Finance & Accounting Essays

Four major issues relating to the financing of ‘small and medium-sized enterprises have been outlined and they include effects of the financial crisis on SMEs’ capital structure; the sovereign debt crisis impacts on bank’s credit standards, credit margin, and funding conditions; and the effects caused by comprehensive regulatory changes on policies dealing with bank lending activities.

There was a wide margin of money supply circulating in the economy versus the available increases in the money supply that remained in banks. Another major discovery was a wide gap between imports and exports. Imports exceeded exports by billions of dollars each year. Yet the ECB, EU, and IMF did not recommend a drastic reduction in importations.

1. LIFO vs. FIFO LIFO (last in, first out) and FIFO (first in, first out) are two different ways of accounting for the value of unsold inventory. The FIFO method considers unsold inventory to be that which has been acquired most recently, and the LIFO method uses the goods bought earliest as the unsold inventory.

A P/E ratio valuation of the firm’s stocks reveals that Hershey Company has a higher chance of generating higher future incomes. The company’s Dividend discount model analysis also confirms this by it indicating that the company’s stock’s current price is undervalued. This means that an investment made now is likely to generate high returns.

Not all companies perform as well as others. The performance of companies is a critical area for some, mainly the investors who have invested capital amounts into the company. Investors can use a wide variety of tools to measure performance but mainly focus on financial analysis, including ratio analysis, as well as other financial tools such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model.

The fundamental principles of accounting that will be discussed for managerial purposes include liquidity, the pursuit of an optimal ratio between cash and assets. In addition, the cash conversion cycle will be described at length; with explanations for what sort of turnover can be expected for the operation in question.

A health care organization is a type of managed unit that provides health care rendered by professionals and doctors in particular closed networks by HCO’s guidelines. The objective of the thesis is to research a recent case related to a healthcare organization in the United States that has been charged with anti-trust action. 

The value of the land in this method will be determined by reducing the amount of depreciation calculated over the life from the purchase value of the land. However, if the company decides to follow the depreciation method, the market value of the land will be considered to determine the value of the land on the date of revaluation.

The capital asset pricing model is founded on the assumption that beta (β) determines the investor’s cost of equity capital. Jack Treynor introduced the concept of the capital asset pricing model to build on diversification and the modern portfolio theory introduced by Harry Markowitz (Levy, 2011).

Buyers are option presented with the right, though not an obligation to buy or sell a possessive instrument or underlying asset at a market price known as a strike price (Alessio et al, 2001). Such buying or selling may take place on either a set date or a time before the date. The contract that enables such kind of financial trading to take place is referred to as an option. 

Every citizen has some responsibility or the other living in a country. For instance paying taxes on time is a very important responsibility which must be fulfilled by every citizen irrespective of the country that the individual is residing in. The tax collected by the government is used for the development of the country.

Finance and Accounting The need of accounting standards evolved because auditors and financial analyst were generally confronted with problems of accounting like misinterpretation, biasness, ambiguity and inaccuracy. To reduce these kinds of accounting errors, a set of accounting standards was developed, which was universally recognized.

According to the findings, it can, therefore, be said that clinical studies reveal that marijuana is a drug, with a potential capacity to provide an optimum medicinal advantage, at some point (Miller 81). There are drugs, however, that if misused, instead of providing its maximum function could harm rather than provide healing.

The approach is based on the concept that if financial statements cannot be prepared correctly, then financial statements must be presented in such a manner so as to reflect useful information focusing on users and the decision problems that they face. The approach assumes that if the financial and accounting is useful to investors, then trading volume of stocks should experience a surge and securities prices are also expected to increase or respond in predictable manner relative to publicly available accounting information (Schroeder, Clark and Cathey, 2011, p.43).

Rich is a busy business entrepreneur and the owner of Macadam Company, a limited liability company that specializes in the building and repairing of roads, parking lots and other infrastructure and seeks estate planning for financial purposes for the sake of the estate left by Henry and Harriet to be distributed equally between Rich and Rebecca.

Globalization has enabled the financial and economic growth of corporations within economies and across borders. It has also challenged numerous businesses, in the event of economic crisis by translating into high systemic risks and financial instabilities. Over the past, numerous corporations collapsed because they worked on wrong assumptions that failed to fully reflect the condition of their finances.

Managerial accounting is the identification, collection, classification, and reporting of financial and non-financial information, which is useful to internal users in planning, controlling and decision making (Rich and Jones 667). Managerial accounting is a vital function of an organization. It aids in planning for the future.

The author will assume he is an investor living in Europe and answer such questions: How much will you pay in dollars if you buy 1000 shares of that firm? How much will you pay in euros? How much will you receive (dollars and euros) if you sell 1000 shares? What will be the total costs and net proceeds in each case (dollar and euros), if the broker charges a 0.2% commission for each transaction?

The dynamic of international exchanges and complex accounting projects requiring extensive knowledge of evaluation and analysis brought to light the need for a profession and comprehensive and credible information work, which would assure the employees that financial and economic indicators reflect with accuracy patrimonial realities. That's how the audit profession appeared.

Strategic cost management: an activity-based management approach Summary of the article The given article is about one of the most talked strategic management and re-engineering tool called “activity based management” (ABM).

Debates have emerged in relation to such contrasting views. The first to arise was whether popular or mass culture should be recognized and treated as equal to what has been considered as high culture. Later, when modern theorists finally accepted and institutionalized the concept that people who do not belong to the upper and more affluent classes or sectors in society also have their own category of culture, another issue has arisen and has become the subject of a new debate.

JSP is a platform-independent language that can support all java enabled platforms while it is intricate to enable ASP over any platform other than that of Windows. The component platform used by ASP is Win32-based COM while JSP uses cross platforms such as JavaBeans. JSP works with the java security model and ASP with Windows NT security architecture.

Educator is not merely the one who teaches his students academically but also helps them develop their talents and character. I want to be that kind of significant person in the lives of children – my students. I did some teaching in the past and it brought me joy helping a child to learn to do what he could not previously.

Molecular clouds consist primarily of molecular hydrogen (H2) gas, with temperatures in the range 10–100 K and carbon monoxide. Molecular clouds are the principal sites of ongoing star formation. Therefore, they tend to be associated with young stars and star-forming regions.

The unemployment in the United States on September 2011 was 9.1% (Bls). The best strategy for a student in a tough job market is to pursue college degrees that have a high demand in the marketplace. A college major that has a great demand is finance. Finance can be defined as a disciplined concerned with determining the value decisions; its functions include allocation of resources including acquiring, managing, and investment of limited resources (Thefreedictionary).

An annual report comprehensively provides stakeholders and other interested individuals or institutions an overview of a company’s activities and financial performance throughout a given year, usually the one preceding the current year. As such, annual reports contain reports by the chairperson, the CEO, and the auditor.

Initially, the state owned industries found it challenging to finance and own the modern technologies that are affected by global supply chains in a way that serve the domestic interests. The evolution of aerospace in three developing nations of Brazil, Indonesia and South African got more government interest in 1970s and 1980s.

The shredding of those documents, which the accounting firm was well aware could be used in an SEC investigation, and also was in itself a crime. The case of Enron led to a number of individuals that were charged with different tasks being charged with serious crimes with some of them pleading guilty.

The financial crisis which started in 2007 impacted significantly on many countries, most especially the United States, the United Kingdom, Greece, Japan, and other developed nations.  Although other countries were not directly affected by the crisis, they were still significantly affected by the crisis as their economies also crashed, the prices of oil and other commodities skyrocketed, and the banking crisis overwhelmed their economy. 

The author states that although a tax form has been simplified, some 40% to 50% of all tax filings have been completed by the tax preparer, of which there are four types, namely: certified public accountants, lawyers, an enrolled agent (someone who passed special examinations given by the Internal Revenue Service) and unenrolled tax preparer.

The allocation of overhead cost is one of the core challenges of businesses. If not properly allocated, decisions made by the company may be true or could lead to improper analysis. There are various ways in which cost can be allocated to the various departments.

The research method that has been used in this study in order to achieve the above-mentioned objective is a questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of 16 questions that are predominantly closed-ended in nature and it has been prepared for the participants who have the willingness to participate in the same.

BlueScope Steel, being a steel manufacturing company, derives its value from steel and iron production. The steel manufacturing industry has been identified as one of the most labour intensive among other industries. The management of the company has been keen on improving the value of the company in recent years. 

Use of Derivatives in Risk Management Risk, in most general terms can be defined as the probability of loss. An organization usually faces risk when it has exposed itself to a certain transaction in which there is a possibility of loss. In this dynamic and modern era, almost all organizations are dealing in and exposed to the financial markets, whether domestic or international.

These banks provide similar products which are premium credit cards, current accounts, savings account, education loans and car loans but which bring different benefits. This paper identifies the options that I think will make the most commercial sense to investors and their reasons for being the most beneficial.

Ratio analysis is a very accurate and reliable tool when it comes to analyzing the financial outlook of an entity. (Investopedia, 2012) The primary reason to conduct a ratio analysis is to quantify the results of the operations of a company and compare them with that of the prior year(s) in order to assess different aspects of the financial feasibility.

Essay, Finance and Accounting. Accounting entails the preparation of financial reports. The research delves on the companies’ compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards. The research delves on cosmetic accounting. The companies’ compliance with reporting standards enhances reliance on financial reports.

South Rhode hospital intends to solve this situation by joining a health service provider system such as Care New England. This would make it an Accountable Care Organization benefiting from the merger with another hospital. This would assist the hospital in the continuity of its mission and achieving its vision (Cleverley et.al 288). 

Reliability in personnel in any organization is crucial, and the attachment of monetary value to the human resource and reporting in financial statements forms the Human Resource Accounting (HRA). According to the department of trade and industry in UK, knowledgeable economy is defines in terms of exploitation and generation of knowledge in creating wealth (Amir & Livne 2005, p.

Additionally, the author aims at explaining the educational validity of business simulation. In the contemporary era, it is of essence that the educational validity be assessed as well as the demerits of the same. ABSTRACT: The abstract of the article is concerned with the general overview of the paper.

The current trend in most firms to have their main goal being to maximize the ownership wealth has received much criticism, especially from economists. In their arguments, the critics have it that firm managers are mostly interested in other factors rather than attaining profits for the firm. Managers have been observed to have their interests in prestige, power, employee welfare, leisure, the larger society's welfare and community well-being.

Private Banks followed suit to raise capital to finance their fixed and working capital. Stock markets cover penny stocks, index investing, futures, trade options, commodities, new stock offerings as well as government and corporate bonds among others. In 1792, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was established when four large merchants came together.

Any company that has an operational base in foreign lands or has a trading relationship with companies from foreign lands is faced with a lot of difficulties. The difficulties range from transactional risk to translational risk, and other risks. They are associated with the ups and downs of the business. Thus it is important that the companies take precautionary measures to minimize the risks.

Risk can be defined as the uncertain effect of any activity or event with respect to something that is valued by humans. Sometimes the risk is followed by opportunities. Systemic risks are surrounded by a larger framework of financial, societal and economic effects and are intersecting between economic, technological, and societal developments and natural events.

China’s economy has been experiencing rapid growth since 1978 and has been the most rapidly developing economy in the world. The growth started with the reforms in 1978 and the Chinese economy has been maintaining an annual growth rate. The outstanding loan in the financial institutions has experienced an increase.

One of the methods commonly used to assess the effects of mergers is the event studies which form a core area of study in finance, industrial organization, corporate governance and economic law. Scholars have for a long time been fascinated by the need to understand the underlying forces around mergers and acquisitions within the constraints of a financial market such as a stock exchange.

In order to avoid the situation of writing off bad debts in the future, EH&S should make a concerted effort by performing credit related checks on companies with which it hopes to do business. This should provide information on the risk attached to some companies and therefore assist in making the decision on whether to grant credit.

Dividend policy is the strategy that a particular company uses to determine the number of funds that should be retained for reinvestment in new projects and the amount of dividend that should be paid out to the shareholders. This means that the primary role of such a policy is to determine the proportion of the company’s funds, which should be paid to the shareholders.

The study will use the provided information concerning Susan Griffin’s assets and needs to follow a five steps investment process in developing a business portfolio. The first crucial step is to determine the target size of Griffin’s portfolio. Then it would be vital for Griffin to determine the appropriate asset allocation.

IBM is one of the most successful firms in the world. IBM (International Business Machine) was among the pioneers in the information technology sector and became very famous for its desktop computers as well as server computers. As time went on, however, things changed and the firm, which did not have much competition in the past, has faced stiff competition in the modern world.