Finance is the science of funds management. The general areas of finance are business finance , personal finance , and public finance . Finance includes saving money and often includes lending money. The field of finance deals with the concepts of time, money and risk and how they are interrelated. It also deals with how money is spent and budgeted.
Finance works most basically through individuals and business organizations depositing money in a bank. The bank then lends the money out to other individuals or corporations for consumption or investment, and charges interest on the loans.
Loans have become increasingly packaged for resale, meaning that an investor buys the loan (debt) from a bank or directly from a corporation. Bonds are debt sold directly to investors from corporations, while that investor can then hold the debt and collect the interest or sell the debt on a secondary market. Banks are the main facilitators of funding through the provision of credit, although private equity, mutual funds, hedge funds, and other organizations have become important as they invest in various forms of debt. Financial assets, known as investments, are financially managed with careful attention to financial risk management to control financial risk. Financial instruments allow many forms of securitized assets to be traded on securities exchanges such as stock exchanges, including debt such as bonds as well as equity in publicly-traded corporations.
Central banks act as lenders of last resort and control the money supply, which affects the interest rates charged. As money supply increases, interest rates decrease.
The main techniques and sectors of the financial industry
Main article: Financial servicesAn entity whose income exceeds their expenditure can lend or invest the excess income. On the other hand, an entity whose income is less than its expenditure can raise capital by borrowing or selling equity claims, decreasing its expenses, or increasing its income. The lender can find a borrower, a financial intermediary such as a bank, or buy notes or bonds in the bond market. The lender receives interest, the borrower pays a higher interest than the lender receives, and the financial intermediary pockets the difference.
A bank aggregates the activities of many borrowers and lenders. A bank accepts deposits from lenders, on which it pays the interest. The bank then lends these deposits to borrowers. Banks allow borrowers and lenders, of different sizes, to coordinate their activity. Banks are thus compensators of money flows in space.
A specific example of corporate finance is the sale of stock by a company to institutional investors like investment banks, who in turn generally sell it to the public. The stock gives whoever owns it part ownership in that company. If you buy one share of XYZ Inc, and they have 100 shares outstanding (held by investors), you are 1/100 owner of that company. Of course, in return for the stock, the company receives cash, which it uses to expand its business; this process is known as "equity financing". Equity financing mixed with the sale of bonds (or any other debt financing) is called the company's capital structure.
Finance is used by individuals (personal finance), by governments (public finance), by businesses (corporate finance), as well as by a wide variety of organizations including schools and non-profit organizations. In general, the goals of each of the above activities are achieved through the use of appropriate financial instruments and methodologies, with consideration to their institutional setting.
Finance is one of the most important aspects of business management. Without proper financial planning a new enterprise is unlikely to be successful. Managing money (a liquid asset) is essential to ensure a secure future, both for the individual and an organization.
Personal finance
Main article: Personal financeQuestions in personal finance revolve around
- How much money will be needed by an individual (or by a family), and when?
- Where will this money come from, and how?
- How can people protect themselves against unforeseen personal events, as well as those in the external economy?
- How can family assets best be transferred across generations (bequests and inheritance)?
- How does tax policy (tax subsidies or penalties) affect personal financial decisions?
- How does credit affect an individual's financial standing?
- How can one plan for a secure financial future in an environment of economic instability?
Personal financial decisions may involve paying for education, financing durable goods such as real estate and cars, buying insurance, e.g. health and property insurance, investing and saving for retirement.
Personal financial decisions may also involve paying for a loan, or debt obligations.
Corporate finance
Main article: Corporate financeManagerial or corporate finance is the task of providing the funds for a corporation's activities. For small business, this is referred to as SME finance. It generally involves balancing risk and profitability, while attempting to maximize an entity's wealth and the value of its stock.
Long term funds are provided by ownership equity and long-term credit, often in the form of bonds. The balance between these forms the company's capital structure. Short-term funding or working capital is mostly provided by banks extending a line of credit.
Another business decision concerning finance is investment, or fund management. An investment is an acquisition of an asset in the hope that it will maintain or increase its value. In investment management – in choosing a portfolio – one has to decide what , how much and when to invest. To do this, a company must:
- Identify relevant objectives and constraints: institution or individual goals, time horizon, risk aversion and tax considerations;
- Identify the appropriate strategy: active v . passive – hedging strategy
- Measure the portfolio performance
Financial management is duplicate with the financial function of the Accounting profession. However, financial accounting is more concerned with the reporting of historical financial information, while the financial decision is directed toward the future of the firm.
Capital
Main article: Financial capitalCapital, in the financial sense, is the money that gives the business the power to buy goods to be used in the production of other goods or the offering of a service.
The desirability of budgeting
Budget is a document which documents the plan of the business. This may include the objective of business, targets set, and results in financial terms, e.g., the target set for sale, resulting cost, growth, required investment to achieve the planned sales, and financing source for the investment. Also budget may be long term or short term. Long term budgets have a time horizon of 5–10 years giving a vision to the company; short term is an annual budget which is drawn to control and operate in that particular year.
Capital budget
This concerns proposed fixed asset requirements and how these expenditures will be financed. Capital budgets are often adjusted annually and should be part of a longer-term Capital Improvements Plan.
Cash budget
Working capital requirements of a business should be monitored at all times to ensure that there are sufficient funds available to meet short-term expenses.
The cash budget is basically a detailed plan that shows all expected sources and uses of cash. The cash budget has the following six main sections:
- Beginning Cash Balance - contains the last period's closing cash balance.
- Cash collections - includes all expected cash receipts (all sources of cash for the period considered, mainly sales)
- Cash disbursements - lists all planned cash outflows for the period, excluding interest payments on short-term loans, which appear in the financing section. All expenses that do not affect cash flow are excluded from this list (e.g. depreciation, amortisation, etc)
- Cash excess or deficiency - a function of the cash needs and cash available. Cash needs are determined by the total cash disbursements plus the minimum cash balance required by company policy. If total cash available is less than cash needs, a deficiency exists.
- Financing - discloses the planned borrowings and repayments, including interest.
- Ending Cash balance - simply reveals the planned ending cash balance.
Management of current assets
Credit policy
Credit gives the customer the opportunity to buy goods and services, and pay for them at a later date.
Advantages of credit trade
- Usually results in more customers than cash trade.
- Can charge more for goods to cover the risk of bad debt.
- Gain goodwill and loyalty of customers.
- People can buy goods and pay for them at a later date.
- Farmers can buy seeds and implements, and pay for them only after the harvest.
- Stimulates agricultural and industrial production and commerce.
- Can be used as a promotional tool.
- Increase the sales.
- Modest rates to be f
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