Reference no: EM133090898

Finance for Business

1. Financial Management Tools

Financial management is critically important to the success of any business organization.

• Discuss the role of finance in business. What is the purpose of financial management?

• Describe the kinds of activities that financial management involves.

• What kind of tools do financial managers leverage to access and/or monitor the health and performance of a business? Have you used any of these tools? If so, share your experience.

2. Time is Money

We've all heard the expression, "Time is money," and time value of money calculations certainly depict this sentiment.

• Share an example of a situation when you used TVM calculations to support a financial decision either in your professional or personal life. (If necessary, share a hypothetical example of when you might use TVM calculations.)

• Discuss which TVM calculations you used to support your financial decision and the benefits this provided.

• In the example you shared, how was cash flow impacted by your decisions?

3. Stock Findings

At any point in time, the market value of a firm's common stock depends on many factors.

• Visit Yahoo Finance. Select a public company and look up the company's stock's performance over the last year. Discuss which company you selected and its performance.

• What do you think are the market forces that might have influenced the value of the company's stock at its peaks and valleys?

• What do your findings indicate about your selected company's financial health?

4. Risk and Financial Decisions

Investors need to know how much risk they have to take to confidently expect a certain percentage return. Likewise, managers want to know what return shareholders require so that they can decide how to meet those expectations.

See the topics below and discuss how they each influence financial decisions regarding risk and return:

• The capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

• The constant-growth model

• Compute forward-looking expected return and risk

• Risk premiums

5. Depreciation and Cash Flows

Estimating cash flows isn't difficult, but it is complicated, as there are a lot of little details to keep track of. Having a systematic approach to handling and arranging details is key to successful finance management and advancing organizational goals.

• Discuss a business example that shows how depreciation and accelerated depreciation can affect project cash flows.

• What would your process be to ensure that all related financial details are allocated for and tracked so as to assist in making sound business decisions?