Financial Management.

Financial management is broadly concerned with the acquisition and use of funds by a
business firm. In other words, FM is planning, directing, monitoring, organizing, and
controlling of the monetary resources of an organization. FM scope may be defined in terms
of the following questions:

1. How large should the firm be and how fast should it grow?
2. What should be the composition of the firm’s assets?
3. What should be the mix of the firm’s financing?
4. How should the firm analyze, plan, and control its financial affairs?

Functions of Financial Management

1. Financial Planning: It is the duty of management to ensure the adequate funds are
available to meet the needs of the business. In the short term, funds are required to pay the
employers or to invest in stocks. In the middle and long term funds are required to make
additions to the productive capacity of the business.

2. Financial Control: Financial control helps the business to ensure that it is meeting its
goals. Through financial control the firm decides how much to invest in short term assets and
how to raise the required funds.

3. Financial Decision Making: The three primary aspects of financial decision making are
investment, financing and dividends. Investment must be financed in some way for which
various alternatives are available. A financing decision is to retain the profits earned by the
business or should it should be distributed among the shareholders via dividends.

Capital budgeting
Capital budgeting (or investment appraisal) is the planning process used to determine
whether a firm's long term investments such as new machinery, replacement machinery, new
plants, new products, and research development projects are worth pursuing. It is budget for
major capital, or investment, expenditures.[1]

Many formal methods are used in capital budgeting, including the techniques such as

• Accounting rate of return

• Net present value
• Profitability index
• Internal rate of return
• Modified internal rate of return
• Equivalent annuity

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

These methods use the incremental cash flows from each potential investment, or project
Techniques based on accounting earnings and accounting rules are sometimes used - though
economists consider this to be improper - such as the accounting rate of return, and "return
on investment." Simplified and hybrid methods are used as well, such as payback period and
discounted payback period.

Net present value

Main article: Net Present Value

Each potential project's value should be estimated using a discounted cash flow (DCF)
valuation, to find its net present value (NPV). (First applied to Corporate Finance by Joel
Dean in 1951; see also Fisher separation theorem, John Burr Williams: Theory.) This
valuation requires estimating the size and timing of all of the incremental cash flows from the
project. These future cash flows are then discount [disambiguation needed]ed to determine their present
value. These present values are then summed, to get the NPV. See also Time value of money.
The NPV decision rule is to accept all positive NPV projects in an unconstrained
environment, or if projects are mutually exclusive, accept the one with the highest NPV(GE)

The NPV is greatly affected by the discount rate, so selecting the proper rate - sometimes
called the hurdle rate - is critical to making the right decision. The hurdle rate is the
minimum acceptable return on an investment. It should reflect the riskiness of the investment,
typically measured by the volatility of cash flows, and must take into account the financing
mix. Managers may use models such as the CAPM or the APT to estimate a discount rate
appropriate for each particular project, and use the weighted average cost of capital (WACC)
to reflect the financing mix selected. A common practice in choosing a discount rate for a
project is to apply a WACC that applies to the entire firm, but a higher discount rate may be
more appropriate when a project's risk is higher than the risk of the firm as a whole.

Internal rate of return

Main article: Internal rate of return

The internal rate of return (IRR) is defined as the discount rate that gives a net present
value (NPV) of zero. It is a commonly used measure of investment efficiency.

The IRR method will result in the same decision as the NPV method for (non-mutually
exclusive) projects in an unconstrained environment, in the usual cases where a negative cash
flow occurs at the start of the project, followed by all positive cash flows. In most realistic
cases, all independent projects that have an IRR higher than the hurdle rate should be
accepted. Nevertheless, for mutually exclusive projects, the decision rule of taking the project
with the highest IRR - which is often used - may select a project with a lower NPV.

In some cases, several zero NPV discount rates may exist, so there is no unique IRR. The
IRR exists and is unique if one or more years of net investment (negative cash flow) are
2

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

followed by years of net revenues. But if the signs of the cash flows change more than once,
there may be several IRRs. The IRR equation generally cannot be solved analytically but
only via iterations.

One shortcoming of the IRR method is that it is commonly misunderstood to convey the
actual annual profitability of an investment. However, this is not the case because
intermediate cash flows are almost never reinvested at the project's IRR; and, therefore, the
actual rate of return is almost certainly going to be lower. Accordingly, a measure called
Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) is often used.

Despite a strong academic preference for NPV, surveys indicate that executives prefer IRR
over NPV[citation needed], although they should be used in concert. In a budget-constrained
environment, efficiency measures should be used to maximize the overall NPV of the firm.
Some managers find it intuitively more appealing to evaluate investments in terms of
percentage rates of return than dollars of NPV.

Equivalent annuity method

The equivalent annuity method expresses the NPV as an annualized cash flow by dividing it
by the present value of the annuity factor. It is often used when assessing only the costs of
specific projects that have the same cash inflows. In this form it is known as the equivalent
annual cost (EAC) method and is the cost per year of owning and operating an asset over its
entire lifespan.

It is often used when comparing investment projects of unequal lifespans. For example if
project A has an expected lifetime of 7 years, and project B has an expected lifetime of 11
years it would be improper to simply compare the net present values (NPVs) of the two
projects, unless the projects could not be repeated.

The use of the EAC method implies that the project will be replaced by an identical project.

Alternatively the chain method can be used with the NPV method under the assumption that
the projects will be replaced with the same cash flows each time. To compare projects of
unequal length, say 3 years and 4 years, the projects are chained together, i.e. four repetitions
of the 3 year project are compare to three repetitions of the 4 year project. The chain method
and the EAC method give mathematically equivalent answers.

The assumption of the same cash flows for each link in the chain is essentially an assumption
of zero inflation, so a real interest rate rather than a nominal interest rate is commonly used in
the calculations.

Real options
Main article: Real options analysis

Real options analysis has become important since the 1970s as option pricing models have
gotten more sophisticated. The discounted cash flow methods essentially value projects as if
3

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they were risky bonds, with the promised cash flows known. But managers will have many
choices of how to increase future cash inflows, or to decrease future cash outflows. In other
words, managers get to manage the projects - not simply accept or reject them. Real options
analysis try to value the choices - the option value - that the managers will have in the future
and adds these values to the NPV.

Ranked Projects
The real value of capital budgeting is to rank projects. Most organizations have many projects
that could potentially be financially rewarding. Once it has been determined that a particular
project has exceeded its hurdle, then it should be ranked against peer projects (e.g. - highest
Profitability index to lowest Profitability index). The highest ranking projects should be
implemented until the budgeted capital has been expended.

Funding Sources
When a corporation determines its capital budget, it must acquire said funds. Three methods
are generally available to publicly traded corporations: corporate bonds, preferred stock, and
common stock. The ideal mix of those funding sources is determined by the financial
managers of the firm and is related to the amount of financial risk that corporation is willing
to undertake. Corporate bonds entail the highest financial risk and therefore generally have
the lowest interest rate. Preferred stock have no financial risk but dividends, including all in
arrears, must be paid to the preferred stockholders before any cash disbursements can be
made to common stockholders; they generally have interest rates higher than those of
corporate bonds. Finally, common stocks entail no financial risk but are the most expensive
way to finance capital projects.

Operating leverage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The operating leverage is a measure of how revenue growth translates into growth in
operating income. It is a measure of leverage, and of how risky (volatile) a company's
operating income is.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Definition
o 1.1 Costs
o 1.2 Contribution

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

 o 1.3 DOL and Operating income
• 2 Industry-specific
o 2.1 Outsourcing
• 3 See also
• 4 References

• 5 External links

[edit] Definition
There are various measures of operating leverage,[1] which can be interpreted analogously to
financial leverage.

[edit] Costs

One analogy is "fixed costs + variable costs = total costs ..similar to.. debt + equity =
assets". This analogy is partly motivated because (for a given amount of debt), debt servicing
is a fixed cost. This leads to two measures of operating leverage:

One measure is fixed costs to total costs:

Compare to debt to value, which is

Another measure is fixed costs to variable costs:

Compare to debt to equity ratio:

Both of these measures depend on sales: if the unit variable cost is constant, then as sales
increase, operating leverage (as measured by fixed costs to total costs or variable costs)
decreases.

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

 [edit] Contribution

Contribution margin is a measure of operating leverage: the higher the contribution margin is
(the lower variable costs are as a percentage of total costs), the faster profits increase with
sales. Note that unlike other measures of operating leverage, in the linear Cost-Volume-Profit
Analysis Model, contribution margin is a fixed quantity, and does not change with Sales.
Contribution = Sales - Variable Cost

[edit] DOL and Operating income

Operating leverage can also be measured in terms of change in operating income for a given
change in sales (revenue).

The Degree of Operating Leverage (DOL) can be computed in a number of equivalent ways; one way it
is defined as the ratio of the percentage change in Operating Income for a given percentage change in Sales
(Brigham 1995, p. 426):

This can also be computed as Total Contribution Margin over Operating Income:

Alternatively, as Contribution Margin Ratio over Operating Margin:

For instance, if a company has sales of 1,000,000 units, at price $50, unit variable cost of
$10, and fixed costs of $10,000,000, then its unit contribution is $40, its Total Contribution is
$40m, and its Operating Income is $30m, so its DOL is

This could also be computed as 80%=$40m/$50m Contribution Margin Ratio divided by

60%=$30m/$50m Operating Margin.

It currently has Sales of $50m and Operating Income of $30m, so additional Unit Sales (say
of 100,000 units) yield $5m more Sales and $4m more Operating Income: a 10% increase in

Sales and a 10% 13 1/3% increase in Operating Income.

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

Assuming the model, for a given level of sales and profit, the DOL is higher the higher fixed
costs are (an example): for a given level of sales and profit, a company with higher fixed
costs has a higher contribution margin, and hence its Operating Income increases more
rapidly with Sales than a company with lower fixed costs (and correspondingly lower
contribution margin).

If a company has no fixed costs (and hence breaks even at zero), then its DOL equals 1: a
10% increase in Sales yields a 10% increase in Operating Income, and its operating margin
equals its contribution margin:

DOL is highest near the break-even point; in fact, at the break-even point, DOL is undefined,
because it is infinite: an increase of 10% in sales, say, increases Operating Income for 0 to
some positive number (say, $10), which is an infinite (or undefined) percentage change; in
terms of margins, its Operating Margin is zero, so its DOL is undefined. Similarly, for a very
small positive Operating Income (say, $.1), a 10% increase in sales may increase Operating
Income to $10, a 100x (or 9,900%) increase, for a DOL of 990; in terms of margins, its
Operating Margin is very small, so its DOL is very large.

DOL is closely related to the rate of increase in the operating margin: as sales increase past
the break-even point, operating margin rapidly increases from 0% (reflected in a high DOL),
and as sales increase, asymptotically approaches the contribution margin: thus the rate of
change in operating margin decreases, as does the DOL, which asymptotically approaches 1.

Industry-specific
Examples of companies with high operating leverage include companies with high R&D
costs, such as pharmaceuticals: it can cost billions to develop a drug, but then pennies to
produce it. Hence from a life cycle cost analysis perspective, the ratio of preproduction costs
(e.g. design widgets) versus incremental production costs (e.g. produce a widget) is a useful
measure of operating leverage.

Outsourcing
Outsourcing a product or service is a method used to change the ratio of fixed costs to
variable costs in a business. Outsourcing can be used to change the balance of this ratio by
offering a move from fixed to variable cost and also by making variable costs more
predictable.

In finance, leverage (also known as gearing or levering) refers to the use of debt to
supplement investment.[1] Companies usually leverage to increase returns to stock, as this
practice can maximize gains (and losses). The easy but high-risk increases in stock prices due
to levering at banks in the United States have been blamed for the unusually high rate of pay
for top executives during the financial crisis of 2007–2010, since gains in stock are often

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

rewarded regardless of method.[2] Deleveraging is the action of reducing borrowings.[1] In
macroeconomics, a key measure of leverage is the debt to GDP ratio.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Types of leverage
o 1.1 Financial leverage
 1.1.1 Measures of financial leverage
 1.1.1.1 Debt-to-equity
 1.1.2 Degree Of Financial Leverage (DFL)
 1.1.2.1 Gearing and Du Pont Analysis
o 1.2 Operating leverage
o 1.3 Combined stand-alone leverage
o 1.4 Correlation leverage
o 1.5 Derivatives
• 2 Risk and overleverage
• 3 Negative gearing
• 4 Variations
• 5 Mathematical Example
• 6 See also
• 7 References

• 8 External links

Types of leverage
Financial leverage

Financial leverage (FL) takes the form of a loan or other borrowings (debt), the proceeds of
which are (re)invested with the intent to earn a greater rate of return than the cost of interest.
If the firm's rate of return on assets (ROA) is higher than the rate of interest on the loan, then
its return on equity (ROE) will be higher than if it did not borrow because assets = equity +
debt (see accounting equation). On the other hand, if the firm's ROA is lower than the interest
rate, then its ROE will be lower than if it did not borrow. Leverage allows greater potential
returns to the investor that otherwise would have been unavailable but the potential for loss is
also greater because if the investment becomes worthless, the loan principal and all accrued
interest on the loan still need to be repaid.

Margin buying is a common way of utilizing the concept of leverage in investing. An

unlevered firm can be seen as an all-equity firm, whereas a levered firm is made up of
ownership equity and debt. A firm's debt to equity ratio is therefore an indication of its
leverage. This debt to equity ratio's influence on the value of a firm is described in the
Modigliani-Miller theorem. As is true of operating leverage, the degree of financial leverage
measures the effect of a change in one variable on another variable. Degree of financial
leverage (DFL) may be defined as the percentage change in earnings (earnings per share) that
occurs as a result of a percentage change in earnings before interest and taxes.
8

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

[edit] Measures of financial leverage

[edit] Debt-to-equity
Main article: Debt to equity ratio

Debt to equity is generally measured as the firm's total liabilities divided by shareholders'
equity. In the following, D = liabilities, E = equity, A = total assets, EBIT = Earnings before
interest and taxes and Interest = Interest payment:

Debt-to-equity ratio =

Debt-to-value ratio = = Debt-to-assets[3]

Interest coverage ratio =

Degree Of Financial Leverage (DFL)

Financial Leverage affects the EPS (Earnings per Share) of the firm. Financial Leverage acts
as a double-edged sword. If the economic conditions are favorable and EBIT is increasing, a
higher financial leverage has a positive impact on the EPS. The DFL captures this
relationship between EBIT and EPS. DFL is defined as the percentage change in EPS for a
given percentage change in EBIT.

Symbolically,

Financial leverage = 1/Equity Ratio

For different applications of leverage, analysts may include or exclude certain items, such as
non-tangible balance sheet items, non-financial liabilities, and similar items, or may adjust
the carrying value of other items. It is not uncommon to use only financial liabilities (long-
term and short-term borrowings), thereby excluding, for example, accounts payable.

Gearing and Du Pont Analysis

Use of the Du Pont Identity requires that leverage be measured in terms of total assets divided
by shareholders' equity, and this is sometimes referred to as gearing or simply leverage:

Leverage (gearing) = A / E

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

The two measures are related. Since the terms used are the same throughout, debt-to-equity is
equal to gearing times debt over assets: D / E = (A / E) * (D / A)

Operating leverage

Operating leverage reflects the extent to which fixed assets and associated fixed costs are
utilized in the business. Degree of operating leverage (DOL) may be defined as the
percentage of levering.

Combined stand-alone leverage

If both operating and financial leverage allow us to magnify our returns, then we will get
maximum leverage through their combined use in the form of combined leverage. Operating
leverage affects primarily the asset and operating expense structure of the firm, while
financial leverage affects the debt-equity mix. From an income statement viewpoint,
operating leverage determines return from operations, while financial leverage determines
how the “fruits of labour” will be divided between debt holders (in the form of payments of
interest and principal on the debt) and stockholders (in the form of dividends). Degree of
combined leverage (DTL) uses the entire income statement and shows the impact of a change
in sales or volume on bottom-line earnings per share. Degree of operating leverage and
degree of financial leverage are, in effect, being combined.

[edit] Correlation leverage

Correlation leverage is a third concept that captures the degree to which the variability in the
firm's value is correlated with the variability of the universe of all risky assets.

[edit] Derivatives

Derivatives allow leverage without borrowing explicitly, though the "effect" of borrowing is
implicit in the cost of the derivative.

• Buying a futures contract magnifies your exposure with little money down.
• Options do the same. The purchase of a call option on a security gives the
buyer the right to purchase the underlying security at a given price in the
future. If the price of the underlying security rises, the value of the call
option will rise at a rate much greater than the value of the underlying
security. However if the rate of the call option falls or does not rise, the
call option may be worthless, involving a much greater loss than if the
same money had been invested in the underlying instrument. Generally
speaking, a put option allows the holder (owner), the investor, to achieve
inverted-leverage and/or inverted enhancement--- sometimes called
inverse enhancement and/or inverse leverage.
• Structured products that exist as either closed-ended funds, or public
companies, or income trusts are responding to the public's demand for
yield by levering.

Risk and over leverage

10

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

Leverage Ratios of Investment Banks Increased Significantly 2003-2007

Employing leverage amplifies the potential gain from an investment or project, but also
increases the potential loss. Interest and principal payments (usually certain ex-ante) may be
higher than the investment returns (which are uncertain ex-ante).

This increased risk may still lead to the optimal outcome for the entity or person making the
investment. In fact, precisely managing risk utilizing strategies including leverage and
security purchases, is the subject of a discipline known as financial engineering.

There are economic periods when optimism incites to a widespread and excessive use of
leverage, what is called overleverage. One of its forms, associated to the subprime crisis, was
the practice of financing homes with no or little down payment, playing on the hope that the
price of the assets (the property in this case) will rise. Another form involved the five largest
U.S. investment banks, which borrowed funds to invest in mortgage-backed securities,
increasing their leverage between 2003-2007 (see diagram). During September 2008, the five
largest firms either went bankrupt (Lehman Brothers), were bought out by other banks
(Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns) or changed to commercial bank holding companies,
subjecting themselves to leverage restrictions (Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs).

Negative gearing
Negative gearing is a form of financial leverage where an investor borrows money to buy an
asset, but the income generated by that asset does not cover the interest on the loan. A
negative gearing strategy can only make a profit if the asset rises in value and creates enough
future capital gains to cover the shortfall between the income and interest that the investor
suffers. The investor must also be able to fund that shortfall until the asset is sold. The tax
treatment of interest expenses and future gain will also affect the investor's final return.

Variations
Levering is often referred to as leveraging. Leveraging is a slang term and misuse of the
English language. 'Leverage' is a noun and can not be conjugated as a verb.

11

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

Its use is becoming more wide spread http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/leverage,
though there is resistance [1]

Mathematical Example
[4]
Calculate equity return given:
5% Projected Return on Investment
4% Cost of Debt
8:1 Leverage Debt:Equity

LONG-FORM MATH

Investment (8+1) * 5% = 45
less Interest (8) * 4% = 32
equals Equity 1 * 13%= 13

SHORT-FORM GENERIC CALCULATION

Interest Rate Differential (5-4) = 1%

Debt to Equity Multiple (8/1) = 8
Multiply Line1 * Line2 (1*8) = 8%
Add Investment Return + 5%
Equals Total Return (8+5) = 13%

EBIT/EPS ANALAYSIS
If a company need to raise additional money by issuing either debt,preffered stock &
common stock.Which alternative will allow company to have highest EPS? This is called
EBIT-EPS analysis.In this ,company will calculate EPS at various level of sales(and EBIT)
by considering different alternatives. you can analys it by taking an example: if comapny
need $50000 additional investment, having $10000 of EBIT & 2000 of shares.how it can
raise funds either go for common stock by issuing 1000 more equity of $50 each or go for
debt @4% interest or go for preferred stock at 7% dividend........ If company raise by
common stock , number of shares will increase to 3000 and EPS will come 2.17,if it go for
debt number of shares remains constant and EPS come at 2.60 and if company go for
preffered stock EPS come at 1.43......this way at different levels of EBIT ,what is the EPS by
considering different alternatives?

So that, company comes to know which is the best alternative for company to fulfill
additional capital requirement?

INVENTORY
Inventory is a list for goods and materials, or those goods and materials themselves, held
available in stock by a business. It is also used for a list of the contents of a household and for
a list for testamentary purposes of the possessions of someone who has died. In accounting
inventory is considered an asset.

12

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

In business management, inventory consists of a list of goods and materials held available in
stock.

Labels: Inventory Management, Procurement, Supply Chain, Supply Chain Management

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Inventory Management
• 2 Business inventory
o 2.1 The reasons for keeping stock
o 2.2 Special terms used in dealing with inventory
o 2.3 Typology
o 2.4 Inventory examples
 2.4.1 Manufacturing
• 3 Principle of inventory proportionality
o 3.1 Purpose
o 3.2 Applications
o 3.3 Roots
• 4 High level inventory management
• 5 Accounting for Inventory
o 5.1 Financial accounting
o 5.2 Role of Inventory Accounting
o 5.3 FIFO vs. LIFO accounting
o 5.4 Standard cost accounting
o 5.5 Theory of Constraints cost accounting
• 6 National accounts
• 7 Distressed inventory
• 8 Inventory credit
• 9 See also
• 10 References

• 11 Further reading

Inventory Management
What up J Schoenfelddddd. Inventory management is primarily about specifying the size and
placement of stocked goods. Inventory management is required at different locations within a
facility or within multiple locations of a supply network to protect the regular and planned
course of production against the random disturbance of running out of materials or goods.
The scope of inventory management also concerns the fine lines between replenishment lead
time, carrying costs of inventory, asset management, inventory forecasting, inventory
valuation, inventory visibility, future inventory price forecasting, physical inventory,
available physical space for inventory, quality management, replenishment, returns and
defective goods and demand forecasting. Balancing these competing requirements leads to
optimal inventory levels, which is an on-going process as the business needs shift and react to
the wider environment.
13

GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

Other definitions of inventory management from across the web:

Involves a retailer seeking to acquire and maintain a proper merchandise assortment while
ordering, shipping, handling, and related costs are kept in check.

Systems and processes that identify inventory requirements, set targets, provide
replenishment techniques and report actual and projected inventory status.

Handles all functions related to the tracking and management of material. This would include
the monitoring of material moved into and out of stockroom locations and the reconciling of
the inventory balances. Also may include ABC analysis, lot tracking, cycle counting support
etc.

Management of the inventories, with the primary objective of determining/controlling stock

levels within the physical distribution function to balance the need for product availability
against the need for minimizing stock holding and handling costs. See inventory
proportionality.

Business inventory
The reasons for keeping stock

There are three basic reasons for keeping an inventory:

1. Time - The time lags present in the supply chain, from supplier to user at
every stage, requires that you maintain certain amount of inventory to use
in this "lead time"
2. Uncertainty - Inventories are maintained as buffers to meet uncertainties
in demand, supply and movements of goods.
3. Economies of scale - Ideal condition of "one unit at a time at a place where
user needs it, when he needs it" principle tends to incur lots of costs in
terms of logistics. So bulk buying, movement and storing brings in
economies of scale, thus inventory.

All these stock reasons can apply to any owner or product stage.

• Buffer stock is held in individual workstations against the possibility that

the upstream workstation may be a little delayed in long setup or change-
over time. This stock is then used while that change-over is happening.
This stock can be eliminated by tools like SMED.

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GAURAV SHARMA (M.B.A).S.H.I.AT.S

///// These classifications apply along the whole Supply chain not just within a facility or
plant.

Where these stocks contain the same or similar items it is often the work practice to hold all
these stocks mixed together before or after the sub-process to which they relate. This 'reduces'
costs. Because they are mixed-up together there is no visual reminder to operators of the
adjacent sub-processes or line management of the stock which is due to a particular cause and
should be a particular individual's responsibility with inevitable consequences. Some plants
have centralized stock holding across sub-processes which makes the situation even more
acute.

Special terms used in dealing with inventory

• Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is a unique combination of all the components

that are assembled into the purchasable item. Therefore any change in
the packaging or product is a new SKU. This level of detailed specification
assists in managing inventory.
• Stockout means running out of the inventory of an SKU.[1]
• "New old stock" (sometimes abbreviated NOS) is a term used in business
to refer to merchandise being offered for sale which was manufactured
long ago but that has never been used. Such merchandise may not be
produced any more, and the new old stock may represent the only market
source of a particular item at the present time.

Typology
1. Buffer/safety stock
2. Cycle stock (Used in batch processes, it is the available inventory
excluding buffer stock)
3. De-coupling (Buffer stock that is held by both the supplier and the user)
4. Anticipation stock (building up extra stock for periods of increased
demand - e.g. ice cream for summer)
5. Pipeline stock (goods still in transit or in the process of distribution - have
left the factory but not arrived at the customer yet)

Inventory examples

While accountants often discuss inventory in terms of goods for sale, organizations -
manufacturers, service-providers and not-for-profits - also have inventories (fixtures,
furniture, supplies, ...) that they do not intend to sell. Manufacturers', distributors', and
wholesalers' inventory tends to cluster in warehouses. Retailers' inventory may exist in a
warehouse or in a shop or store accessible to customers. Inventories not intended for sale to
customers or to clients may be held in any premises an organization uses. Stock ties up cash
and if uncontrolled it will be impossible to know the actual level of stocks and therefore
impossible to control them.

While the reasons for holding stock are covered earlier, most manufacturing organizations
usually divide their "goods for sale" inventory into:

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 • Raw materials - materials and components scheduled for use in making a
product.
• Work in process, WIP - materials and components that have begun their
transformation to finished goods.
• Finished goods - goods ready for sale to customers.
• Goods for resale - returned goods that are salable.

In United States banking, cash management, or treasury management, is a marketing term

for certain services offered primarily to larger business customers. It may be used to describe
all bank accounts (such as checking accounts) provided to businesses of a certain size, but it
is more often used to describe specific services such as cash concentration, zero balance
accounting, and automated clearing house facilities. Sometimes, private banking customers
are given cash management services.

Cash management services generally offered

The following is a list of services generally offered by banks and utilized by larger businesses
and corporations:

• Account Reconcilement Services: Balancing a checkbook can be a difficult process

for a very large business, since it issues so many checks it can take a lot of human
monitoring to understand which checks have not cleared and therefore what the
company's true balance is. To address this, banks have developed a system which
allows companies to upload a list of all the checks that they issue on a daily basis, so
that at the end of the month the bank statement will show not only which checks have
cleared, but also which have not. More recently, banks have used this system to
prevent checks from being fraudulently cashed if they are not on the list, a process
known as positive pay.

• Advanced Web Services: Most banks have an Internet-based system which is more
advanced than the one available to consumers. This enables managers to create and
authorize special internal logon credentials, allowing employees to send wires and
access other cash management features normally not found on the consumer web site.

• Armored Car Services (Cash Collection Services): Large retailers who collect a
great deal of cash may have the bank pick this cash up via an armored car company,
instead of asking its employees to deposit the cash.

• Automated Clearing House: services are usually offered by the cash management
division of a bank. The Automated Clearing House is an electronic system used to
transfer funds between banks. Companies use this to pay others, especially employees
(this is how direct deposit works). Certain companies also use it to collect funds from
customers (this is generally how automatic payment plans work). This system is
criticized by some consumer advocacy groups, because under this system banks
assume that the company initiating the debit is correct until proven otherwise.

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 • Balance Reporting Services: Corporate clients who actively manage their cash
balances usually subscribe to secure web-based reporting of their account and
transaction information at their lead bank. These sophisticated compilations of
banking activity may include balances in foreign currencies, as well as those at other
banks. They include information on cash positions as well as 'float' (e.g., checks in the
process of collection). Finally, they offer transaction-specific details on all forms of
payment activity, including deposits, checks, wire transfers in and out, ACH
(automated clearinghouse debits and credits), investments, etc.

• Cash Concentration Services: Large or national chain retailers often are in areas
where their primary bank does not have branches. Therefore, they open bank accounts
at various local banks in the area. To prevent funds in these accounts from being idle
and not earning sufficient interest, many of these companies have an agreement set
with their primary bank, whereby their primary bank uses the Automated Clearing
House to electronically "pull" the money from these banks into a single interest-
bearing bank account.

• Lockbox - Retail: services: Often companies (such as utilities) which receive a large
number of payments via checks in the mail have the bank set up a post office box for
them, open their mail, and deposit any checks found. This is referred to as a "lockbox"
service.

• Lockbox - Wholesale: services: are for companies with small numbers of payments,
sometimes with detailed requirements for processing. This might be a company like a
dentist's office or small manufacturing company.

• Positive Pay: Positive pay is a service whereby the company electronically shares its
check register of all written checks with the bank. The bank therefore will only pay
checks listed in that register, with exactly the same specifications as listed in the
register (amount, payee, serial number, etc.). This system dramatically reduces check
fraud.

• Reverse Positive Pay: Reverse positive pay is similar to positive pay, but the process
is reversed, with the company, not the bank, maintaining the list of checks issued.
When checks are presented for payment and clear through the Federal Reserve
System, the Federal Reserve prepares a file of the checks' account numbers, serial
numbers, and dollar amounts and sends the file to the bank. In reverse positive pay,
the bank sends that file to the company, where the company compares the information
to its internal records. The company lets the bank know which checks match its
internal information, and the bank pays those items. The bank then researches the
checks that do not match, corrects any misreads or encoding errors, and determines if
any items are fraudulent. The bank pays only "true" exceptions, that is, those that can
be reconciled with the company's files.

• Sweep accounts: are typically offered by the cash management division of a bank.
Under this system, excess funds from a company's bank accounts are automatically
moved into a money market mutual fund overnight, and then moved back the next

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 morning. This allows them to earn interest overnight. This is the primary use of
money market mutual funds.

• Zero Balance Accounting: can be thought of as somewhat of a hack. Companies

with large numbers of stores or locations can very often be confused if all those stores
are depositing into a single bank account. Traditionally, it would be impossible to
know which deposits were from which stores without seeking to view images of those
deposits. To help correct this problem, banks developed a system where each store is
given their own bank account, but all the money deposited into the individual store
accounts are automatically moved or swept into the company's main bank account.
This allows the company to look at individual statements for each store. U.S. banks
are almost all converting their systems so that companies can tell which store made a
particular deposit, even if these deposits are all deposited into a single account.
Therefore, zero balance accounting is being used less frequently.

• Wire Transfer: A wire transfer is an electronic transfer of funds. Wire transfers can
be done by a simple bank account transfer, or by a transfer of cash at a cash office.
Bank wire transfers are often the most expedient method for transferring funds
between bank accounts. A bank wire transfer is a message to the receiving bank
requesting them to effect payment in accordance with the instructions given. The
message also includes settlement instructions. The actual wire transfer itself is
virtually instantaneous, requiring no longer for transmission than a telephone call.

• Controlled Disbursement: This is another product offered by banks under Cash

Management Services. The bank provides a daily report, typically early in the day,
that provides the amount of disbursements that will be charged to the customer's
account. This early knowledge of daily funds requirement allows the customer to
invest any surplus in intraday investment opportunities, typically money market
investments. This is different from delayed disbursements, where payments are issued
through a remote branch of a bank and customer is able to delay the payment due to
increased float time.

In the past, other services have been offered the usefulness of which has diminished with the
rise of the Internet. For example, companies could have daily faxes of their most recent
transactions or be sent CD-ROMs of images of their cashed checks.

Cash management services can be costly but usually the cost to a company is outweighed by
the benefits: cost savings, accuracy, efficiencies, etc.

DISCOUNTED CASH FLOW

In finance, discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis is a method of valuing a project, company,
or asset using the concepts of the time value of money. All future cash flows are estimated
and discounted to give their present values (PVs) – the sum of all future cash flows, both
incoming and outgoing, is the net present value (NPV), which is taken as the value or price of
the cash flows in question.

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Using DCF analysis to compute the NPV takes as input cash flows and a discount rate and
gives as output a price; the opposite process – taking cash flows and a price and inferring a
discount rate, is called the yield.

Discounted cash flow analysis is widely used in investment finance, real estate development,
and corporate financial management.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Discount rate
• 2 History
• 3 Mathematics
o 3.1 Discrete cash flows
o 3.2 Continuous cash flows
• 4 Example DCF
• 5 Methods of appraisal of a company or project
• 6 Shortcomings
• 7 See also
• 8 References
• 9 External links

• 10 Further reading

Discount rate
Main article: Discounting

By far the most widely used method of discounting is exponential discounting, which values
future cash flows as "how much money would have to be invested currently, at a given rate of
return, to yield the cash flow in future". Other methods of discounting, such as hyperbolic
discounting, are studied in academia and said to reflect intuitive decision-making, but are not
generally used in industry.

The discount rate used is generally the appropriate Weighted average cost of capital
(WACC), that reflects the risk of the cashflows. The discount rate reflects two things:

1. the time value of money (risk-free rate) – according to the theory of time preference,
investors would rather have cash immediately than having to wait and must therefore
be compensated by paying for the delay.
2. a risk premium – reflects the extra return investors demand because they want to be
compensated for the risk that the cash flow might not materialize after all.

An alternative to including the risk in the discount rate is to use the risk free rate, but multiply
the future cash flows by the estimated probability that they will occur (the success rate). This

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method, widely used in drug development, is referred to as rNPV (risk-adjusted NPV), and
similar methods are used to incorporate credit risk in the probability model of CDS valuation.

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