martes, 15 de mayo de 2007

Finance and Accounting

Financial accountancy - is used to prepare accounting information for people outside the organization or not involved in the day to day running of the company.


Financial accountants produce financial statements based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) of a respective country.Financial accounting serves following purposes:
  • producing general purpose financial statements;
  • provision of information used by management of a business entity for decision making, planning and performance evaluation;
  • for meeting regulatory requirements.


Accounting - Recording and reporting of financial transactions, including the origination of the transaction, its recognition, processing, and summarization in the FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.
Financial Statements - Presentation of financial data including BALANCE SHEETS, INCOME STATEMENTS and STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOW, or any supporting statement that is intended to communicate an entity's financial position at a point in time and its results of operations for a period then ended.
A balance sheet - a statement of the book value of all of the assets and liabilities (including equity) of a business or other organization or person at a particular date, such as the end of a "fiscal year."
A modern balance sheet usually has three parts: assets, liabilities and shareholders' equity. The main categories of assets are usually listed first and are followed by the liabilities. The difference between the assets and the liabilities is known as the 'net assets' or the 'net worth' of the company.


BALANCE SHEET
-----------------------------------
Assets
-----------------------------------
Fixed Assets
Delivery Van 6,000
Machinery 2,200
Total fixed assets 8,200
Current Assets
Bank Balance 1,400
Inventory 2,000
Accounts Receivable 2,500
-----------------------------------
Total current assets 5,900
Total assets 14,100
-----------------------------------
Liabilities and Equity
-----------------------------------
Current Liability
Accounts Payable 400
Long-Term Liabilities
Loans Repayable 2,200
Total Liabilities 2,600
-----------------------------------
NET ASSETS 11,500
-----------------------------------
Shareholders' Equity
Share Capital 10,000
Retained profits 1,500
-----------------------------------
TOTAL SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY 11,500
-----------------------------------

Income statements - a financial statement for companies that indicates how net revenue (money received from the sale of products and services before expenses are taken out, also known as the "top line") is transformed into net income (the result after all revenues and expenses have been accounted for, also known as the "bottom line").
The purpose of the income statement is to show managers and investors whether the company made or lost money during the period being reported.

INCOME STATEMENT
Sales income1900
Less: Cost of goods sold 1100
Gross profits 800
Less: Operating expenses
Selling expense 110
General and administrative expense 170
Depreciation expense 140
Total operating expense 420
Operating profits 380
Less: Interest expense 80
Net profits before taxes 300
Less: Taxes (rate = 40%) 120
Net profits after taxes 180
Less: Preferred stock dividends 12
Earnings available for common stockholders 168
Earnings per share (EPS) 1.68

Income statements, along with balance sheets, are the most basic elements required by potential lenders, such as banks, investors, and vendors. They will use the financial reporting contained there in to determine credit limits.

A cash flow statement - a financial statement that shows incoming and outgoing money during a particular period (often monthly or quarterly).

The statement shows how changes in balance sheet and income accounts affected cash and cash equivalents, and breaks the analysis down according to operating, investing, and financing activities.

People and groups interested in cash flow statements include:

  • Accounting personnel, who need to know whether the organization will be able to cover payroll and other immediate expenses;
  • Potential lenders/creditors, who want a clear picture of a company's ability to repay;
  • Potential investors who need to judge whether the company is financially sound;
  • Potential employees or contractors who need to know whether the company will be able to afford compensation.

martes, 8 de mayo de 2007

Pricing Strategies

There are many ways in which the price of a product can be determined. The following are the foremost strategies that businesses are likely to use.
  • Competition based pricing;
  • Cost-plus pricing;
  • Creaming or skimming;
  • Limit pricing;
  • Loss leader;
  • Market oriented pricing;
  • Penetration pricing;
  • Price discrimination;
  • Predatory pricing;
  • Contribution Margin-based Pricing;
  • Psychological pricing.

Competition based pricing
Setting the price based upon prices of the similar competitor products.
Competitive Pricing is based on three types of competitive product:


  • Products have lasting distinctiveness from competitor's product. here we can assume
    - The product has low price elasticity.
    - The product has low cross elasticity.
    - The demand of the product will rise.
  • Products have perishable distinctiveness from competitor's product, assuming the product features are medium distinctiveness.
  • Products have little distinctiveness from competitor's product. assuming that:
    - The product has high price elasticity.
    - The product has some cross elasticity.
    - No expectation that demand of the product will rise.

The pricing is done based on these three factors.

Cost-plus pricing
Cost-plus pricing is the simplest pricing method. The firm calculates the cost of producing the product and adds on a percentage (profit) to that price to give the selling price. This method although simple has two flaws; it takes no account of demand and there is no way of determining if potential customers will purchase the product at the calculated price.
Price = Cost of Production + Margin of Profit.


Creaming or skimming
Selling a product at a high price, sacrificing high sales to gain a high profit, therefore ‘skimming’ the market. Usually employed to reimburse the cost of investment of the original research into the product - commonly used in electronic markets when a new range, such as DVD players, are firstly dispatched into the market at a high price. This strategy is often used to target "early adopters" of a product/service. These early adopters are relatively less price sensitive because either their need for the product is more than others or they understand the value of the product better than others. This strategy is employed only for a limited duration to recover most of investment made to build the product. To gain further market share, a seller must use other pricing tactics such as economy or penetration.

Limit pricing
This is a strategy of pricing adopted by firms in a contestable market in order to 'limit' the ability of new entrants to take advantage of economies of scale where by costs are low enough for them to become competitive. This is one of the most popular price adjustment strategy used in the market.

Loss leader
A product which is sold at a loss to attract customers to buy other full priced products sold by the business.


Market oriented pricing
Setting a price based upon analysis and research compiled from the targeted market.

Penetration pricing
Setting an initial low price at the stage of deployment of the product to attract initial customers. The price is likely to rise later as the product gains a market share.

Price discrimination
Setting a different price for the same product in different segments to the market. For example, this can be for different ages or for different opening times, such as cinema tickets.

Predatory pricing
Aggressive pricing intended to drive out competitors from a market. It is illegal in some places.

Contribution Margin-based Pricing
Contribution Margin-based Pricing maximizes the profit derived from an individual product, based on the difference between the product's price and variable costs (the product's Contribution Margin Per Unit), and on one’s assumptions regarding the relationship between the product’s price and the number of units that can be sold at that price. The product's contribution to total firm profit (i.e., to Operating Income) is maximized when a price is chosen that maximizes the following: (Contribution Margin Per Unit) X (Number of Units Sold).

Psychological pricing
Pricing designed to have a positive psychological impact. For example, selling a product at £4.99 rather than £5.