Financial Market Essays (Examples)

Bank of America and Merrill Lynch would have to be separated and Goldman Sachs could no longer be a bank holding company. "Commercial banks would take deposits, manage the nation's payments system, make standard loans and even trade securities for their customers -- just not for themselves. The government, in return, would rescue banks that fail. On the other side of the wall, investment houses would be free to buy and sell securities for their own accounts, borrowing to leverage these trades and thus multiplying the profits, and the risks. Being separated from banks, the investment houses would no longer have access to federally insured deposits to finance this trading. If one failed, the government would supervise an orderly liquidation. None would be too big to fail -- a designation that could arise for a handful of institutions under the administration's proposal" (Uchitelle, "Volcker," 2009).

The Volcker proposal seems sensible,…

Works Cited

Dash, Eric. Post-mortems reveal obvious risk at banks. The New York Times.

November 18, 2009. December 5, 2009.

 http://www.nytimes.com /2009/11/19/business/19risk.html

"Geithner criticizes Wall Street pay." Bloomberg News. December 5, 2009.

Financial Derivatives

This study emphasized the importance roles of financial derivatives, which has been known for the last decade and its effects on the Global financial crisis. It further analyzes the impact of financial derivatives and how it can be controlled to prevent corporations from incurring a lot of risks. It also explains the existence of financial derivatives since 1970, to the recent Global Financial Crisis which occurred in the 2006.

Risk is a feature associated with all productivity. As a result, financial markets adjust themselves to the fluctuation of exchange and interest rates. Hedging risk, these corporations highlight the importance of risk management tools known as Derivatives. Derivatives are defined as financial tools providing investors with effective solutions when avoiding risk caused from market volatility (Dodd, 2006). Financial derivatives are considered to be an effective risk management tool associated with Financial Engineering creating solutions to financial problems (Marks, 2010).…

Works Cited

Angel, James, and Douglas McCabe. "The Business Ethics Of Short Selling And Naked

Short Selling." Journal Of Business Ethics 85.(2009): 239-249. Business

Source Elite. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.

Barth, Mary E., and Wayne R. Landsman. "How Did Financial Reporting Contribute To

Financial Analysis of Lehman rother

Lehman rothers

The history has been full of financial collapses and financial scandals and one of the biggest financial collapses that a company has ever seen was that of Lehman brother. The collapse of a firm as huge as Lehman rother and a firm which has such great experience of over a hundred years lead the world into a shock. It created doubts in the minds of people regarding the condition of other financial institutions. The history of Lehman rother is rich which is further discussed.

The history of Lehman rother dates back to 1844, when a boy named Henry who was a 23-year-old son of a cattle merchant who immigrated to the United States from Germany and he settled in Alabama State of the United States where he opened dry goods store. In 1847, when Henry Lehman's elder brother arrived to Alabama, the firm…

Bibliography

1. Bebchuk, L.A., Cohen, A., & Spamann, H. (2010). The Wages of Failure: Executive Compensation at Bear Stearns and Lehman 2000-2008. Yale Journal on Regulation,27(2), 257+.

2. Blake, D. (2000). Financial Market Analysis. New York: Wiley. Cetorelli, N., Mandel, B.H., & Mollineaux, L. (2012). The Evolution of Banks and Financial Intermediation: Framing the Analysis. Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review, 1+.

3. Dwyer, G.P., & Tkac, P. (2009). The Financial Crisis of 2008 in Fixed Income Markets.Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Working Paper Series, 2009(20), 1+.

4. Fitzpatrick, T.J., & Thomson, J.B. (2011). How Well Does Bankruptcy Work When Large Financial Firms Fail? Some Lessons from Lehman Brothers. Economic Commentary (Cleveland), (2011-23), 1+.

S. Treasuries (Gjelten, 2009).

What hasn't happened "officially," i.e. The establishment of a formal IMF SDR world currency system or some other form of a supranational currency, seems to be occurring in the market anyway, but just in a more informal fashion. For instance, already central banks throughout the world are favoring euros and the yen over the dollar as illustrated by the following numbers (Euro, yen to replace dollar as world reserve currency, 2009). During July through September 2009, banks put 63% their new cash into euros and the yen. As a result, the dollar's share of new cash in the central banks was down to 37 compared with approximately 67% a decade ago. Currently, according to the IMF, dollars account for about 62% of the currency reserve at central banks -- the lowest on record (Euro, yen to replace dollar as world reserve currency, 2009). Further, if China…

Bibliography

Amadeo, K. Dollar decline or dollar collapse?  http://useconomy.about.com/od/inflation/i/dollar_decline.htm 

Batson, a. (2009, March 24). China takes aim at dollar. The Wall Street Journal.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123780272456212885.html#mod=fox_australian 

Daniels, J.D., Radebaugh, L.H., & Sullivan, D.P. (2007) International business: Environments and operations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0131869426.

Davidson, a. (2009, March 23). Bejing shows buyer's remorse. Forbes.  http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/23/china-dollar-ditch-markets-economy-dollar.html

3.2.3 Portfolio Diversification of Investment in Global Property Markets

ecause the global property markets are affected by globalization and specific country / regional factors, means that the overall amounts of risks will vary, the most notable include: transparency and efficiency. Where, each country / region has different on laws and regulations pertaining to the real estate markets. This means that the risks in a number of different markets will depend upon specific market conditions themselves, reflecting these two factors. To protect themselves against these kinds of risks, many investors will often seek to diversify their portfolio. Diversification is: when you are investing a number of different asset classes in real estate, across a variety of countries / regions. The idea is that if a risk occurs in a specific country or region, the other areas that you are diversified in will protect you against the severity of the declines. For…

Bibliography

2009 A Year of Revival for Property Sector, 2010, Visit Kuwait. Available from: . [30 March 2010].

Barwa Real Estate, 2010, Arabian Business. Available from: . [30 March 2010].

Business Risk, 2010, Invest Words. Available from: [29 March 2010].

Dubai Property Companies Called Merger Off, 2009, Property Wire. Available from: [30 March 2010].

Market Efficient espect Set Information Impossible Makes Abnormal Profits

Market Efficient

In his work, Fama argued that given the massive use of resources by the brokerage firm to conduct studies on trends in the industry, the effects of changes in interest rates on corporate balance sheets and expectations of managers and/or political analysts of the companies should be able to systematically beat a generic portfolio with the same risk characteristics.

Since, according to Fama, professional in every situation, the analyst has a fifty percent chance of beating the market; although its specific capabilities did not exist he would beat a lot of the market. The analyst did "help" the market to be efficient if all the investors, in fact, would hold portfolios composed of stock indices, would open up significant opportunities for professional traders to take advantage of the situation. But the movement of traders to that "new market" would…

References

Arrow, K.J., 1959. 'Toward a theory of price adjustment', in M. Abramovitz (ed.), The Allocation of Economic Resources, and Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 41 -- 51.

Aumann, R.J., 1964. "Markets with a Continuum of Traders," Econometrica, Vol. 32, No. 1/2, Jan. - Apr., pp. 39 -- 50.

Clifton, J.A., 1977. "Competition and the evolution of the capitalist mode of production," Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 137 -- 151.

Frank, R., 2008. Microeconomics and Behavior 7th ed. (McGraw-Hill) ISBN 978-007-126349-8.

eport: 2

The developments of credit derivatives began in 1980s as a new financial innovation after the swap market started. Swap market provided derivative organizations with profit due to their intermediary position while the credit margins for borrowers were reduced. As the swap market developed there was the development of new interest derivatives so that there were additions to the list of products. Credit derivatives are relatively recent introductions and these are mechanisms for the credit institutions to separate the credit risk from their loans and treat market risk as a separate category so that their pricing efficiency could be more competitive and the concerned organizations could be more competitive in the market. (Credit Derivatives Move Beyond Plain Vanilla)

Thus one can say that credit derivatives are a recent form that can be used by bankers to reduce risk, or increase risks and thus meet their corporate objectives. The general…

References

Aggrawal, Sunil K. Credit Derivatives Move Beyond Plain Vanilla. Retrieved at http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~sjournal/articles_00/credit_derivatives.htm. accessed 27 July, 2005

Black Scholes Model. Retrieved at  http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~mverma/blackscholes.htm . accessed 27 July, 2005

Cox, Daniel. FAS 123(R): Lattice vs. Black-Scholes. Retrieved at  http://www.fmnonline.com/publishing/article.cfm?article_id=836accessed  27 July, 2005

Credit Derivatives. Retrieved at  http://www.finpipe.com/crederiv.htm . accessed 27 July, 2005

Financial Analysis

Electronic communication has increased the availability and speed at which financial information is made public. Announcements and stock prices are made available in real time. Aggregated and historical information is widely available on information aggregator sites like Yahoo Finance. Annual reports are publicly available, and securities regulators insist that they be made publicly available.

The increased availability of financial information about companies serves to improve both the transparency and liquidity of financial markets. Investors of all types and abilities now have access to the information that they need to make information decisions. That all companies must produce consistent financial statements according to GAAP also helps with the transparency of financial information. ith easy access to this information, investors can become more educated and more confident. Ultimately, this improves investor confidence in the system and liquidity in the market, improving the market's function.

Because publishing this material improves the…

Works Cited:

Reitmans 2005 Annual Report, in possession of the author

Alimentation Couche-Tard Annual Report 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2011 from  http://www.couche-tard.com/corporatif/modules/AxialRealisation/img_repository/files/documents/relation-investisseur/Rapport%20annuel/Annual%20report%202010.pdf

Financial Development

Every country has a different level of financial development. The World Bank uses four measures of banking development: depth, access, efficiency and stability. An international banking conglomerate considering expansion will want to understand a country's local banking conditions in order to have the most informed view, to help with making the expansion decision. In this scenario, the countries being evaluated are the United States, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, India, South Africa, Iran, China and Turkey. This report will analyze the banking systems of each of these countries against the World Bank criteria.

Basic Economic Conditions

Before investigating the banking systems in each country, a brief overview will be provided of the prevailing economic conditions in each nation. The size of the economy, measured by GDP and by GDP per capita, is related to the market potential for a bank to enter the country. The more money there is a…

References

Chossudovsky, M. (2008). Global financial meltdown: Sweeping deregulation of the U.S. banking system. Global Research Retrieved December 5, 2014 from  http://www.globalresearch.ca/global-financial-meltdown-sweeping-deregulation-of-the-us-banking-system/10588 

CIA World Factbook: Various pages. (2014). Retrieved December 5, 2014 from  https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html 

Dheghan, S. (2014). UK and Iran agree to re-establish direct diplomatic relations. The Guardian. Retrieved December 5, 2014 from  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/20/uk-iran-direct-diplomatic-relations 

FRED. (2014). Personal savings rate. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Retrieved December 5, 2014 from  http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/PSAVERT/

Coefficients reflect to a rate of change in the dependant variable which leads to one point change in dependant variable. For example, coefficient of -0,05 infers small negative influence of this explanatory variable on the dependant variable, while coefficient of 1.5 implies that 1.5 rate growth of this variable will lead to positive growth by one point of the explanatory variable.

The results of the regression model are as follows:

GDP ($, billions)= 568.04 + 16.07*Interest_ate + 1.19*Disposable_Personal_Income -64.75*Personal_Savings_ate + 0.5*Personal_Expenditure_On_Nondurables - 0.26*Personal_Expenditure_On_Durables.

Coefficients

Standard Error

Stat

P-value

Intercept

1.384E-16

Interest rate

4.089E-13

Disposable Personal Income

2.327E-88

Personal Savings ate

5.196E-34

Personal Expenditure Nondurables

1.085E-05

Personal Exp Durables

The result suggest, that autonomous value of the GDP is rather high, or that explanatory variable that has big negative affect on GDP was not included in the model. Interest rate has the biggest positive affect on the GDP, while simple calculation…

References

1) Federal Bank of Reserve of Saint Louis financial system

For example, if spending is encouraged, in the form of lower interest rates, then inflation is likely to grow, at least in the short-term, before the government has a chance to regulate this problem and move interest rates in a different direction. With higher inflation, the purchasing power of the individuals is affected, which might, in turn, lead to a decrease in aggregate demand over time.

At the same time, interest rates are also important because of the impact they can have on other rates, such as the currency exchange rate. If the Central ank increases the interest rate, then investors may move towards that particular currency that offers a higher return on their investment (due to the higher interest rate). They may decide to sell the currency or currencies they are investing in at the present time in order to move towards this more profitable currency.

The fact that…

Bibliography

1. Piana, Valentino. 2002. Interest rates. Economics Web Institute. On the Internet at  http://www.economicswebinstitute.org/glossary/interest.htm . Last retrieved on February 20, 2013

2. The Importance of Interest Rates. On the Internet at  https://www.woodgundy.cibc.com/wg/reference-library/topics/investment-solutions/fixed-income/importance-of-interest-rates.html . Last retrieved on February 20, 2013

Piana, Valentino. 2002. Interest rates. Economics Web Institute. On the Internet at

Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley Acts are important legislations in the corporate world because of their link to public and privately held companies. Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted to enhance transparency and accountability in publicly traded companies. On the contrary, Dodd-Frank Act was enacted to disentangle the confused web of financial service company valuations. Actually, these valuations are usually hidden by complex and unclear financial instruments. The introduction of Sarbanes-Oxley Act was fueled by recent incidents of accounting frauds by top executives of major corporations such as Enron. In contrast, Dodd-Frank Act was enacted as a response to the tendency by banks, insurance companies, hedge funds, rating agencies, and accounting companies to serve up harmful offer of ruined assets and liabilities brought by systemic non-disclosure (Anand, 2011, p.1). While these regulations have some similarities and differences, they have a strong relationship with the financial markets.

elationship between the Acts and Financial Markets:

Since…

References:

Anand, S. (2011). Essentials of the Dodd-Frank Act. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Brink, A.G., Lowe, J. & Victoravich, L. (2013, August). The Effect of Evidence Strength and Internal Rewards on Intentions to Report Fraud in the Dodd-Frank Regulatory Environment. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 32(3), 87-104.

Casey, K.L. (2011, January 23). Speech by SEC Commissioner: "The Regulatory Implementation

and Implications of Dodd-Frank." Retrieved from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website:  https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/2011/spch012311klc.htm

financial crisis a "crisis of capitalism?

Compare and contrast the theories of Susan Strange, Karl Polanyi and Giovanni Arrighi. Explain how three of them accessed issues of Financial crisis and its relationship with capitalism

Starting from 2008 onwards, we are currently experiencing an unremitting state of economic recession. Each of the three theorists stated in this essay have different perspectives of whether or not the recession indicates crises of capitalism. Whilst Susan Strange and Karl Polanyi have a more optimist perspective on the subject and indicate that rather than crisis, the recession may, in effect, be, in the first case, a misplaced paradigm (or different, tortured perspective) and in the second case, only a slight wrench that necessitates government intervention for amending a temporary situation, Arrighiri sees the situation as indeed manifesting something that is intrinsically, irremediably, and inherently wrong in the structure of capitalism itself. Each of these views…

References

Giovanni Arrighi (2000) Workers North and South) in C. Leys and L. Panich, eds., The Socialist Register. London: The Merlin Press

Giovanni Arrighi (1996). Capitalism and the Modern World-System: Rethinking the Non-Debates of the 1970s"

 http://www2.binghamton.edu/fbc/archive/gaasa96.htm 

Giovanni Arrighi (2001) Braudel, Capitalism and the New Economic Sociology, Review, XXIV, 1

financial system trials tribulations starting early 2008. Indicate major reasons contributed financial market's collapse. Please leave a space reason. -College Level paperOrder ID

Five major factors that contributed to the financial market's collapse

eason 1: Historically low interest rates

The first major contributor to the collapse of the worlds' financial markets was the housing bubble. The Federal eserve dropped interest rates to historically levels after the September 11 terrorist attacks and the dot.com bubble burst. This was to generate more spending and borrowing and propel the nation out of recession. Low interest rates encouraged people to buy on credit. Many people took out mortgages, thinking that this was a good time to buy a house, and many others took out mortgages hoping to 'flip' a house, or sell it for more than they paid for it, as they were convinced that it was impossible for housing prices to go down…

References

Shah, A. "Global financial crisis." Global Issues. 2010. [May 24, 2011]

 http://www.globalissues.org/article/768/global-financial-crisis 

"The reasons behind the global economic crisis." Fair Loan Rate. 2008.

S. firms. he ambiguity can therefore not be ignored.

he work of Gomez-Gonzalez et al. (2012) investigated whether the use of foreign currency derivatives have any effect on the market value of firms using evidence gathered from Colombia. heir results indicated that an increase in the level of hedging ultimately leads to a higher growth in the value of a firm. he use of financial derivates (hedging) is therefore indicated to have a positive impact on a firms' value.

he work of Clark and Mefteh (2010) investigated the relationship between foreign currency derivative usage and firm value using evidence gathered in France and found that the value effect of the financial derivative usage is about 1.5 times higher and was much significant with relatively larger exposure to depreciation while remaining insignificant for firms with lower levels of exposure. his implies that the effects of the hedging instruments depends on the…

The work of Bartram et al. (2011) indicated that the effect of derivative use on firm value is very positive but is more sensitive to endogeneity as well as omitted variable concerns .The work of Ameer (2009) confirmed this.

Conclusion

The literature suggests that hedging has a value adding effect on firms. The effect however depends on that the type of exposure (whether short or long-term) as well as the type of instruments (options, forwards, foreign currency debt and swaps).The effect is more sensitive to endogeneity as well as omitted variable concerns.

The article that was written by Conley (2011) discusses the impact that collateralized debt obligations (CDO's) would have upon the subprime loans. These were created in 1987, by the Wall Street firm Drexel urnham. In this product, the investment bankers would take a number of different articles and combine them together as one investment. The various assets that were used included: junk bonds, mortgages and other high yielding investments from the debt. The idea with these different products is that the investment bank could offer customers a stated return on their investment. The way it worked is the brokerage firm would distribute each investor, the stated amount of returns that they would make off of the tranche (the CDO investment). This was derived using a complex mathematical formula that would divide the total amount of interest that was received, from the various high yielding products that were inside the CDO.…

Bibliography

Case Study, 2011, Investopedia. Available from: [14 February 2011]

Citi Merger a Mistake, 2008, Huffington Post. Available from: [14 February 2011].

Deregulation Redux, 2011, FCIC. Available from: {14 February 2011].

Derivatives, 2011, Financial Dictionary. Available from: [12 February 2011].

" Bhattacharya (1988). It is used to calculate the value of a company based on its total cash flow. (oss, 1988).

Bhattacharya (1998) states that this theory assumed that lower dividends will lead to reduced levels of new equity and this will bring about a balance between the debt and equity of a company. This is not ture for utilities companies and other monopolistic firms where new equities are rare.

For the "Current Examples" in our table, do we need to find specific company examples that exist today or have happened in the last 2-3 years? Or will it suffice to give a theoretical example of a measurement in a firm that fits the model.

For example, would this be OK.

Efficiency Theory Example

- Production returns based on shared, variable, and per unit costs divided by the total output of a factory in a given period of time.

Instructor…

References

Chew, DH (Ed.). (2001). The new corporate finance: Where theory meets practice (3rd ed.). New York, McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Copeland, T. & Weston, J.F., (1988). Financial theory and corporate policy (3rd ed.). Reading, MA. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Fabozzi, R., & Modigliani, F. (1996). Capital markets institutions and instruments (2nd ed.). New Jersey, Prentice Hall.

Fama, E. And K. French. (2001). Disappearing dividends: Changing firm characteristics or lower propensity to pay," Journal of Financial Economics, 60, 3-43

stock market and the Banks promote economic growth and it provides a critique of their functions in transitional economies. Every country depends on its economy for its growth. For a country to be stable it has to be stable in terms of its economy. Bank and stock market contribute to a great extent to the economy growth of every country where it provides firms with opportunity to get funds thus encouraging more investment from the firms. At the same time they give information on the ways resources should be allocated. The development of a financially sound, market-oriented banking system is always considered to be fundamental to a flourishing transition. Arguably, it is important to macroeconomic stability and to positive long-term growth prospects. As documented, bank intermediation in transition economies continues to be stunted after a decade or addition of reform, mainly where advancement in banking reforms is inadequate. The banking…

WORK CITED

Atje, Raymond and Jovanovic, Boyan, (April 1993), "Stock Markets and Development," European Economic Review, 37 (2/3), pp. 632-40.

Bagehot, Walter. (1873) Lombard Street. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, (1962

Edition).

Bresharan, T., Milgrom, P., and Paul, J., (1992),"The Real Output of the Stock

According to these analysts, "The implicit assumption underlying the price-to-earnings method is that the fair market value of the closely held business can be approximated from the market value of comparable publicly traded businesses. To implement this method, the valuator must be able to identify a set of presumed-to-be comparable publicly traded companies and obtain sufficient information on each to verify the extent of comparability from an economic, management, and financial perspective. No publicly traded company will be precisely comparable to the closely held business being valued, so informed judgment must be exercised" (p. 81). As a general rule, the smaller in size and the more limited the scope of activities of the business being valued, the less likely there will be a set of publicly traded companies that are comparable, or even a single comparable publicly traded company. Publicly traded companies are for the most part large, measured in…

References

Allen, M.F. & Cote, J. 2005, "Creditors' Use of Operating Cash Flows: An Experimental

Study." Journal of Managerial Issues 17(2): 198-199.

"Asset/equity ratio." 2009, Investor Glossary. [Online]. Available: http://www.investorglossary.

com/asset-equity-ratio.htm.

Finance: Financial Investment

Finance

Today's investment environment is more dynamic than it was a decade ago. This is particularly the case given that today's global economy is much more complex. Further, with information moving faster than it used to, the ripple effects of events happening in any given place are often felt in far away economies. Essentially, some of the challenges investors encountered a decade or so ago are not the same ones they encounter today. One of the key challenges in today's investment environments is sluggish global economic growth. As Connolly (2014) points out, although the trend could be changing (going by recent performance), "the U.S. economic growth rate has been relatively sluggish." Slow rate of economic growth causes significant uncertainty which is not ideal for investment. Next, it is also important to note that the volatility of equity markets has been rather extreme in the recent past. This…

References

Connolly, M. (2014). The Stock Market in 2014: Up, but Volatile. Retrieved from www.nhbr.com/The-stock-market-in-2014-up-but-volatile/

Gold, M. (2011). Fiduciary Finance: Investment Funds and the Crisis in Financial Markets. Massachusetts: Edward Elgar Publishing.

MSN. (2014). Apple Inc. (NASADAQ: AAPL). Retrieved from  http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-ratings/?symbol=AAPL

Pharmaceutical industries have to operate in an environment that is highly competitive and subject to a wide variety of internal and external constraints. In recent times, there has been an increasing trend to reduce the cost of operation while competing with other companies that manufacture products that treat similar afflictions and ailments. The complexities in drug research and development and regulations have created an industry that is subject to intense pressure to perform. The amount of capital investment investments required to get a drug from conception, through clinical trials and into the market is enormous. The already high-strung pharmaceutical industry is increasingly investing greater amounts of resources in search of the next "blockbuster" drug that can help them gain market position and profits. Laws, regulations and patents are important to the industry while spending billions of dollars in ensuring the copyright of their products.

It is the intention of this…

Bibliography

Ansoff, H.I. (1957). Strategies for diversification. Harvard Business Review, 35(5), 113-124.

Ansoff, H.I. (1965). Corporate Strategy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Ashour, M.F., Obeidat, O., Barakat, H., & Tamimi, A. (2004). UAE Begins Examination of Patent Applications. Tamino.com. Retrieved January 18, 2004, from the World Wide Web:  http://www.tamimi.com/lawupdate/2001-01/intprop.htm 

Bain, J.S. (1954). Economies of scale, concentration, and the condition of entry in twenty manufacturing industries. American Economic Review, 44, 15-36.

Economics

Why that Dollar in Your Pocket is More than just a Piece of Paper

Money in contemporary society has taken a primary role in life. It affects everything from the quality of a person's social life to the quality and quantity of available food. elow the history, value and use of money are considered.

The first system of economy was a barter system. ecause of issues such as double coincidence of wants as a necessary condition of trade, acquiring goods by this system was often costly in terms of time and effort. In order to reduce transaction time, a money system emerged. The first money emerged in the form of goods. Goods that evolved into money were those that were generally accepted in exchange for goods. Livestock and grain are examples of goods that became money during the years of around 9000-6000 C. Cattle are estimated to probably be…

Bibliography

Beggs, J. "Euro Under Pressure but Recovery is in The Wind." Euro Economy & Financial Markets,

Beggs, J. "Euro Interest Rates Have Further to Go." Euro Economy & Financial Markets,

Beggs, J. "Sterling Under Pressure." UK Economy & Financial Markets,

Bischoff, B. "Consumer Action: The New Conversion Rules." In SmartMoney.com, October 21, 1998.

Financial system serves as the economic backbone of the country. Financial markets provide capital to businesses, and home owners and a safe haven for income. The financial system includes a variety of financial institutions (different types of banks, for example) as well as the central bank, the stock market and other peripheral types of businesses like mutual funds. For individuals, the system provides a safe place for deposits, and access to capital for things like mortgages, college education or cars. For businesses, banks are a critical source of investment capital that is used for expansion. Thus, the financial system allows for our economy to grow, and for consumers to be able to afford to live better. For the economy, it is critical to have a robust financial system. hen the financial system is weakened, as happened in 2008, the results for the economy can be devastating (Levine, 2010). This is…

Works Cited:

Reuters. (2013). Bernanke says stress tests make banks more stable. CNBC. Retrieved May 5, 2013 from  http://www.cnbc.com/id/100625500 

Levine, R. (2010). An autopsy of the U.S. financial system. National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER Working Paper No. 15956.

Financial Crisis

Past financial crises provide us with a framework for understanding the best responses to future crises. There are three types of responses, and the best response will contain some form of all three. These are monetary policy, fiscal policy and regulatory policy. The latter is more a long-term response, essentially learning from the crisis and adjusting the legal/regulatory environment to reduce the odds of a similar future crisis emerging. More important from an economic point-of-view are the monetary and fiscal policy responses, and these will be the focus of this paper. In a forward-looking examination, it will be challenging to get much useful from 1907, because the environment then was different in every meaningful way from how it is today, but the responses can still provide some insight into financial crisis response. While all of the crises are different, they all have similar conditions -- there is panic…

References

Chen, L. (2010). Banking reform in a hostile climate: Paul M. Warburg and the National Citizens' League. Harvard University. Retrieved July 5, 2015 from  http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~histecon/crisis-next/1907/docs/Chen-Warburg_Final_Paper.pdf 

Bernanke, B. (1999). Japanese monetary policy: A case of self-induced paralysis. Princeton University. Retrieved July 5, 2015 from  http://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/bernanke_paralysis.pdf 

Svensson, L. (2005). Monetary policy and Japan's liquidity trap. Princeton University, CEPR and NBER. Retrieved July 5, 2015 from  http://www.esri.go.jp/jp/workshop/050914/050914Svensson.pdf 

Critchley, B. (2012). Differences in Canada and Australia's approach to financial crisis resolution. Financial Post. Retrieved July 5, 2015 from  http://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/differences-in-canada-and-australias-approach-to-financial-crisis-resolution

Overall, at&T is the more profitable of the two companies. That Verizon has the stronger gross margins and at&T the stronger net margins indicates that at&T does a better job of controlling its cost structure than does Verizon.

The Industry

The telecommunications industry is highly competitive in both the landline and wireless segments. By 2006, wireless spending had match wireline spending. hile this presents significant opportunities for telecommunications, much of that spending comes in the form of cannibalizing, as wireline revenues have been decreasing steady over the past decade, matching the steady increases in wireless spending.

There are four major wireless operators in the U.S. And over 170 regional players (Megna, 2009). Competition is based on coverage area (capital investment), price and customer service. Both firms can be considered industry leaders. As of 2007, at&T had a subscriber base of 65.7 million and wireless revenues of $10.9 billion. Verizon had…

Works Cited:

MSN Moneycentral Verizon. Retrieved October 24, 2009 from  http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/results/statemnt.aspx?Symbol=VZ&lstStatement=Balance&stmtView=Ann 

MSN Moneycentral at&T. Retrieved October 24, 2009 from  http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/results/statemnt.aspx?Symbol=T&lstStatement=Balance&stmtView=Ann 

Loth, R. (2009). Financial Ratios Tutorial. Investopedia. Retrieved October 24, 2009 from  http://www.investopedia.com/university/ratios/ 

Chen, B. (2009). Verizon iPhone? Don't hold your breath. Wired. Retrieved October 24, 2009 from  http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/10/verizon-iPhone/

Financial Analysis

Threats and vulnerability: A case study of Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Shoe carnival overview

Shoe Carnival Inc. is a publicly traded company that offers a range of footwear products for all categories of customers, men, women, children and sportswear. It also offers casual wear products and other assorted products such as handbags. Its headquarters are situated in Evansville, Indiana and it runs over 300 stores across several states mostly concentrated in South, Midwest, and Southeastern states of the U.S. David ussell, who had sold shoes for over 20 years in the traditional way, founded Shoe Carnival after feeling convicted that that was what he wanted to do. In the year 1978, and with is personal savings and some capital from his in-laws, he opened his first store that he called "Shoe Biz." His main idea was to create a shoe store made shoe-shopping fun. The major difference with ussell's…

References

Funding Universe (2012) Company Histories and Profiles: Shoe Carnival Inc. Retrieved from http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Shoe-Carnival-Inc.-company-History.html

Laboureconomic's weblog (2012) The Effects of Fon Competition: U.S. Firms. Posted May 4, 2011, retrieved from  http://laboureconomics.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/the-effect-of-foreign-competition-us-firms/ 

Lowth, G., Prowle, M., Zhang, M. (2010) The Impact of Economic Recession on Business Strategy Planning in UK. Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Vol.6, Issue 9.

Shoe Carnival (2012) Shoe Carnival 2011 Annual Report. February 2012. Retrieved from  http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CGQQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fphx.corporate-ir.net%2FExternal.File%3Fitem%3DUGFyZW50SUQ9OTM1OTR8Q2hpbGRJRD0tMXxUeXBlPTM%3D%26t%3D1&ei=6E7LT5zEBc7SsgbC0vGaBw&usg=AFQjCNHQ73w5pPAXL97G7uC-A3yGWjEKKQ&sig2=LmOSYlJO7izfAl1ssOpxDQ

Financial Ratios

There are a number of financial ratios that will be valuable to a small business person. A small business is often concerned with cash flow, so ratios that are the most concern fall into three categories -- liquidity, profitability and efficiency. Liquidity ratios measure the ability of the company to meet its upcoming financial obligations. These ratios are important for ensuring that there is enough cash on hand to pay the bills. The profitability ratios are important because the business will be more successful if it is able to manage its margins. Efficiency ratios are concerned with how fast items like inventory or accounts receivable are turned over. These ratios are a direct reflection of the company's working capital, and improvements in these ratios improve the working capital flow.

These ratios are going to be slightly different from those that a large corporation values. The large corporation actually…

arket Analysis of House of Fraser

House of Fraser was founded in 1891 by James Arthur in Glasgow. Originally a drapery shop, the store quickly expanded and by the end of 1891, the entire Fraser family was investing in the company. At this point, the store was renamed to Frasers & Sons. Over time, the store expanded from selling draperies to selling clothing, shoes and other department store apparel.

The company has continued to grow through the purchase of smaller companies. In 2005, House of Fraser aquaired Jenner's department store and in 2006 it took over Baugur. In 2008, the company had three new openings in London, Belfast and Bristol. The company continues to grow and is a ripe competitor.

House of Fraser is ranked high in the market overall with its six major competitors being arks & Spencer, John Lewis, Harrods, Debenhams, Selfridges and Fenwick. John Lewis is by…

Mintel (2011), Department Stores Retailing-UK-March 2011,  http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic//display/&id=545274 

Office for National Statistics (2012), Consumer Prices Indices- RPI Annual Percentage Changes 1948 to 2011,  http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/datasets-and-tables/data-selector.html?cdid=CDKQ&dataset=mm23&table-id=2.2 

Wikipedia (2012), House of Fraser,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Fraser

0

$0.0

Net income available to common stockholders

$17,758.5

$16,468.7

Common dividends

$5,400.0

$5,048.0

Addition to retained earnings

$12,358.5

$11,420.7

Calculated Data: Operating Performance and Cash Flows

2012

2011

Net operating working capital (NOC)

$1,464.0

($2,108.0)

Total operating capital

$144,629.0

$136,320.0

Net Operating Profit After Taxes (NOPAT)

$19,182.7

$17,926.7

Net Cash Flow (Net income + Depreciation)

$17,758.5

$16,468.7

Operating Cash Flow (OCF)

$19,182.7

$17,926.7

Free Cash Flow (FCF)

$10,873.7

N/A

Calculated Data: Per-share Information

2012

2011

Earnings per share (EPS)

$5.26

$4.76

Dividends per share (DPS)

$1.60

$1.46

Book value per share (BVPS)

$22.63

$20.61

Cash flow per share (CFPS)

$5.26

$4.76

Free cash flow per share (FCFPS)

$3.22

N/A

LIQUIDITY RATIOS (Section 3.2)

Industry

2012

2011

Average

Liquidity ratios

Current Ratio

0.83

0.88

1

Quick Ratio

0.22

0.23

0.3

ASSET Management RATIOS (Section 3.3)

Industry

2012

2011

Average

Asset Management ratios

Inventory Turnover

10.71

10.98

8.1

Days Sales Outstanding…

Works Cited:

MSN Moneycentral (2013) Wal-Mart. Retrieved March 8, 2013 from  http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-price?symbol=wmt 

Wal-Mart 2012 Annual Report. Retrieved March 8, 2013 from  http://www.walmartstores.com/sites/annual-report/2012/WalMart_AR.pdf

Financial Accounting

The question is missing a clause. "…is more conducive to ethical behavior" than what? The word "more" invites comparison but there is nothing to compare the current environment to. Well, the current environment is not much different than any past environment. The regulatory environment does not dictate ethics, as ethics exist distinct from laws. Ethical behavior rests on how society itself defines ethics, and is only loosely related to the regulatory environment. So while there is definitely a tighter regulatory environment at least with the introduction of Sarbanes-Oxley and the PCAOB, these laws do not dictate ethics, just behavior (Lennox & Pittman, 2010). Indeed, an increasingly complex regulatory environment only serves to complicate the issue of individual ethics, and creates confusion among business practitioners between legal/illegal and right/wrong, the two operating entirely different conceptual spheres (Jennings, 2004).

The "business" environment is quite vague -- there are many facets…

References

Erickson, J. (2011). Overlitigating corporate fraud: An empirical examination. Iowa Law Review. Vol 97 (2011) 49-100.

Gerety, M. & Lehn, K. (1997). The causes and consequences of accounting fraud. Managerial and Decision Economics. Vol. 18 (7-8) 587-599.

Jennings, M. (2004). The disconnect between and among legal ethics, business ethics, law and virtue: Learning not to make ethics so complex. St. Thomas Law Journal. Vol 1 (2) 995-1040.

Lennox, C. & Pittman, J. (2010). Big five audits and accounting fraud. Contemporary Accounting Research. Vol. 27 (1) 209-247.

Financial Analysis of Bestwish Limited

Company Overview

Bestwish Limited produces extensive range of quality products such as gift dressing, greetings cards, and plush merchandise of more than 50,000 stocks. The production of different categories of products involve between 2 and 15 processes. The company produces standardized products and custom designed products ordered from customers on contract basis. However, Bestwish Limited is facing challenges to control the costs because of varying production process, reliance on indirect costs and large number of stock keeping units.

Bestwish Limited has just closed the 2010 fiscal year account and the company is finalizing the 2011 budget. Bestwish intends to analyze the 2010 financial statement to present the accurate picture of the company financial performances.

Objective of this report is to analyze 2010 financial statements to assess the viability of Bestwish Limited.

Task

Attn:

Audit Committee of the Board

Finance Director

Subject: Financial statement Analysis

Date:…

References

Drury, C. (2009). Management Accounting for Business, 4th Edition (Cengage Learning EMEA, ) ISBN 1408017717.

Harris, R. And Sollis, R. (2003).Applied Time Series Modelling and Forecasting (John Wiley and Sons) ISBN 0470844434

Glynn, J. Perrin, J. Murphy, M. And Abraham, A. (2003).Accounting for Managers, 3rd Edition.(Thomson Learning) ISBN 186152904X

The Times 100, (2012). Financial statements and reporting A Cadbury Schweppes case study. The Times 100 Business Case Studies.

Financial esource Management

eaching a financial decision regarding heath care services

All forms of industries deemed financial management as expressive in origin till the 1960's. Its basic and sole role was to ensure financing for completing the business's operatives and functions. The department for business planning or marketing would project a net total for meeting the services and meeting daily demands; managers would calculate the assets required to complete a given project needed, equipment's, supplies and building. Financial management is a field which focuses on business securities as well as the markets in which they are in key demand. Also, more emphasis is made on how businesses can tap new markets and unlock their hidden potential. As a result, financial management books were pretty explanatory and predictable in origin during those times. (Sandrick, 2008).

These days, financial management plays a pivotal role in day-to-day operations of a business. The responsibility…

References

Allen, S., and M. Bombardieri. 2008. "A Healthcare System Badly Out of Balance." The Boston Globe, November 16.

Glaeser, E.L. 2004. "The Governance of Not-for-Profit Organizations." The International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law 6 (3).

Halvorson, G.C. 2005. "Healthcare Tipping Points." Healthcare Financial Management (March): 74 -- 80.

Helvin, L.K. 2008. "Caring for the Uninsured: Are Not-for-Profit Hospitals Doing Their Share?" Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics (summer): 421 -- 70.

Financial Analysis

Assumption Use in the Financial Plan

Additional Assumption in Sensitivity Analysis

FIRST TWELVE MONTH CASHFLOW RESULT

HOW MUCH SHOULD NORMAN PAY FOR THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT?

FORECASTED CASHFLOW FOR THE NEXT FIVE-Year

CASH FLOW WITH A LOAN AT 8% PER ANNUM

SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

THE SALES PRICE AND kg SALES GRADUALLY INCREASE AT 5%

THE SALES PRICE PER kg INCREASE AT 10% UT THE UNIT SALES REMAIN AT 5%.

Investment Value Using At Discounted Rate 5%

est Financial Plan and Option

Assumption Use In The Financial Plan

Additional Assumption in Sensitivity Analysis

It is further assumed that price will increase gradually at the rate of 8% per annum and sales will increase at 7% per annum.

For the purpose of analysis, both the sales price and Kg sales will gradually increase at 5%.

Another scenario will be that the sales price per Kg increase at 10% but the unit sales…

Bibliography

Saltelli, A., Ratto, M., Andres, T., Campolongo, F., Cariboni, J., Gatelli, D. Saisana, M., and Tarantola, S., 2008, Global Sensitivity Analysis.The Primer, John Wiley & Sons.

Sensitivity analysis. (2014). Retrieved Janaury30, 2014, from  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitivity_analysis 

Sheet1

€ Exchange Rate $

Over the last few years, the government has exerted more control on the insurance industry by controlling premium rates meaning the industry has become less competitive on pricing. In addition to this, through Obamacare, the government has set requirements for healthcare insurers which have significantly reduced their medical loss ratio Dinan 396.

The second factor that affects the degree of competitiveness of the industry is the number of companies operating in the industry. This has been the major reason for the hundreds of mergers in the industry since this is the major driving factor for changes in market share. The last factor is government-provided health insurance. The government provides insurance plans which create significant competition for the private companies Vanness and olfe 101()

The productivity measures that can be developed are the number of health insurance consumers, average cost of providing medical cover and price of health insurance premiums. The…

Works cited

Austin, D. Andrew, and Thomas L. Hungerford. The Market Structure of the Health Insurance Industry. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2009. Print.

Baughman, Reagan. "Differential Impacts of Public Health Insurance Expansions at the Local Level." International Journal of Health Care Finance and Economics 7.1 (2007): 1-22. Print.

Dinan, John. "Shaping Health Reform: State Government Influence in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." Publius 41.3 (2011): 395-420. Print.

Dossche, Maarten, Freddy Heylen, and Dirk Van den Poel. "The Kinked Demand Curve and Price Rigidity: Evidence from Scanner Data." The Scandinavian Journal of Economics 112.4 (2010): 723-52. Print.

Market Model Changes

The medtech, or medical technology, industry is a large and intensely competitive industry that produces highly innovative medical devices for hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the effort to save lives and improve health for patients (Research, 2012). It is spread across different segments including, cardiology, oncology, neuro, orthopedic, and aesthetic devices. It relies largely on aging baby boomers, high unmet medical needs, and increased incidence of lifestyle diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.

The industry is being challenged by pricing concerns, hospital admissions and procedural volume, uncertainty concerning healthcare reform, Medicare reimbursement issues as agencies are looking for cost reduction measures, and regulatory overhang. There is a rise in patients deferring treatment in elective procedures. "One factor aligning economic and clinical forces: in the U.S., the number of medical practices owned by hospitals grew from 25% in 2005 to 50% in 2008" (practice, 2011).…

Bibliography

Blog, I. (2012, Mar 12). MedTech Industry Stock Outlook. Retrieved from Financial Content: http://markets.financialcontent.com/stocks/news/read/20832505/MedTech-Industry-Stock-Outlook

practice, B.G. (2011, Feb 9). Creating a new commercial model for the changing medtech market. Retrieved from Bain & Company:  http://www.bain.com/publicatgions/articles/creating-a-commercial-model-for-changing-medtech-market.aspx 

Research, Z.E. (2012, June 15). MedTech Industry Stock Outlook-June 2012-Zacks Analyst Interviews. Retrieved from Nasdaq:  http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2012-06/medtech-industry-stock-outlook-june-2012-zachs-analysts-interviews.aspx ?

As noted, the leverage is deliberate, and probably is designed to deliver these ROEs to shareholders.

H&M pays out a large portion of its profits as dividends. Nordstrom's dividend is healthy for an American company, but far less than that of H&M. Nordstrom shareholders must rely on capital gains to a greater extent. Given that both companies are growing, H&M's ability to deliver both growth and dividends is superior for shareholders. These superior outcomes are, not surprisingly, reflected in the share prices of the two firms, with H&M having the better P/E ratio (22.2 versus 15.4).

In addition to the financials, it is important to consider what recent news might affect the viability of working in these firms in the future. There are no major news stories for either company. Essentially, both are still growing firms, with a moderate growth pace. Nordstrom is still focused on the North American market,…

Works Cited:

MSN Moneycentral. (2013). Nordstrom. Retrieved April 20, 2013 from  http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-balance-sheet/?symbol=us%3AJWN&stmtView=Ann 

MSN Moneycentral. (2013). Hennes & Mauritz. Retrieved April 20, 2013 from  http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-income-statement/?symbol=HM 

Edgerton, a. (2012). Thousands celebrate H&M's South Beach debut. Miami Herald. Retrieved April 20, 2013 from http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/08/3087998/thousands-celebrate-hms-south.html