A273中-金融學Finance             JCW, 2009/04/24.版權所有.

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(1). "未來世界的政治主張" 原稿，請看：https://city.udn.com/61613/forum  世聯WodFed城市

(2). "未來世界的政治主張" 整理後稿件，請看：http://blog.udn.com/jcwang00/article  世聯城的部落格

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此處要學習的是金融(或財政Finance)。維基百科對之有中文和英文兩個版本，內容並不全同，而且，照例，中文版極簡短；這兩個版本無從合併在一起以利互相對照。

(續前)

Cash budget - Working capital requirements of a business should be monitored at all times to ensure that there are sufficient funds available to meet short-term expenses.

        The cash budget is basically a detailed plan that shows all expected sources and uses of cash. The cash budget has the following six main sections:

  Beginning Cash Balance - contains the last period's closing cash balance.

  Cash collections - includes all expected cash receipts (all sources of cash for the period considered, mainly sales)

  Cash disbursements - lists all planned cash outflows for the period, excluding interest payments on short-term loans, which appear in the financing section. All expenses that do not affect cash flow are excluded from this list (e.g. depreciation, amortisation, etc)

  Cash excess or deficiency - a function of the cash needs and cash available. Cash needs are determined by the total cash disbursements plus the minimum cash balance required by company policy. If total cash available is less than cash needs, a deficiency exists.

  Financing - discloses the planned borrowings and repayments, including interest.

  Ending Cash balance - simply reveals the planned ending cash balance.

Management of current assets

Credit policy - Credit gives the customer the opportunity to buy goods and services, and pay for them at a later date.

Advantages of credit trade： 

  Usually results in more customers than cash trade.

  Can charge more for goods to cover the risk of bad debt.

  Gain goodwill and loyalty of customers.

  People can buy goods and pay for them at a later date.

  Farmers can buy seeds and implements, and pay for them only after the harvest.

  Stimulates agricultural and industrial production and commerce.

  Can be used as a promotional tool.

  Increase the sales.

  Modest rates to be filled.

Disadvantages of credit trade：

  Risk of bad debt.

  High administration expenses.

  People can buy more than they can afford.

  More working capital needed.

  Risk of Bankruptcy.

Forms of credit：

  Suppliers credit:

  Credit on ordinary open account

  Installment sales

  Bills of exchange

  Credit cards

  Contractor's credit

  Factoring of debtors

  Cash credit

Factors which influence credit conditions：

  Nature of the business's activities

  Financial position

  Product durability

  Length of production process

  Competition and competitors' credit conditions

  Country's economic position

  Conditions at financial institutions

  Discount for early payment

  Debtor's type of business and financial positions

Credit collection：

  Overdue accounts

  Attach a notice of overdue account to statement.

  Send a letter asking for settlement of debt.

  Send a second or third letter if first is ineffectual.

  Threaten legal action.

Effective credit control：

  Increases sales

  Reduces bad debts

  Increases profits

  Builds customer loyalty

  Builds confidence of financial industry

  Increase company capitlisation

Sources of information on creditworthiness

  Business references

  Bank references

Credit agencies

  Chambers of commerce

  Employers

Credit application forms

  Duties of the credit department

  Legal action

  Taking necessary steps to ensure settlement of account

  Knowing the credit policy and procedures for credit control

  Setting credit limits

  Ensuring that statements of account are sent out

  Ensuring that thorough checks are carried out on credit customers

  Keeping records of all amounts owing

  Ensuring that debts are settled promptly

  Timely reporting to the upper level of management for better management.

Stock - Purpose of stock control

  Ensures that enough stock is on hand to satisfy demand.

  Protects and monitors theft.

  Safeguards against having to stockpile.

  Allows for control over selling and cost price.

  Stockpiling

Main article: Cornering the market - This refers to the purchase of stock at the right time, at the right price and in the right quantities.

There are several advantages to the stockpiling, the following are some of the examples:

  Losses due to price fluctuations and stock loss kept to a minimum

  Ensures that goods reach customers timeously; better service

  Saves space and storage cost

  Investment of working capital kept to minimum

  No loss in production due to delays

There are several disadvantages to the stockpiling, the following are some of the examples:

  Obsolescence

  Danger of fire and theft

  Initial working capital investment is very large

  Losses due to price fluctuation

Rate of stock turnover - This refers to the number of times per year that the average level of stock is sold. It may be worked out by dividing the cost price of goods sold by the cost price of the average stock level.

Determining optimum stock levels

Maximum stock level refers to the maximum stock level that may be maintained to ensure cost effectiveness.

Minimum stock level refers to the point below which the stock level may not go.

Standard order refers to the amount of stock generally ordered.

Order level refers to the stock level which calls for an order to be made.

Cash

Reasons for keeping cash

  Cash is usually referred to as the "king" in finance, as it is the most liquid asset.

  The transaction motive refers to the money kept available to pay expenses.

  The precautionary motive refers to the money kept aside for unforeseen expenses.

  The speculative motive refers to the money kept aside to take advantage of suddenly arising opportunities.

Advantages of sufficient cash

  Current liabilties may be catered for.

  Cash discounts are given for cash payments.

  Production is kept moving

  Surplus cash may be invested on a short-term basis.

  The business is able to pay its accounts timeously, allowing for easily-obtained credit.

  Liquidity

Management of fixed assets

Depreciation - Depreciation is the decrease in the value of an asset due to wear and tear or obsolescence. It is calculated yearly to enforce the matching principle.

Main article: Insurance - Insurance is the undertaking of one party to indemnify another, in exchange for a premium, against a certain eventuality.

Uninsured risks

  Bad debt

  Changes in fashion

  Time lapses between ordering and delivery

  New machinery or technology

  Different prices at different places

Requirements of an insurance contract

  Insurable interest

  The insured must derive a real financial gain from that which he is insuring, or stand to lose if it is destroyed or lost.

  The item must belong to the insured.

  One person may take out insurance on the life of another if the second party owes the first money.

  Must be some person or item which can, legally, be insured.

  The insured must have a legal claim to that which he is insuring.

Good faith - Uberrimae fidei refers to absolute honesty and must characterise the dealings of both the insurer and the insured.

Shared Services - There is currently a move towards converging and consolidating Finance provisions into shared services within an organization. Rather than an organization having a number of separate Finance departments performing the same tasks from different locations a more centralized version can be created.

Main article: Finance of states, Public finance - Country, state, county, city or municipality finance is called public finance. It is concerned with

  Identification of required expenditure of a public sector entity

  Source(s) of that entity's revenue

  The budgeting process

  Debt issuance (municipal bonds) for public works projects

Main article: Financial economics - Financial economics is the branch of economics studying the interrelation of financial variables, such as prices, interest rates and shares, as opposed to those concerning the real economy. Financial economics concentrates on influences of real economic variables on financial ones, in contrast to pure finance. It studies:

  Valuation - Determination of the fair value of an asset

  How risky is the asset? (identification of the asset appropriate discount rate)

  What cash flows will it produce? (discounting of relevant cash flows)

  How does the market price compare to similar assets? (relative valuation)

  Are the cash flows dependent on some other asset or event? (derivatives, contingent claim valuation)

Financial markets and instruments

  Commodities - topics

  Stocks - topics

  Bonds - topics

  Money market instruments- topics

  Derivatives - topics

Financial institutions and regulation

Financial Econometrics is the branch of Financial Economics that uses econometric techniques to parameterise the relationships.

Main article: Financial mathematics - Financial mathematics is a main branch of applied mathematics concerned with the financial markets. Financial mathematics is the study of financial data with the tools of mathematics, mainly statistics. Such data can be movements of securities—stocks and bonds etc.—and their relations. Another large subfield is insurance mathematics.

Main article: Experimental finance - Experimental finance aims to establish different market settings and environments to observe experimentally and provide a lens through which science can analyze agents' behavior and the resulting characteristics of trading flows, information diffusion and aggregation, price setting mechanisms, and returns processes. Researchers in experimental finance can study to what extent existing financial economics theory makes valid predictions, and attempt to discover new principles on which such theory can be extended. Research may proceed by conducting trading simulations or by establishing and studying the behaviour of people in artificial competitive market-like settings.

Main article: Behavioral finance - Behavioral Finance studies how the psychology of investors or managers affects financial decisions and markets. Behavioral finance has grown over the last few decades to become central to finance.

Behavioral finance includes such topics as:

  Empirical studies that demonstrate significant deviations from classical theories.

  Models of how psychology affects trading and prices

  Forecasting based on these methods.

  Studies of experimental asset markets and use of models to forecast experiments.

A strand of behavioral finance has been dubbed Quantitative Behavioral Finance, which uses mathematical and statistical methodology to understand behavioral biases in conjunction with valuation. Some of this endeavor has been lead by Gunduz Caginalp (Professor of Mathematics and Editor of Journal of Behavioral Finance during 2001-2004) and collaborators including Vernon Smith (2002 Nobel Laureate in Economics), David Porter, Don Balenovich, Vladimira Ilieva, Ahmet Duran, Huseyin Merdan). Studies by Jeff Madura, Ray Sturm and others have demonstrated significant behavioral effects in stocks and exchange traded funds. Among other topics, quantitative behavioral finance studies behavioral effects together with the non-classical assumption of the finiteness of assets.

Main article: Intangible asset finance - Intangible asset finance is the area of finance that deals with intangible assets such as patents, trademarks, goodwill, reputation, etc.

Related professional qualifications - There are several related professional qualifications in finance, that can lead to the field:

(1).  Accountancy:

1a). Qualified accountant: Chartered Accountant (ACA - UK certification / CA - certification in Commonwealth countries), Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA, UK certification), Certified Public Accountant (CPA, US certification)

1b). Non-statutory qualifications: Chartered Cost Accountant CCA Designation from AAFM

Business qualifications: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Bachelor of Business Management (BBM), Master of Commerce (M.Comm), Master of Science in Management (MSM), Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

(2). Generalist Finance qualifications:      === 待續 ===