Managerial Finance Flashcards
(116 cards)
Finance
the study of how people allocate scarce resources over time
- decisions are made across time
- decisions are made in an environment of uncertainty
- decisions are made in the context of a financial system
Financial System
the set of markets and other institutions used for financial contracting and the exchange of assets and risks
- markets for stocks, bonds and other financial instruments
- financial intermediaries such as banks and insurance companies
- the regulatory bodies that govern all of these institutions (e.g. Fed, SEC, etc.)
Financial Intermediaries (6 types)
Firms who’s primary business is to provide customers with financial products/services that cannot be obtained more efficiently by transacting directly in security markets.
For example:
1. Commercial Banks (individuals) - facilitate payments, make loans, buy corporate bonds
2. Investment Banks (corporate & govt) - raises capital, advises, trades securities, manages M&A
3. Venture Capital Firms - type of private equity capital typically for early-stage, high-potential, growth companies - eventual IPO or trade/sale of company
4. Asset Management Companies (e.g. hedge/mutual funds). Invest in securities versus directly with companies using bottom-up (looks at the strength of the potential) or top-down (looks at industries) investment methods
5. Regulatory Institutions - central banks, SEC, IMF, etc that regulate markets and intermediaries
6. Insurance Companies - allow businesses and households to shed risk
Flow of Funds
financial system allows for the transfer of funds from surplus units (such as savers) that have excess resources to deficit units (such as businesses that need resources) that are in need through the markets and through intermediaries
Functions of Financial System (6)
- transfers through time, borders and among industries
- provides ways of managing risk
- provide ways of clearing and settling payments to facilitate trade
- provide mechanism for pooling resources and subdividing ownership (e.g. mutual funds)
- to provide price information to help coordinate decentralized decision making in various sectors of the economy
- provide ways of dealing with incentive problems created when one party to a transaction has information that the other party does not (or when one acts for an agent of the other)
Transferring Economic Resources
- Intertemporal - borrowing and lending are ways of transferring resources across time
- Across Space - e.g. using your debit card at a store, a US company investing in China
Managing Risk
- creating securities or contracts with payoffs of differing risk. Buying and selling these securities then allows investors to change their risk profile.
- buying derivative securities such as options and futures, investors can actually take on new risk or reduce their existing risk. Examples are the sale of insurance policies and call options on stock or credit-default swaps.
- issuing shares in their firm is a way for entrepreneurs to share the risk of the enterprise with others
- futures contracts offset risk
- buy insurance to offset risk
- CDOs (collateralized debt obligations) - pooled assets
Clearing & Settling Payments
- mobile payments (e.g. Chase Quickpay)
- write a check, use a credit card, etc.
- clearing house (when you buy stocks, this is what facilitates the exchange)
- CHIPS - clearing house interbank payments systems - most banks are a member
Credit Cards (Sections)
- Merchant Processor - establishes a connection b/w merchant and CC processor - performs credit check on merchant or leases a terminal.
- Credit Card Association - establishes rules and guidelines for card issuance and acceptance
- Credit Card Processor - receives and processes credit card applications, maintains cardholder data
- Card Issuer - establishes criteria to approve or deny applicants and sets credit limits, interest rates and fees (ultimate risk taker)
* All of the above get a fee so the merchant makes less than the actual transaction
Pooling Resources/Subdividing Shares
- mutual funds provide a way for investors to come together and buy larger amounts of securities in an efficient manner (don’t have to find one person with it all)
- the corporate firm allows individuals to own parts of the enterprise
- limited partnerships allow individuals to participate in enterprises and reap tax benefits
Providing Information
- asset prices and interest rates provide critical signals to firm managers in their selection of investment projects
- to make investments, you need information
- crash of ‘87 happened due to lack of information - thus, the introduction of index options
- markets act as aggregators of information and incorporate them into prices
- firms collect other information through organizations such as Bloomberg, etc. which have their own databases
- some firms provide “new” information by taking what’s out there an analyzing it
Incentive Problems (2 types)
- Moral Hazard - the ignorant party lacks information about the performance of the agree-upon transaction or lacks the ability to retaliate for the breach of the agreement (i.e. a situation in which a party is more likely to take risks because the costs that could result will not be borne by the party taking the risk)
- Adverse Selection - one of the parties to a transaction lacks information while negotiating (e.g. insurance company doesn’t know someone is high risk while accepting them)
Principal-Agent Problems
Special case of the Moral Hazard problem when one party (the agent) undertakes to act on behalf of the other (principal). However, if the agent can’t be costlessly monitored, s/he might act in his/her own interests to the detriment of the principal (e.g. manager might act to conservatively because they don’t want the business to fail but if they forego some risky investments, it might be at the detriment of the business
Incentive Problem Solutions
- Moral Hazard
- managers given shares of stock or options
- collateralization of loans - Adverse Selection
- banks cultivate long-term relationships with their clients (clients are more likely to share information, the bank has history, etc)
- firms can signal using mechanisms such as dividends and capital structure
- firms can signal quality through the offering of guarantees
Types of Financial Markets
- Equity Markets
- Fixed Income Markets
a. money market
b. long-term capital market for debt securities - Derivatives
a. Options
b. Forwards
c. Futures
Rates of Return
Fixed income securities have promised rates of return
- however, the borrower might not be able to pay the promised annual return or the principle so the return might be less than the promised
- e.g. investor buys a bond for $100 on 1/1 and receives interest of $8 on 12/31 (8% per annum). Suppose on 12/31, the bond drops in value to $98 because investors believe that the likelihood of the investor paying off the bond in full is less than certain. The actual return on the bond over the year is [8+(98-100)/100 = 6%
Nominal versus Real Rate of Return
- Investor buys a bond for $100 on 1/1 and receives $8 on 12/31. If the price of the bond remains at $100
- the “nominal” rate of return is 8/100 = 8% (i.e. doesn’t account for inflation)
- Suppose the prices have risen 3% i.e. a basket of goods that cost $100 on 1/1 cost $103 at the end of the year
- therefore, the investor has given up “one” basket of goods on 1/1 for (100+8)/103 = 1.0485 baskets of goods at the end of the year
- the “real” rate of return is 4.85% (i.e. does account for inflation)
Expected Rates of Return
- prices of traded assets are set according to the return that investors expect to get on average on their investments
- e.g. if an assets is expected to be worth $120 at the end of the year, and no cash distributions are expected, then an investor desiring an expected return of 12% will pay 120/1.12 or $107.14 for the asset
Determinants of Expected Rates of Return
- expected productivity of capital goods (e.g. mines, factories, etc.)
- degree of uncertainty about the productivity of capital goods (i.e. the greater the uncertainty, the greater the required expected rate of return)
- time preferences by people (people don’t want to wait for their money)
- risk aversion
- expected inflation (greater the inflation, the greater required expected rate of return)
Corporate Finance
every decision a business makes has financial implications and any decision which affects the finances of a business is a corporate finance decision - overall, everything a business does fits in the category
Corporate Governance
- the entirety of a corporation’s organization and structure as well as the contracts, implied and explicit, between the firm and its stakeholders (who can do what and why they can do it)
- determines its direction and performance
Firm Structures (non-corporate)
- Sole Partnerships - one owner who has unlimited personal liability
- Partnerships - more than one owner who are all liable for the firm’s debt (increases the confidence of the firm’s clients)
- Limited Partnership - has general partners (run the business) and limited partners (cannot be legally involved in the decisions)
- Limited Liability Company (LLC) - no general partners, all partners can run the business
- S-Corporation - between an LLC and a corporation - limited number of shareholders it can have, has a perpetual life and stock is transferable (unlike an LLC)
Corporation (corporate firm structure)
- also called C-corporation
- legally defined entity separate from its owners (owners not liable for any of the company’s obligations)
- must be legally formed according to the laws of the state where it’s incorporated
Stock vs. Equity vs. Dividends
- entire ownership stake of a corporation is divided into shares known as stock
- the collection of all outstanding shares is known as equity
- when profits are paid out to shareholders, they are called dividends (e.g. dividends per share)
- shareholders are taxed against their dividends while the company is taxed against its profits (in contrast to an S-corporation)