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The management of a firmâs finances is extremely important to its success. Your firm may bring in $1B in sales but if the firm is mismanaged, it may suffer a net operating loss (a net income of less than $0). What is financial management and why is it so important to the success of a business? Businesses require funding to operate and grow and there are several method by which they can obtain capital. As a business owner; describe how your financing needs (both short and long term) might change as your company expands and identify various funding options as your company grows from a small business to a large global firm.

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Beverley SmithLv2

21 Apr 2019

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businessAs a business owner; describe how your financing needs (both short and long term) might change as your company expands and identify various funding options as your company grows from a small business to a large global firm.

Take a look at and read this article that discusses the cost of capital. What are your thoughts? Elaborate and Explain

Capital for a small business is simply money. It is the financing for the small business or the money used to operate and buy assets. Cost of capital is the cost of obtaining that money or financing for the small business. The cost of capital is also called the hurdle rate.

Should very small businesses even worry about their cost of capital? The answer to that is absolutely yes! Even very small businesses need money to operate and that money is going to cost something. Companies want that cost to be as low as possible.

What is Capital?

Capital is the money businesses use for financing their operations. The cost of capital is simply the rent, or interest rate, it costs the business to obtain financing. In order to understand cost of capital, you must first understand the concept of capital. Capital for very small businesses may just be the supplier credit they rely on. For larger businesses, capital may be the supplier credit and longer term debt or liabilities, which are the firm's liabilities.

If a company is public or takes on investors, then capital will also include equity capital or common stock. Other equity accounts will be retained earnings, paid-in capital, perhaps preferred stock.

Why is Capital Important?

In order to build new plants, buy new equipment, develop new products, and upgrade informationtechnology, businesses have to have money or capital. For every decision like this, a business owner or Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has to decide if the return on the investment is greater than the cost of capital or the cost of the money it takes to invest in the project.

Business owners do not usually invest in new projects unless the return on the capital they invest in these projects is greater than or at least equal to the cost of the capital they have to use to finance these projects. Cost of capital is the key to all business decisions.

What is the Cost of Capital?

A company's cost of capital is simply the cost of money the company uses for financing. If a company only uses current liabilities and long-term debt to finance its operations, then it uses debt and the cost of capital is usually the interest rate on that debt.

If a company is public and has investors, then cost of capital gets more complicated. If the company only uses funds provided by investors, then the cost of capital is the cost of equity. Usually, this type of company has debt but it also finances with equity financing or money that investors supply. In this case, the cost of capital is the cost of debt and the cost of equity.

The combination of debt and equity financing for a company is the company's capital structure.

What is Return on Capital?

Return on capital is the amount of profit you earn out of a business or project as compared to the amount of capital you invested. The key to cost of capital for a company is that a company's return on capital must always equal or exceed the cost of capital for any project in which the firm wants to invest. In other words, the company's investment rate of return (return on capital) must equal or exceed their financing rate of return (cost of capital) in order for the firm to be profitable.

What Composes the Cost of Capital

One component of the cost of capital is the cost of debt financing. For larger businesses, debt usually means large loans or bonds. For very small companies, the debt can mean trade credit. For either, the cost of debt is the interest rate the company pays on debt.

Another component of the cost of capital is the cost of equity financing if your company is a public company; in other words, if you have investors in your company who provide money in exchange for an ownership stake in the company.

There are several components of the cost of equity capital. First, there is the cost of retained earnings or the money that the company invests back into the company, instead of paying outdividends. Next, there is the cost of new common stock or stock that the company issues to raise money. Last, the company may even issue preferred stock to raise money.

For very small firms, the cost of capital may be much simpler. There are advantages and disadvantages to both debt and equity financing, including cost, that any business owner must consider before adding them to the capital structure of the company. Very small firms may just useshort term debt, in which case we have to establish a cost for this capital component.

The Company's Weighted Average Cost of Capital

Once the business owner understands the concepts of capital and cost of capital, the next step is to understand weighted average cost of capital. Each capital component is a certain percentage of the company's capital structure. In order to arrive at the true cost of capital for a business firm, the owner must multiply the percentage of the company's capital structure for each component by the cost of that component and sum them.

Summary of Cost of Capital

Before a company can engage in buying assets or obtaining financing for its operations, it must make some determination of its cost of capital -- what it really costs the firm for the money it has to have to for all its financing. That cost of financing must never exceed its return on capital. Here is a cost of capital video series that you may find helpful. It helps put the return on capital and cost of capital in real world terms for you.

Prepare a Project Proposal that includes the nature of the project, the sources of information you plan to use, and the most important concepts and techniques to be applied.

The outline topics should include the following:

A brief summary of the company you have chosen, such as business lines, and its industry;
Information sources (e.g. industry studies, market share reports, financial statements, etc.);

The analyses you will include in your study. This will likely require a summary review of the material in later sections of the course, such as competitor analysis;

If you have access to, and permission to use, internal company documents, please discuss so in the outline.

You are required to complete a course project that reveals mastery in application of the strategic managerial accounting and performance management concepts emphasised in the course. This involves reporting on a specific organisation within an industry, analysing the firmâs competitive position (e.g., market position, cost competitiveness, market power, innovation, SWOT, etc.), its managerial accounting approach, and the non-financial performance metrics should be used in monitoring firm performance, all aligned with value creation for the chosen firm.

This project should be a formal business report that covers all elements of the strategic management process: mission statement, strategic goals, strategic objectives, actionable plans (if available, analyse the specific budget planning process used by the Firm; if not, search for relevant articles for the subject company and recommend a process that you believe is appropriate for the company), and performance monitoring processes employed by the Firm, including its board of directors. These processes and strategies are to be supported with managerial accounting and performance management concepts.

In selecting a company to analyze, first focus on information availability. If you work for the company, ensure that you can obtain the information required to do a proper job on this assignment. If you choose a company you do not work for, begin your search among larger public companies with ample information available. Company websites are often the best place to begin, in particular the investor relations site. Look for annual reports, quarterly reports, press releases, white papers, and other sources of information (e.g., public filings, such as for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission at http://www.sec.gov./

Your tasks are to:

Â· Briefly describe the business of the Firm (i.e. industry segments, geographic service area, market position, and size as measured by revenues, employees, and market capitalisation). Describe the mission statement and strategic objectives of the Firm.
Â· Analyse the behaviour of expenses of the business, distinguishing between variable costs and fixed costs (or estimates thereof), describe the relationships between sales volume, costs, and profit. Estimate a break-even point for the Firm and support with relevant calculations and discussion.

Â· Discuss the level of the Firmâs operating leverage.

Â· Assess the budgeting process and procedures for the Firm, bearing in mind the context of the business and its characteristics. Identify methods employed for budgeting, managerial reporting, and control, and make recommendations for improvement. Justify your recommendations.

Â· Summarise the Firmâs performance over the past five years in terms of sales and earnings growth, return on equity, return for shareholders, and non-financial performance measures (e.g. market share, recognition, customer satisfaction).

Â· Analyse the fixed capital needs (i.e. capital expenditures) of the company, and discuss significant capital projects, how they fit with the strategic goals of the Firm. Evaluate risks associated with major capital projects and suggest risk mitigation strategies. Justify your suggestions.

Â· Briefly profile two or three key competitors and analyse the basis for competition (e.g., is it cost? Innovation? Capital intensity? Branding?). Compare the Firm with these key competitors on key performance metrics (e.g., revenue growth, profit margins, return on equity, financial leverage, receivables turnover, payables turnover, asset turnover, operating costs, market share, market share growth, etc.). Identify areas where the Firm may outperform or underperform the peer group, and suggest improvements for weaknesses.

Â· Design a Balanced Scorecard for the Firm.

This project should follow a structured approach and should be prepared and presented as a professional business report.