Company Performance Analysis

Company Performance Analysis
Company Performance Analysis

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Company Performance Analysis

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Please read the cases 10 and 12 and answer the following questions

Assignment of case 10

1)  Review the two exhibits for Lowe’s & Home Depot (Exhibit 7 and 8). Examine ratios. See the excel file of case 10.

Prepare ratios for Lowe’s, using data from exhibit #5, which should be identical to those in exhibit 7 modeled by Home Depot. See below:

Fiscal year
19971998199920002001
Working capital (CA-NIBCL*)
Fixed assets
 Total capital
Tax rate
 NOPAT (EBIT*(1-t))
Return on capital (NOPAT/Total capital)
Return on equity (Net earnings/S. Equity)
Gross margin (Gross profit/Sales)
Cash operating expenses/Sales
Depreciation/Sales
Depreciation/P&E
Operating margin (EBIT/Sales)
NOPAT margin (NOPAT/Sales)
Total capital turnover (Sales/Total capital)
P&E turnover (Sales/P&E)
Working capital turnover (Sales/WC)
Receivable turnover (Sales/AR)
Inventory turnover (COGS/M. inventory)
Sales per store ($ millions)
Sales per sq foot ($)
Sales per transaction ($)
Total sales growth
Sales growth for existing stores
Growth in new stores
Growth in sq footage per store
 Total Capital/Equity

Which firm is the better performing one? On what basis do you conclude the better performance?

2) Who deserves the “Management of the Year” award in the retail building-supply industry? Compare based on 2001 firm performance.

  • Conduct DuPont analysis for both two firms and analyze their return sources?ROE=(NI/sale)*(sale/total capital)*(total capital/total equity)

*Prepare a DuPont analysis to evaluate the differences in performance?

  • Why the two firms have the same beta (exhibit 3), but the WACC are different?
    • Compare the two firms return on capital in 2011.
      • According to ROC, which one is better?
      •  Consider their WACC.
    • Which firms stock performs better during 2001? Why?
    • What is the bottom line to measure manager performance? Future or history?

3) How does the Home Depot forecasting model work? Why do we use ratios to forecast financial statements?  Hint: walk through the mechanics of the model, focusing on the 2002 forecast (exhibit 8)?

Company Performance Analysis

Assignment of case 12

  1. What is the current situation?
  2. Why did the company run out of cash? Think of the source and use of cash.
  3. What are the consequences for the company?
  4. what is the effect of running out of cash to the company?
  5. What are Kumar’s alternatives for action? And the effect and feasibility of each possible action:

1: Slower growth:

2: Improving profitability

3: Cutting dividends

4: reduce investment

  • What impact might the below two proposals have on the financial needs of the firm?

a): Proposal from the transportation manager to reduce raw material inventory.

b): Proposal from the operations manager to level production.

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Company Performance Analysis Essay

Ratio analysis for Lowe’s

VALUE LINE PUBLISHING, OCTOBER 2002
Ratio Analysis for Lowes
Fiscal year
19971998199920002001
Working capital (CA-NIBCL*)7721,0121,4601,5392,063
Fixed assets3,1103,7595,3197,2018,816
 Total capital3,8814,7716,7798,73910,879
Tax rate38.9%39.2%39.0%38.8%38.6%
 NOPAT (EBIT*(1-t))3815077158581,104
PROFITABILITY
Return on capital (NOPAT/Total capital)9.8%10.6%10.5%9.8%10.1%
Return on equity (Net earnings/S. Equity)13.7%15.4%14.3%14.7%15.3%
MARGINS
Gross margin (Gross profit/Sales)26.5%26.9%27.5%28.2%28.8%
Cash operating expenses/Sales18.0%17.9%18.0%18.5%18.3%
Depreciation/Sales2.4%2.2%2.1%2.2%2.4%
Depreciation/P&E8.0%7.5%6.5%5.8%6.2%
Operating margin (EBIT/Sales)6.2%6.8%7.4%7.5%8.1%
NOPAT margin (NOPAT/Sales)3.8%4.1%4.5%4.6%5.0%
TURNOVER
Total capital turnover (Sales/Total capital)2.62.62.32.12.0
P&E turnover (Sales/P&E)3.43.43.12.72.6
Working capital turnover (Sales/WC)13.112.110.912.210.7
Receivable turnover (Sales/AR)85.685.1107.5116.6133.5
Inventory turnover (COGS/M. inventory)4.34.34.14.14.4
Sales per store ($ millions)21.323.527.628.929.7
Sales per sq. foot ($)254.3256.2279.1277.1274.0
Sales per transaction ($)43.945.753.254.956.0
GROWTH
Total sales growth20.8%29.9%18.1%17.7%
Sales growth for existing stores10.8%17.3%4.6%2.9%
Growth in new stores9.0%10.8%12.8%14.5%
Growth in sq. footage per store10.0%7.6%5.4%4.0%
LEVERAGE
 Total Capital/Equity1.491.521.441.591.63
*Non-interest-bearing current liabilities

Company Performance Analysis

Which firm is the better performing one? On what basis do you conclude the better performance?

The analysis indicates that Home Depot is performing better than Lowe’s. The basis of this conclusion is a number of performance metrics and ratios from the analysis above. For example, in terms of profitability, Home Depot has a consistently higher return on capital and as well as a return on equity compared to Lowe’s. In terms of margins, Home Depot also had a consistently higher gross margin, operating margin, and NOPAT margin during the period.

In terms of the turnover, Home Depot has a higher turnover result from their capital allocation, P&E, working capital, and inventory. In addition, average of the sales per store, sales per square foot, and sales per transaction is higher for Home Depot than Lowe’s.

In terms of growth, the average is higher in each metric for Home Depot than that of Lowe’s. In each case, the average of the period is higher for Home Depot than Lowe’s. This implies that the growth in total sales, the growth of sales in the existing stores, the growth in new stores, is higher for Home Depot than it is for Lowes during the same period. As such, the various metrics and financial ratios in the analysis above point towards better performance for Home Depot compared to Lowes.

Who deserves the “Management of the Year” award in the retail building-supply industry based on 2001 firm performance?

The DuPont analysis conducted below indicates the return sources for both Home Depot and Lowe’s. The analysis also indicates various differences in the performance between the two companies.

DuPont analysis for Lowe’s
ROE13.7%15.4%14.3%14.7%15.3% 
NP Margin4%4%4%4%5% 
TATO1.941.931.761.651.61 
FLM2.012.021.922.072.06 
DuPont analysis for Home Depot
ROE16.3%18.5%18.8%17.2%16.8%
NP Margin4.8%5.3%6.0%5.6%5.7%
TATO2.152.242.252.142.03
FLM1.581.541.381.431.46

Beta is a financial ratio that measures the level of risk the company has in relation to the market (Bodie, Kane, & Marcus, 2013, pp. 171 – 172). The reason behind the firms’ similar level of risk exposure as indicated by the same measure of beta is due to the fact that both Lowe’s and Home Depot operate in the same segment of the same industry.

As such, they are exposed to the same market forces which direct the same level of market risk in the way of the retail stores in the building-supply industry. In addition, the WACC is different for the firms because they have different levels of leverage, with Lowe’s being higher as shown by the higher FLM ratio as indicated in the analysis above…..

Company Performance Analysis

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DuPont Ratio Analysis Case Study

DuPont Ratio Analysis
DuPont Ratio Analysis

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DuPont Ratio Analysis

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Case Studies in Finance Edition: 7 Authors: Robert F . Bruner, Kenneth Eades, & M ichael Schill ISBN: 9780077861711

Week 4 reading:

In this week, you need to finish the reading of case 8:

  1. Case 8: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

Summary of case 8:

This case considers the sudden and very large drop in the market value of equity for Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc., associated with a series of announcements made in 2004. Those announcements caused investors to revise their expectations about the future growth of Krispy Kreme, which had been one of the most rapidly growing American corporations in the new millennium. Your task is to evaluate the implications of those announcements and to assess the financial health of the company. This case is intended to be introductory: it can provide a first exercise in financial statement analysis and lay the foundation for two important financial themes: the concept of financial health, and the financial-economic definition of value and its determinant

Main skills to develop: DuPont Ratio Analysis:

Please see: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dupontanalysis.asp

Key points in case 8:

  • Growth: Case Exhibit 1,
  • The company showed a net loss in the first quarter of 2005. Growth has occurred in accounts receivables from affiliates and from reacquired franchise rights, the very item that was the focus of the startling revelations in the Wall Street Journal in May 2004, which described the alleged “aggressive accounting treatment,” whereby the company did not amortize the value of these intangible assets.[1] 
  • Liquidity, leverage, and profitability:
  • Peer Comparisons:

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Evaluation Principles of Financial Instruments

Principles of Financial Instruments
Principles of Financial Instruments

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Evaluation Principles of Financial Instruments

Apply evaluation principles of various financial instruments.

Articulate qualitative factors to consider when selecting an investment.

Determine financial ratios to consider when selecting an investment.

Determine non-financial factors to consider when selecting an investment

Library Resources
  • Brigham, E. F., & Houston, J. F. (2016). Fundamentals of financial management (14th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.

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Uneven Cash Flow Stream

Uneven Cash Flow Stream
Uneven Cash Flow Stream

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Uneven Cash Flow Stream

Use the table below to answer the following:

  1. What are the present values of the following cash flow streams if they are compounded at 5 percent annually?
  2. What are the PVs of the streams at 0 percent compounded annually?
 012345
Stream A$0$100$400$400$400$300
Stream B$0$300$400$400$400$100

The concepts of cash-flow instances and cash-flow streams are used to describe the business perspective of a proposal. A cash-flow instance is a specific amount of money flowing into or out of the organization at a specific time as a direct result of some proposal.

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Balance sheet Financial Reporting

Balance sheet Financial Reporting
Balance sheet Financial Reporting

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Balance sheet Financial Reporting

The balance sheet captures the current financial position of the NGO. Net assets should balance with the liabilities and equity since the each of the asset is funded by the resources contributed by members and other sponsors. The statement should provide a snapshot of the assets, liabilities, and net assets as the specified date. Gabel’s statement of financial position gives detailed information about the financial position of the company as indicated by the figures. It has the assets section, the liabilities section, and the equity section.

Each fixed asset should have its book value minus the depreciation to get the current net value. By giving the value of the asset in a different line with its total depreciation value makes the balance sheet untidy and crowded making it hard to analyze (Elizabeth, 2010). The net of the fixed asset is the one used to analyze the current financial position of the organization. It is therefore important to indicate the net of the fixed assets to avoid confusion. Deductions and accruals should just indicate the total amounts instead of individual amounts since the receipts will be attached to the statement to avoid congesting the statement.

Since the company is a non-profit, the balance sheet should only indicate the assets and the liabilities. The assets and liabilities are the values used to indicate the financial position of the organization and not the equity hence the net income and equity are not inclusive.

Also, it is important for the accountants to indicate the previous year’s balance sheet values for comparison purposes. The current values should be shown against the previous year’s or, at least, the past three years to make the analysis of the statement viable. When the values of two periods are shown, it makes it easy for analysts to make comparisons and understand the changes that may have taken place to get the current balance sheet values.

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Income Statement

The statement is used to give information regarding the operating activities of the organization from one date to another. It gives information pertaining the revenues and expenses during a particular time, and it’s useful to forecast future activities. For NGOs, activities are measured as received and used contributions. The statement is divided between temporary, restricted, unrestricted, and permanently restricted activities.

Recorded revenues should be classified into one of the four activities based on the donor’s intent. Expenses should be divided into the program, administrative, and fundraising expenses. Revenues are either in the form of activities, membership dues, program revenues, special event and investment income. By categorizing revenues and expenses in the different classification, it provides for better analysis as well as being in line with the global accounting standards.

Gabel’s statement does not give columns for the different activities under income and expenses. By generalizing the revenues and expenses and indicating their categories randomly makes it hard for analysis and is not in line with the required reporting standards. It is also important that the statement also records prior year values for comparison purposes. Categorizing each activity and expense into the section they fall helps stakeholders identify gaps in the company for improvement.

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Statement of cash flows

Statement of cash flow is used to record the cash inflows and cash outflows over a specified period. The statement is divided into three sections: cash flows from operating activities, cash flows from investing activities, and cash flows from financing activities (Ron, 2013). The total amount from the three sections gives an explanation of how the cash flow from the beginning of the period was converted to the balance at the end of the operating period.

Gabel’s statement should show the net cash for each of the sections and sum up the amounts resulting from same activity instead of detailing each activity. The statement is supposed to provide an overview of the cash flows to make it easy for reporting.

Accrual accounting

NGOs have a stringent requirement of using the accrual method of accounting as per the Generally Accepted Accounting Standards (Elizabeth, 2010). The accrual method records revenues when earned and expenses when they have been incurred. By using the accrual method, an organization can indicate its current financial position in a pronounced manner than the cash accounting method.

As an NGO, it is possible to get donors that offer to donate at a later period and when the amount is recorded, it gives the organization a stronger financial position. If Gabel uses the accrual methods, it can recognize pledges of donations and income when they have been made and record cash when it has been received making the income higher than if it used the cash accounting. Cash accounting only considers income when cash has been paid and expense when the amount has been disbursed making it hard to present the current financial position of the organization.

As long as a transaction is to take place and all the necessary conditions have been met then it should be recorded in the financial statements. With addition of statement of activities to the three financial statements, the company should apply accrual accounting to all its recordings not only to meet the required regulations but also to enable stakeholders have a correct view of the current financial position of the firm.

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Recommendations

1.    Gabel’s Company should increase its campaigns to reach to more people hence increase its chances of donations. Though the company has net profit, it has a lot of activities it requires to attend to and perform using its wide assets base. Through fundraising campaigns, more donors will be attracted to pay and if they are followed up, they may end up increasing the contributions amount hence increasing the net realized income.

2.    Another method the company can use is to increase member’s contributions and subscription fees as well as holding part of dividends to investment in rentals. The amount contributed by members can be added up at a small percentage with respect to individual member’s contribution and set of activity. If each member’s contributions is increased by a small margin, the total amount will subsequently increase helping to cover up for the administrative and other expenses to have a high income at the end of the period.

3.    The company should also dispose of some of its unused assets before they lose their value. The amount generated can then be used to invest in some of its productive investment activities. There is a lot of available assets that may be disposed of to increase the net income. Some of the depreciating assets should be sold and a portion of the land rented out or even sold to raise extra income for the company to facilitate its daily operations.

References

Elizabeth, 2010. How to assess non-profit financial performance. Retrieved from: http://www.nasaa-arts.org/Learning-Services/Past-Meetings/Reading-5-Understanding-Financial-Statements.pdf

Ron, 2013. Cash flow statement for NGOs. Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/purpose-cash-flow-statement-nonprofit-organization-11283.html

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Venture Capital and Private Equity

Venture Capital
Venture Capital

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Venture Capital and Private Equity

Background

One major question that clicks into the mind is how the private equity and venture capital is different. Mere because both are used to refer firms that sell their investment in equity financing after they have invested in an organization. For the matter of facts, there exists a significant difference between these two; first, it is the way the firm performs their duties when involved in the two types of investment.

Secondly, the funds are used to purchase a different sizes and types of companies, and thus, claim a different percentage of equity in their invested companies, Cumming, (2013). In a technical way, Metrick, (2011), defines the term private equity as the money or cash invested in a company that becomes a private company through the investment. At the same time, these scholars state that sometimes, this term is used to refer companies that other firms through leveraged buyouts (LBOs).  On the other hand, VC is an investment in business in the concept, start-up or during the early years of their establishment.

The paper will look into the Skylock Enterprise, which is a company that deals with clothing products. Frankly, speaking this is a fascinating company to be part of since established two years ago. Each and every day there a new opportunity present itself to build the great legacy we dream of. This company has grown into an integrated manufacturer of the highest quality clothes. This company operates one big plant located in the United States, seven outlets that provide retail services to our business.

In total, there are 543 employees for this company and walk home with over $100 million annual revenue, plus other health benefits (notably, the paper will work with US dollar unless otherwise stated). This company has a stellar reputation since its establishment in those two operational years. Its strongest suites being cotton clothes, women’s wear, men’s wear, as well as the children’s clothes.

Despite its good starting, this company is faced with a lot of challenges in the future. Skylock, manager Stanley White sees impending danger as there is a great competition from the large multi-national companies like Nike, Ralph Lauren among others. Great scholars like Ahlers, (2013), competition in most cases theoretically results in lowering the prices of the commodities, hence if this happens it can narrow the marginal revenue of the company.

Thus, this may limit the development and expansion of this great visional company. This makes the manager question whether this company will remain as innovative as it is, or does it need to adopt some changes. Thus, the major question remains, where Skylock Enterprise will focus its effort. 

Due to the market condition in the United States, our company is a price taker, and we need to work on the set market price. In particular, we operate in a free market where no firm or entity has the ability to influence the prices in the market, Dix‐Carneiro, (2013). To succeed, we have to work with the price constraint and at the same time deliver the best quality goods. In fact, quality products always win the customer’s heart. This is in accordance with the factors that affect the demand for a commodity one being the quality (which affect the taste), the price among others Mankiw, (2014).

The Skylock company has excellent structure and one general manager who overlooks all the activities of the enterprise. Figure 1 is a management structure which portrays the general overview of the management team.

Figure 1: Skylock enterprise management structure.

Investment Case

The primary focus of the firm in two years has been in the sales department since it plays an import role in advertising the company’s product. The core aim of this department is to increase the sale by two digit percent. Critical to note, in the two years of operation, the company revenue has risen by 5% and 8.6% consecutively. Thus, we are aiming at increasing this percentage to about 13%, this seems impossible, but through the proper financing of our sales, for appealing the commercial market is more oriented to the direct marketing than mass advertisement Danaher, (2011).

The statistics indicate that the firm used almost the same amount in direct marketing and advertisement. Hence, it will be ideal to adopt the direct marketing. Furthermore, the database used to target our marketing indicates that there has been an increase from 500 to 2500. This database includes suppliers and persons targeted specifically.

Skylock Enterprise also is also planning to produce newsletters and brochures that feature new designs and clothes in the market.  This will be supplied free to opened outlets and any other targeted market, newsletters will also if there is, recent studies carried out by the firm. This will ensure that the customers are in the know what is going on with the company. Involving the company to the progress of an organization creates trustworthy and thus the customers feel more welcomed Mankiw, (2014).

Nevertheless, as compared to the main competitors to our company, we advertise less often. Taking into consideration that most of these firms have been in business for a long time. Thus, we need to advertise more often so that people can know about our existence. The aim is to raise the expenditure by 20% and target some of the new television series, which will quite improve company’s sales. The advertisement will majorly focus on all the brands in our store.

One of the greatest challenges that faces Skylock Enterprise is that it does not have many retail outlets as compared to its competitors. The location of the seven stores is in the main cities in the US. It is vital to operating our own retail shops since most of the larger firms (our competitors) control retailers. This has limited our sales as we solely depend on that seven retail for the entire revenue generation. The risk that the company faces the reputation risk, if it were to be damaged, the customers will become wary of doing business with us.

This will have not only an effect on the losing the customers, but also the revenue, and worst the sponsors and advertisers may turn their back on us. That is the reason we have a technical director that work with research and design team (R&D team) and the quality control department to ensure that all is well. The R&D department, more importantly, needs to be trained well, so as to keep the company with the trending fashions and also the market structure.

A second risk that this company may face is the financial risk. In particular, the cash that is flowing in and out of the organization, and the possibility of sudden financial loss. Our firm extends credit to some of the largest clients, hence, if they fail to pay on time or fails totally, then we are prone to incur a significant financial risk. To reduce the risk, the firm intends to operate at minimum credit services, and if it happens, it will be extended only to the few trustworthy customers, and it will only be a short-term credit. This is as suggested by the great economics scholars like Horcher, (2011).

Value Enhancement

As stated earlier, there are some of the strategies that the company is planning to undertake so as to improve the business performance, especially increasing sales volume. The firm first has prioritized the strategies and noted the objectives of each plan. First is the direct marketing strategy, which aims at increasing the sales, exploring the market and at the same time take the commodities to customers at their convenience places. Danaher, (2011) stipulates that direct marketing is convenient and also increases sales, especially when the products are unique and of high quality.

In fact, this is as a result of the impromptu purchase of the customers. The key measure that will be used to evaluate the success of this strategy is the use of consumption metrics. This is one of the many methods used to measure the content market success Parmenter, (2015). Importantly, they help in understanding the consumption behavior of customers to a particular piece of content. Thus, this will help Skylock to understand which design has high demand. The set strategy primary mandate is to increase sales by 10 percent.

The second strategy that Skylock will take to improve returns is increasing the number of retail outlets in different parts of US cities. This will be a way of ensuring that we expand the channels through which we reach our esteem customers. Furthermore, it is a method of increasing our market (through geographical coverage).  This will increase the sales by about 50-77 percent.

The key performance indicator that will be employed to evaluate the success of this strategy is through data collection and analysis. As stipulated, the core purpose of data analysis is to understand their meaning, so as the firm can understand where the improvement opportunity lies Parmenter, (2015). Analysis will encompass all the sales made through all the Skylock’s retail outlets so as to determine whether the objectives have been fully met.

It is vital to note, before adopting any strategy, the firm will evaluate and decide the frequency at which they will collect relevant data on the achievement of the plan. At the start, the first step will be to assess the market effectiveness, which will be done weekly, and then can go to monthly to reduce the evaluation cost and so on. This is important since it also ensures that the marketing goals are set, KPIs are defined, and people to collect and analyze data are determined.

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Management Structure and Incentive Scheme

The incentive scheme in the firm will be (a must) transparent, for all the staff members understand all the mechanism involved in the calculation. Simply because, a well-designed scheme has a powerful and positive effect, increasing the productivity, quality, and importantly efficacy of an institution Brealey, (2012). Conversely, a poorly designed staff incentive scheme will have a detrimental effect on the overall company performance.

Thus, the main objectives of this scheme will be achieved, which is increasing performance level, change the attitude and/or change the behavior of the staffs. Key to note, the introduction of incentive program results in an increase in revenue as well as boost the company’s reputation (which is one of our risks).

Staff incentive is paramount for the development of an institution and at the same time exciting. Some of the most benefiting parties of this strategy are the shareholders (owners), clients, employees as well as the creditors Brealey, (2012). To start with the owners, this includes even the Venture Capital and Private Equity investors, since the firm’s performance increases drastically through these measures. This aligns with the objectives of the owner, that is, to improve the achievement to a certain degree, and also reducing the standard financial performance. In other words, reducing the financial risks.

In addition, incentives should be directed to the management team of the institution. This is because the success of this organization and its reputation entirely depend on the managers. In other words, they have been delegated the duties of ensuring the firm’s objectives are met. Sometimes, this separation of management and ownership can be problematic as owners may lack means to make the managers perform their best to achieve the firm’s goals.

Further, the managers give the employees some duties, and they are supposed to make a decision and take actions. Thus, it is vital to ensure that incentives are designed in a way that even employees execute their duties are the top management will want.

The incentive scheme will motivate the whole team to work on achieving the organization’s goal. This will, on the other hand, increase the revenue return which in turn increases the cash the stakeholders receive for their capital contribution. To sum all up, the best strategic plans that Skylock Enterprise can adopt for their success have been well illustrated. This will make them more competitive, build a high reputation, and more importantly, increase their revenue, of which it is the core principle of establishing a business.

References

Ahlers, R., Schwartz, K. and Guida, V.P., 2013. The myth of ‘healthy’competition in the water sector: the case of small scale water providers. Habitat international, 38, pp.175-182.

Brealey, R.A., Myers, S.C., Allen, F. and Mohanty, P., 2012. Principles of corporate finance. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Cumming, D.J. and Johan, S.A., 2013. Venture capital and private equity contracting: An international perspective. Academic Press.

Danaher, P.J. and Rossiter, J.R., 2011. Comparing perceptions of marketing communication channels. European Journal of Marketing, 45(1/2), pp.6-42.

Dix‐Carneiro, R., 2014. Trade liberalization and labor market dynamics. Econometrica, 82(3), pp.825-885.

Horcher, K.A., 2011. Essentials of financial risk management (Vol. 32). John Wiley & Sons.

Mankiw, N. G. R. E. G. O. R. Y. (2014). Principles of macroeconomics. Cengage Learning.

Metrick, A. and Yasuda, A., 2011. Venture capital and other private equity: a survey. European Financial Management, 17(4), pp.619-654.

Parmenter, D., 2015. Key performance indicators: developing, implementing, and using winning KPIs. John Wiley & Sons.

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Budget: Financial Plan

Budget: Financial Plan
Budget: Financial Plan

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Budget: Financial Plan

Introduction

A budget is a quantitative financial plan for a specified period of time. The financial plan includes sales volumes, expenses, resource quantities, liabilities, assets and cash flows.  The budget provides the details for strategic management (O’Hoyt, 2014).  Budgets assist in financial planning of the actual business or production of certain products (Williams, Haka, Bettner & Carcello, 2008) Budgets also coordinate different organizational activities and also control resources, provide transparency and accountability (Bragg, 2010).

Budgets are also used to forecast the requirement of future financial needs of the company. The financial performance of a company can also be analyzed by comparing the actual budget from the standard. The variance analysis provides the management with enough information to reorganize its operations and also to investigate any losses that may not have been anticipated (Bragg, 2010).

  1. Cash budget on a monthly basis for six months ending June 30th 2016
Sharp 6 Months Cash Budget Ending June 2016
DetailsJanFebMarAprMayJune
Sales247500262500277500277500360000360000
Wages ( 6 employees)783078307830783078307830
Jones Salary (Director)560056005600560056005600
Purchases256500222300199500222300256500273600
Other Expenses106053005300530053004240
Loan Repayments325032503250784478447844
Total Expenses274240244280221480248874283074299114
Net Income-267401822056020286267692660886
Balance B/fwd7844-18896-6765534483970160896
balance C/Fwd-18896-6765534483970160896221782

The net income is a loss of 26,740 in January 2016 while the balance brought forward for the same period reduces the amount carried forward to a loss of 18896. The highest sales are expected in the months of May and June. The total purchases as a percentage of sales adds up to 80.2% of the total sales. The director’s salary is 2% of the total sales. Loan repayments total to 1.86% of the total sales.

The total expenses are estimated to 88% of the total sales (Garrison, Noreen & Brewer, 2009). That means that the Net income expected is just about 12%. The financial performance trends for the budget are shown on the table below. In February 2016 the total sales would grow by 6.06% whereas in March the same year the total sales would grow by 5.71%. There sales growth would be zero in the months of April and June.

But in May 2016 the sales would grow by 29.73%. The expected cost of purchases is also expected to in February and March by 13.33 and 10.26%. For the remaining months the cost of purchases would increase by 11.43%, 15.38% and 6.67% for the months of April, May and June (Aranya, 1990).

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Sharp 6 Months Cash Budget Ending June 2016 Trend Analysis (%)
DetailsJanFebMarAprMayJune
Sales 6.065.710.0029.730.00
Wages ( 6 employees) 0.000.000.000.000.00
Jones Salary (Director) 0.000.000.000.000.00
Purchases -13.33-10.2611.4315.386.67
Other Expenses 400.000.000.000.00-20.00
Loan Repayments 0.000.00141.350.000.00
Total Expenses -10.92-9.3312.3713.745.67
Net Balance -168.14207.46-48.90168.73-20.85
Balance B/fwd -340.90-96.42-8286.9851.7291.61
balance C/Fwd -96.42-8286.9851.7291.6137.84
  • Cash budget for six months ending June 30th 2016 with 15% sales reduction in final three months

When the total budget is adjusted downwards by 15% of the total sales for the last three months as forecasted below;

The sales would decrease from 277500 to 235875 in April while in May and June the sales would decrease from 360,000 for both May and June to 306000 for both months. These reductions would result in reduction of net income with approximately the same percentage.

The total net income for April would be a loss of 12,999 from the initial amount of 28626 before the 15% reduction. In May and June it would amount to 76926 and 60886 compared to the net amount after the 15% reduction which amounted to 22926 and 6886 (Garrison, Noreen & Brewer, 2009).

Sharp 6 Months Cash Budget Ending June 2016
DetailsJanFebMarAprMayJune
Sales247500262500277500235875306000306000
Wages ( 6 employees)783078307830783078307830
Jones Salary (Director)560056005600560056005600
Purchases256500222300199500222300256500273600
Other Expenses106053005300530053004240
Loan Repayments325032503250784478447844
Total Expenses274240244280221480248874283074299114
Net Balance-267401822056020-12999229266886
Balance B/fwd7844-18896-676553444234565271
balance C/Fwd-18896-67655344423456527172157

When the sales are reduced by 15%, the total sales in May and June would decrease from 360,000 to 306,000 for both months (Hermanson, Edwards, & Invacevich, 2011). The most notable trend is that the total amounts that would be carried forward would register a higher margin of growth when the sales are decreased by 15% (Anderson and Sedatole, 2013).

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Sales Reduced By 15%   
Sharp 6 Months Cash Budget Ending June 2016 Trend Analysis 
DetailsJanFebMarAprMayJune 
Sales6.065.71-15.0029.730.00 
Wages ( 6 employees)0.000.000.000.000.00 
Jones Salary (Director)0.000.000.000.000.00 
Purchases-13.33-10.2611.4315.386.67 
Other Expenses400.000.000.000.00-20.00 
Loan Repayments0.000.00141.350.000.00 
Total Expenses-10.92-9.3312.3713.745.67 
Net Income-168.14207.46-123.20-276.37-69.96 
Balance B/fwd-340.90-96.42-8286.98-23.4954.14 
balance C/Fwd-96.42-8286.98-23.4954.1410.55 

The recommendation to the management is that the forecasted budget presents a profitable future for the company and should be implemented as all the purchases and all other expenses would have been paid off by the second month even when the sales are reduced by 15%. However, the cost of sales is very high and should be reduced (White, Sondhi and Fried, 1997). The net income margin of 12% is too small.

When the sales are reduced by 15%, the purchases would increase by 11.43% in April while in May and June purchases would also decrease by 15.38% and 6.67% respectively. Total expenses however would increase by 12.37% in April and 13.74% in May while in June total expenses amounted to 5.67%.

The net income would reduce by 12.2 percent in April while in May and June the Net income would reduce by 278.37% and 69.96% compared to the increase in initial Net Income of 168.73% and a reduction of 20.85% in May and June respectively. The increment of 10.55% after a reduction of 15% compares relatively to the initial increment of 37.84% on the total balance carried forward (White, Sondhi and Fried, 1997).

Sharp 6 Months Cash Budget Ending June 2016
DetailsJanFebMarAprMayJuneTotals% of Sales
Sales2475002625002775002775003600003600001785000 
Wages ( 6 employees)783078307830783078307830469802.63193277
Jones Salary (Director)560056005600560056005600336001.88235294
Purchases256500222300199500222300256500273600143070080.1512605
Other Expenses106053005300530053004240265001.48459384
Loan Repayments325032503250784478447844332821.86453782
Total Expenses274240244280221480248874283074299114157106288.0146779
Net Balance-26740182205602028626769266088621393812 
Balance B/fwd7844-18896-6765534483970160896288482 
balance C/Fwd-18896-6765534483970160896221782502420 

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  • Conclusions and recommendations

To conclude, the growth in total sales would continue to increase throughout the rest of the year as predicted by the trend hence the future of the business is very bright. The company should continue and implement the budget as planned. The total sales amounted to 2.6% of the budgeted sales while purchases were the highest expenses and it amounted to 80.2% of the total sales.

Loan repayments amounted to 1.9% of the sales. The company would remain profitable as long its operational costs don’t exceed the 80.2% range. The reduction in sales by 15% would result in a reduction of 69.96% in net income (Allaboutbudgets, 2015).

References

Anderson, SW & Sedatole, KL 2013. ‘Evidence on the cost hierarchy: The association between resource consumption and production activities’. Journal of Management Accounting Research (25): 119-141.

Aranya, N 1990. ‘Budget instrumentality, participation and organizational effectiveness’, Journal of Management Accounting Research (2): 67-77.

Allaboutbudgets (2015) Forecasting Revenues retrieved April 2016 from http://allaboutbudgets.com/2015/12/09/forecasting-revenues/

Bragg, S 2010. What Are The Advantages Of Budgeting, Accounting tool. Retrieved from <http://www.accountingtools.com/questions-and-answers/what-are-the-advantages-of-budgeting.html > (3 March 2016).

Garrison, R, Noreen, W & Brewer, P 2009. Managerial Accounting. McGraw-Hill Irwin New York.

Hermanson, RH, Edwards, JD  & Invacevich, SD  2011. Accounting Principles: A Business Perspective. First Global Text Edition, Volume 2 Managerial Accounting, 37-73. McGraw Hill. Boston.

O’Hoyt, B 2014. The Disadvantages Of Budgeting, Retrieved from http://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/blog/10951056/the-disadvantages-of-budgeting. (2 March 2016).

White, G, Sondhi, A. & Fried, D 1997. The Analysis and Use of financial statements, Wiley Press. New York. Williams, JR,  Haka, SF,  Bettner, MS. & Carcello, JV  2008. Financial & Managerial Accounting, McGraw-Hill Irwin. Boston

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Financial Position Reporting: Balance Sheet

Financial Position Reporting
Financial Position Reporting

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Financial Position Reporting

Balance sheet

The balance sheet captures the current financial position of the NGO. Net assets should balance with the liabilities and equity since the each of the asset is funded by the resources contributed by members and other sponsors. The statement should provide a snapshot of the assets, liabilities, and net assets as the specified date. Gabel’s statement of financial position gives detailed information about the financial position of the company as indicated by the figures. It has the assets section, the liabilities section, and the equity section.

Each fixed asset should have its book value minus the depreciation to get the current net value. By giving the value of the asset in a different line with its total depreciation value makes the balance sheet untidy and crowded making it hard to analyze (Elizabeth, 2010). The net of the fixed asset is the one used to analyze the current financial position of the organization. It is therefore important to indicate the net of the fixed assets to avoid confusion. Deductions and accruals should just indicate the total amounts instead of individual amounts since the receipts will be attached to the statement to avoid congesting the statement.

Since the company is a non-profit, the balance sheet should only indicate the assets and the liabilities. The assets and liabilities are the values used to indicate the financial position of the organization and not the equity hence the net income and equity are not inclusive.

Also, it is important for the accountants to indicate the previous year’s balance sheet values for comparison purposes. The current values should be shown against the previous year’s or, at least, the past three years to make the analysis of the statement viable. When the values of two periods are shown,  it makes it easy for analysts to make comparisons and understand the changes that may have taken place to get the current balance sheet values.

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Income Statement

The statement is used to give information regarding the operating activities of the organization from one date to another. It gives information pertaining the revenues and expenses during a particular time, and it’s useful to forecast future activities. For NGOs, activities are measured as received and used contributions. The statement is divided between temporary, restricted, unrestricted, and permanently restricted activities.

Recorded revenues should be classified into one of the four activities based on the donor’s intent. Expenses should be divided into the program, administrative, and fundraising expenses. Revenues are either in the form of activities, membership dues, program revenues, special event and investment income. By categorizing revenues and expenses in the different classification, it provides for better analysis as well as being in line with the global accounting standards.

Gabel’s statement does not give columns for the different activities under income and expenses. By generalizing the revenues and expenses and indicating their categories randomly makes it hard for analysis and is not in line with the required reporting standards. It is also important that the statement also records prior year values for comparison purposes. Categorizing each activity and expense into the section they fall helps stakeholders identify gaps in the company for improvement.

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Statement of cash flows

Statement of cash flow is used to record the cash inflows and cash outflows over a specified period. The statement is divided into three sections: cash flows from operating activities, cash flows from investing activities, and cash flows from financing activities (Ron, 2013). The total amount from the three sections gives an explanation of how the cash flow from the beginning of the period was converted to the balance at the end of the operating period.

Gabel’s statement should show the net cash for each of the sections and sum up the amounts resulting from same activity instead of detailing each activity. The statement is supposed to provide an overview of the cash flows to make it easy for reporting.

Accrual accounting

NGOs have a stringent requirement of using the accrual method of accounting as per the Generally Accepted Accounting Standards (Elizabeth, 2010). The accrual method records revenues when earned and expenses when they have been incurred. By using the accrual method, an organization can indicate its current financial position in a pronounced manner than the cash accounting method.

As an NGO, it is possible to get donors that offer to donate at a later period and when the amount is recorded, it gives the organization a stronger financial position. If Gabel uses the accrual methods, it can recognize pledges of donations and income when they have been made and record cash when it has been received making the income higher than if it used the cash accounting. Cash accounting only considers income when cash has been paid and expense when the amount has been disbursed making it hard to present the current financial position of the organization.

As long as a transaction is to take place and all the necessary conditions have been met then it should be recorded in the financial statements. With addition of statement of activities to the three financial statements, the company should apply accrual accounting to all its recordings not only to meet the required regulations but also to enable stakeholders have a correct view of the current financial position of the firm.

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Recommendations

1.    Gabel’s Company should increase its campaigns to reach to more people hence increase its chances of donations. Though the company has net profit, it has a lot of activities it requires to attend to and perform using its wide assets base. Through fundraising campaigns, more donors will be attracted to pay and if they are followed up, they may end up increasing the contributions amount hence increasing the net realized income.

2.    Another method the company can use is to increase member’s contributions and subscription fees as well as holding part of dividends to investment in rentals. The amount contributed by members can be added up at a small percentage with respect to individual member’s contribution and set of activity. If each member’s contributions is increased by a small margin, the total amount will subsequently increase helping to cover up for the administrative and other expenses to have a high income at the end of the period.

3.    The company should also dispose of some of its unused assets before they lose their value. The amount generated can then be used to invest in some of its productive investment activities. There is a lot of available assets that may be disposed of to increase the net income. Some of the depreciating assets should be sold and a portion of the land rented out or even sold to raise extra income for the company to facilitate its daily operations.

References

Elizabeth, 2010. How to assess non-profit financial performance. Retrieved from:  http://www.nasaa-arts.org/Learning-Services/Past-Meetings/Reading-5-Understanding-Financial-Statements.pdf

Ron, 2013. Cash flow statement for NGOs. Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/purpose-cash-flow-statement-nonprofit-organization-11283.html

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Assessing the Financial Health of a Company

Financial Health of a Company
Financial Health of a Company

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Financial health of a company

1. Depending on your review of the financial statements, suggest a fundamental insight about the financial health of the company. Speculate on the likely reaction to the financial statements from various stakeholder groups (employee, investors, shareholders). Provide support for your rationale

Universal Health Services is a publicly traded company and know for operating acute care hospitals, surgical and behavioral health centers. The firm also operates in ambulatory surgery as well as radiation centers. The company is recognized as the largest hospital management in the United States having more than 240 acute care hospitals and employing more than 74,000 workers (UHS, 2016).

Based in Pennsylvania, the firm is known to register billions in earnings enabling it to be classified as a top performer. This has also allowed the company to create franchises in rapidly-growing markets. However, the efforts are owed to its management which works on the principle of integrity to effectively be competent and compassionate. As such, most of its revenues are gotten from its various departments with acute care hospitals bringing in 73% of income (UHS, 2016).

Nonetheless, it is believed that behavioral health services bring in more than hospitals due to the high occupancy rate. In other words, it could be said that the behavioral centers bring in the highest amount of revenue than hospitals. The fact that the health management is large in size, there are bound to be numerous accounting concepts.

Since the financial statement is helpful in monitoring the financial health of a company, integrity should be applied. Accurate financial information gives the position of the firm in the market. According to the recorded UHS’S financials, the company’s revenue have been increasing.

Nonetheless, the business should make correct entries on the financial statements especially when recognizing income and expenses. Therefore, it could be said that the financial health of the company is stable but may be complicated with the numerous acquisitions. However, the higher returns on investments have been attracting investors.  

Current Industry Trends

There is no doubt that firms get into business in a bid to make money rather than meeting the full needs of the market. This is no different from the health care industry where the industry players are focusing on financial aspects instead of providing quality care to their patients (UHS, 2016). More so, what is taught in schools also involve economic aspects as part of its curriculum.

What people fail to apprehend is that quality care attracts more people and eventually increasing the amount of revenues. At the same time, having more patients and clients raises the spending of resources raising the overall costs (Kaplan & Witkowski, 2014). Besides, hospitals are turning to technology, and this also increases the overall costs and stakeholders are not left behind (Jena & Philipson, 2013). 

In fact, they are behind every planning, developing, and implementation of hospital projects. Therefore, the trend that hospitals are now following is not new but something that is rapidly gaining acclamation in the industry. Additionally, the future health direction the industry players are taking is gaining momentum (Gengler, 2011). All in all, what is more, important is that lack of quality care in hospitals affects the firm’s financial performance.

Sadly developing sound business practices does not stick with the industry players. Gambling with people’s health in a bid to reduce hospital costs is undesirable and a recipe for disaster. It is, therefore, essential for hospitals and health care providers to practice good business ethics that entails focusing on providing quality care to patients.

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3. As the CFO, suggest one (1) basic strategy that you might use in order to improve the financial performance of the organization. Recommend an approach to implementing the proposed plan. Provide support for your recommendation.

For the above reasons, it is my responsibility as the CFO to ensure that individual and organizational goals are aligned. In turn, this translates to increased revenues since both employees and the employers would be satisfied. Better still, there would be increased customer loyalty and brand image. It is crucial to note that stimulating individual motives will lead to greater motivation and will to work efficiently.

This, therefore, means that core values have to be instilled as a culture that appreciates everyone’s efforts is cultivated (Baker & Baker, 2013). This is so because formal business policies will integrate both individual and organizational goals towards one direction. Still, group objectives should be recognized as essential for success and continuity of business growth. In turn, the organization’s missions and vision will be met entirely as the strategies would be linked to the goals.

In essence, if personal objectives would be fulfilled, group goals would be easy to attain. For instance, if UHS decides to align its overall goal of increasing revenue with individual needs of providing quality care, there would be smooth operations. As such, the strategy is found to be useful in all types of organizations. While little is being done on performance, the critical focus is lost. In our case, the focus should be on creating a balance between providing good quality health care and make more revenues at the same time.

In as much, as it is a medical institution, it operates as a business and requires funding as other firms do. However, even though there is no harm in wanting more money, it should be made clear that patient health outcomes matter. In supporting this performance program, the health care provider should ensure they include customer and business profitability is achieved through proper alignment of goals and strategies. As a result, there will be reduced costs, increased efficiency, and increased income levels.

References

Baker, J. J., & Baker, R. W. (2013). Health care finance. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=yfuBAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Baker,+J.+J.,+%26+Baker,+R.+W.+(2013).+Health+care+finance.+Jones+%26+Bartlett+Publishers.&ots=Jeyce1VgVc&sig=ZHe-D_48p6mJ4JmRSbBGEDEAyNg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Gengler, A. (2011). The future of your health care. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com

Jena, A. B., & Philipson, T. J. (2013). Endogenous cost-effectiveness analysis and health care technology adoption. Journal of health economics, 32(1), 172-180. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629612001555

Kaplan, R. S., & Witkowski, M. L. (2014). Better accounting transforms health care delivery. Accounting Horizons, 28(2), 365-383. Retrieved from http://www.aaajournals.org/doi/abs/10.2308/acch-50658

UHS, (2016). 2014 Annual Report- Universal Health Services. UHS. Retrieved from http://www.uhsinc.com/media/288196/2014-annual-report.pdf

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