Intro to financial management and corporate governance Flashcards
What are the three pillars or areas of corporate finance?
Investment
Financing
Liquidity
What is the role of a financial manager in a corporation?
To make decisions on: 1. Investment and
Capital budgeting
2.Financing
and capital structure
3. Working Capital Management
All three roles are interconnected and interdependent
Objective of financial managers is to achieve optimal allocation of the scarce resources available to them.
Define the accounting function
Allows managers to assess performance, risk of firm and decide on future corporate activity
Give six examples of financial management goals
maximise profits maximise sales earning growth survive avoid distress be the best
Why are profitability and risk control not compatible financial management goals?
They are contradictory and cannot both be achieved at once
Why is maximising profits not necessarily a good financial goal
It is not necessarily in shareholders best interests. This goal is vague and can hurt long term profits as managers may sacrifice long term profits to get a good figure on the income statement. ex: cutting R&D department is not good for company but it maximises profits
What should influence a companys financial goals
Stakeholders of that corporation rather than the firms mission
Define a stakeholder
Someone other than shareholders or creditors who potentially has a claim on the cash flows of the firm
What should be the goal of financial management?
Maximise the value of the company (market value) of the existing owners equity - wealth maximisation for those who provide capital to the business
What are the traits of a sole proprietorship?
Owned and managed by one person
Easy to form
Profit is taxed as personal income
Unlimited Liability
Life of a company linked to the owners life
Limited funding - personal wealth is the limit
Name three different forms of business
Sole proprietorship, partnership, limited corporation
What are the traits of a partnership?
2 or more owners
Easy to form - need partnership agreement
Limited + unlimited partners
Its terminated if a partner dies or leaves
Difficult to raise the capital
Profit is taxed as personal income
Controlled by general partners
What are the traits of a limited corporation?
Limited liability
Articles and Memorandum of incorporation required
Double taxation - corporation tax and dividends
Board of Directors
Life of Company hypothetically unlimited
Define unlimited liability
Assets are liable as payment to creditors
Define a Limited partnership
Partnership that has some general partners who run the partnership and some limited partners who are not active participants in the game
Define corporate governance
How a business manages itself
What is the difference in a single tier country to a two tier country about the Board of Directors
In single tier - shareholders dircectly elect the BOD
In two tier country - Shareholder elect a supervisory board who then elect BOD, not directly elected by shareholders
Define agency cost
Cost of resolving problematic agency relationships