is bought from one?
- Is there an alternative supplier?
- What distribution channels will be used? Direct/online, or indirect?
- Write down a detailed description of what will be sold.
- Clearly state how the project idea is different from businesses already selling something similar.
- Why would the consumer want to buy this product and not anyone elses? (USP)
(Make sure you know 3 or 4 of these points)
Discuss step two of a feasibility study.
- Describe the market
Ask questions such as:
- is there a market for the proposed idea?
- does the market have the potential to absorb other competitors? (P6F - current competitors; level of rivalry)
- Is there potential for growth in the market?
- Is the market price sensitive? (links to LSM and power of the buyer)
- Should the product be sold for > or < existing products?
- Who will be the competitors and what are their strengths/weaknesses? (SWOT/TOWS)
Discuss step three of the feasibility study.
- If it is a viable idea, what next?
- How much capital is needed to start the business?
- Where will the business be located?
- (Dis)advantages of the location?
- Municipal requirements for zoning?
- Required special equipment?
- Special skills needed?
- There should be enough working capital for the first six to eight months of the business’s operations.
