Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 5

Corporate finance - Essay Example However, the board decided to acquire Forthnet in Greece on the premise that overseas buy-out will result in higher revenues in the long run. Regrettably, the acquisition of Forthnet was proved to be disastrous for Go Plc, and this demonstrates that how holding excessive cash could destabilise an earlier profit-making company. The choice by Go Plc to go for acquisition instead of paying out the excess cash to shareholders by way dividend has been exceptionally disadvantageous as corroborated by constant fall in its share price and the erosion of shareholder value immediately after the acquisition. The optimum level of cash balances that a company can have is the cash balances to meet their expenses, interest and capital expenditures and some level of cash balances to meet any extraordinary scenarios. Anything more than that will be regarded as too much cash reserves held by a company. The quick ratio and the current ratio will help to understand whether a company is having adequate cash reserves to cater their real time cash needs. Naturally, investors get worried about companies that hold â€Å"too much† cash because huge cash balances minimise the shareholder’s value as they offer lesser returns on their capital. The main contention of the David Einhorn, who is the manager of Greenlight Hedge Fund who successfully obtained an injection from the court against Apple Inc to declare dividend from its cash reserves there by compelling to declare the dividend from the Apple’s cash reserves. Hence, there is a likelihood that the value of shares of the Apple may increase by $50 per share or more after such a dividend declaration. Further, Apple shareholders are more worried that Apple may use these excess cash balances for negative mergers or acquisitions. This is supported by the precedents such as Microsoft’s blunder acquisition of aQuantive at $6.3 bn, EBay’s bad

Toyota Strategic Alliances Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Toyota Strategic Alliances - Essay Example Toyota Strategic Alliances Theories and analytical tools to assess strategic issues Decision makers in organizations are continually showered with various issues that can potentially affect the current performance and actions of their companies. They make constant adjustments in their strategies in order to keep them updated with the needs of the changing environment. Hence, assessment of strategic designs of organizations is critical to their success and performance. In the face of the changing global business environment, decision makers should keep in mind that strategy choices become obsolete within a very short period of time. Past styles of operating might not fit the current challenges posed by the competitive environment of the current business world. It is important to identify the chief issues facing the organization in the current financial year or a period of financial years and select some issues from this multitude to deal with at a particular point of time. Selection o f these issues are made with regard to the current business position of the firm, technological advancement of the firm, its economic conditions, human resource capacity of the firm, social and political contexts in which it operates. This process requires the organizational leaders to sort the issues faced by the firm on the basis of the importance level attached to the issue. There are various tools that organizational decision makers might exploit in order to assess the importance of the issues faced by them. ... Higher focus maintained on sorting and assessing issues demonstrate a better understanding of the issues. Hence, decision makers are better positioned to make the most appropriate response to these problems (Tan, Shen, and Langston, 2012; Jauch, 2010). The major dimensions in the strategic decision making process are top management decision, allocations of company resources for various activities, long term objectives of the firm, future orientation of the firm, multifunctional and multi- business consequences of the decisions and general external environment of the firm. This process is known as â€Å"strategic issue diagnosis (SID)† (Huff and Jenkins, 2002, p. 276). SID is a tool used as the first step to identify the issue and assess its characteristics. Diagnosis outputs cast important impact on the following stages in the decision making process. Strategic issues facing companies in Asia Pacific All business firms, in their heart, aims at a general notion; increasing the profits of the firm. For any decision to make sense in the decision making process of the business, it has to be directly (or indirectly) associated with the act of increasing profits. In any other case, the business does not have any strong reason to make investments in this decision. There are two basic issues that a company might face in its path of long term development. These issues are highly contrasting to one another. One issue pertains to the problem of expanding the business, while the other relates to contracting business. In the Asia-Pacific region, business firms face either of these two issues. In this post financial crisis period, a majority of countries are striving to recover from recessionary pressure. Therefore, there is low level of aggregate demand in the economy.

Single parent families Essay Example for Free

Single parent families Essay It is a sad fact of modern life that more and more children are growing up in single parent family environments.Whether divorce, death of a parent, single member parenthood etc is the reeason. The ims pact on children in such environment is similar. This has created many problems but with will and cooperation solutions can be found. First of all, children who grow up in an intact two-parent family with both biological parents present do better in a wide range of outcomes than children who grow up in a single-parent family and this can be a serious problem. A very common problem is that a single-parent family child needs to have a standard role model and such a lack can lead to many psychological problems. For instance, children will have less emotional support, may feel insecure, lonely or alianated. That means that children may come up with other ideas in order to heal the pain they feel. Drug problrms, more alcohol, crimes, suicides are some of the most common behavours. Except these, a single parent family is band to have economical problems. For the following reasons the parent must, first of all, understabd why his child is feeling , the depressed. Then the children have to understand that in spite of the change of their family structure, they have a family. This can be done by visiting a psychologist. With profound communication away the family members, this problem can be overcome. Parent and children can also get help from a relative such as uncle/aunt that is willing to help in this difficult situation and fill the gap of the missing parent. To overcome the effects of limited finances, single paremts should seek out community resources to supplement the needs of their families including agencies that can also help them by supporting the family. In short, with cooperation, flexibility, understanding and love, many problems can be solved and as the years pass by the children of single parents will be as normal as the children of traditional fami les.

The Pagan Origins of Christianity Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research

The first part of this paper will explore the mystery-religions, the reasons behind their popularity, and the Hellenistic world in which they grew that began with Alexander the Great. Next, their characteristics and connections first with Judaism and later with Christianity will be more deeply discussed. In the second part it will be shown that the mystery-religions helped to clear the pathway for the Christianization of the Greco-Roman world by men such as Paul the Apostle. Finally, the Emperor Constantine’s role in this story will be mentioned, during whose reign the mystery-religions declined and Christianity became the major religion of Europe and the near east. The paper will conclude with a brief speculation about the significance of these ideas to modern Christianity. Introduction The place and time in which Christianity developed was characterized by change and confusion in all areas of life. Political, philosophical and especially religious questions were being asked that had never been asked before, and traditional systems were not providing the answers. For nearly seven centuries, from the conquest of Alexander the Great to the establishment of Christianity as the state religion by the Roman Emperor Constantine, the ancient world sought these answers in the mystery-religions, independent groups worshipping in new and experimental ways. Ancient religious tradition had failed to fulfill the needs of this evolving and expanding society and these mystery-religions were a cultural expression of that need. Christianity grew into the midst of this world and was in fact the end result of the experiment started in the mystery-religions. The term, â€Å"mystery-religion† refers to various forms of worship popular in ancient t... ...d. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999. King, Martin Luther Jr. â€Å"The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity.† The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Volume I: Called to Serve. Clayborne Carson, Ralph Luker, and Penny A. Russell, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project. Clayborne Carson, dir. Stanford University. 1 Feb. 2002 . Pike, Albert. Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Washington: House of the Temple, 1966. Additional Works Consulted Jonas, Hans. The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity. 2nd ed. Boston: Beacon Press, 1991. Murray, Gilbert. Five Stages of Greek Religion. New York: Doubleday, 1955.

Assessment Worksheet Essay

1. What section of the SOX compliance law requires proper controls and hence, security controls, to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of financial information and recordkeeping within an IT infrastructure? Explain the information contained in this section. SOX Section 404 mandates that all publicly-traded companies must establish internal controls and procedures for financial reporting and must document test and maintain those controls and procedures to ensure their effectiveness. The purpose of SOX is to reduce the possibilities of corporate fraud by increasing the stringency of procedures and requirements for financial reporting. 2. Who is Richard Scrushy and why is he relevant to SOX? Richard Scrushy first CEO charged with violating the SOX Act. He was owner and founder of HealthSouth Corp 3. Who, under SOX, is legally accountable for certifying and approving the integrity of the company and its financial reporting to the SEC and other financial organizations? Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the CEO and CFO of publicly traded companies to certify the appropriateness of their financial statements and disclosures and to certify that they fairly present. 4. What is the difference between a form 10-K and a form 10-Q, and who must submit these to the Securities Exchange Commissions (SEC) for publicly traded company financial reporting? 10-K is a company’s annual report that is filed yearly & make public. 10-Q is the company’s quarterly report. Upper management of major companies is to submit these to the Securities Exchange Commissions. 5. What qualifies as a â€Å"large accelerated filer,† and how long after the end of the quarter do they have to fi le their quarterly financial report? A company that meets conditions of a million dollar amount has been subject to periodic reporting requirements pursuant to Exchange Act Sections for certain amount of time, has previously filed at least one annual report pursuant, and is not eligible to file â€Å"Small Business† forms. They have75 days after the end of their quarter they have to file their quarterly financial report. 6. Where would someone go in order to find the quarterly and annual reports for a publicly traded company? A person would go to a company’s webpage to find quarterly and annual reports for publicly traded company. Each company  should have an investor relations section. 7. Go into the Edgar Database and find the most recent 10K or 10Q for Microsoft, Nike, and Cisco. Who signed off on the 10K for each of those companies? Microsoft: Assistant Director, Nike: Assistant Director, and Cisco: Assistant Director. 8. What are some of the criminal penalties for falsifying documents, or covers up information related to financial matters and SOX? Some of the criminal penalties for falsifying documents or cover ups information related to financial matters and SOX are imprisonment. Imprisonment varies on situation. 9. What is the Japanese version of SOX, and what agency oversees its implementation? JSOX is the Japanese version of SOX. This is overseen by ULVAC Technologies. 10. Of what was Dennis Kozlowski convicted, and how is it related to SOX? Dennis Kozlowski was convicted for crimes related to authorized bonuses, purchase of art, and other high cost money involvement. It’s related to SOX because fraud for public companies. 11. What is the link between SOX compliance law and information systems security? Section 302 and 404 even though they do not mention IT 12. What sections within SOX compliance law pertain to needing proper internal controls? Section 302 and 404 are needed for proper internal controls to be in compliant with SOX. 13. Explain how these sections within SOX compliance law require proper security controls as it relates to having internal controls. The need for strong internal controls is not limited to public companies, however. Effective internal controls provide all management teams with repeatable and reliable information tools that allow them to identify, manage, and mitigate risk on an ongoing basis 14. Why are Vice Presidents and other executive managers who are privy to financial performance data considered insiders to a publicly traded company as defined by the Security Exchange Commission (SEC)? They would be considered insiders because of the information they have from internal resources. 15. True or False. SOX compliance law now holds CEO’s and CFO’s of publicly traded companies accountable for their actions as officers in a publicly traded company.

Assessment Worksheet Essay

1. What section of the SOX compliance law requires proper controls and hence, security controls, to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of financial information and recordkeeping within an IT infrastructure? Explain the information contained in this section. SOX Section 404 mandates that all publicly-traded companies must establish internal controls and procedures for financial reporting and must document test and maintain those controls and procedures to ensure their effectiveness. The purpose of SOX is to reduce the possibilities of corporate fraud by increasing the stringency of procedures and requirements for financial reporting. 2. Who is Richard Scrushy and why is he relevant to SOX? Richard Scrushy first CEO charged with violating the SOX Act. He was owner and founder of HealthSouth Corp 3. Who, under SOX, is legally accountable for certifying and approving the integrity of the company and its financial reporting to the SEC and other financial organizations? Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the CEO and CFO of publicly traded companies to certify the appropriateness of their financial statements and disclosures and to certify that they fairly present. 4. What is the difference between a form 10-K and a form 10-Q, and who must submit these to the Securities Exchange Commissions (SEC) for publicly traded company financial reporting? 10-K is a company’s annual report that is filed yearly & make public. 10-Q is the company’s quarterly report. Upper management of major companies is to submit these to the Securities Exchange Commissions. 5. What qualifies as a â€Å"large accelerated filer,† and how long after the end of the quarter do they have to fi le their quarterly financial report? A company that meets conditions of a million dollar amount has been subject to periodic reporting requirements pursuant to Exchange Act Sections for certain amount of time, has previously filed at least one annual report pursuant, and is not eligible to file â€Å"Small Business† forms. They have75 days after the end of their quarter they have to file their quarterly financial report. 6. Where would someone go in order to find the quarterly and annual reports for a publicly traded company? A person would go to a company’s webpage to find quarterly and annual reports for publicly traded company. Each company  should have an investor relations section. 7. Go into the Edgar Database and find the most recent 10K or 10Q for Microsoft, Nike, and Cisco. Who signed off on the 10K for each of those companies? Microsoft: Assistant Director, Nike: Assistant Director, and Cisco: Assistant Director. 8. What are some of the criminal penalties for falsifying documents, or covers up information related to financial matters and SOX? Some of the criminal penalties for falsifying documents or cover ups information related to financial matters and SOX are imprisonment. Imprisonment varies on situation. 9. What is the Japanese version of SOX, and what agency oversees its implementation? JSOX is the Japanese version of SOX. This is overseen by ULVAC Technologies. 10. Of what was Dennis Kozlowski convicted, and how is it related to SOX? Dennis Kozlowski was convicted for crimes related to authorized bonuses, purchase of art, and other high cost money involvement. It’s related to SOX because fraud for public companies. 11. What is the link between SOX compliance law and information systems security? Section 302 and 404 even though they do not mention IT 12. What sections within SOX compliance law pertain to needing proper internal controls? Section 302 and 404 are needed for proper internal controls to be in compliant with SOX. 13. Explain how these sections within SOX compliance law require proper security controls as it relates to having internal controls. The need for strong internal controls is not limited to public companies, however. Effective internal controls provide all management teams with repeatable and reliable information tools that allow them to identify, manage, and mitigate risk on an ongoing basis 14. Why are Vice Presidents and other executive managers who are privy to financial performance data considered insiders to a publicly traded company as defined by the Security Exchange Commission (SEC)? They would be considered insiders because of the information they have from internal resources. 15. True or False. SOX compliance law now holds CEO’s and CFO’s of publicly traded companies accountable for their actions as officers in a publicly traded company.

Assessment Worksheet Essay

1. What section of the SOX compliance law requires proper controls and hence, security controls, to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of financial information and recordkeeping within an IT infrastructure? Explain the information contained in this section. SOX Section 404 mandates that all publicly-traded companies must establish internal controls and procedures for financial reporting and must document test and maintain those controls and procedures to ensure their effectiveness. The purpose of SOX is to reduce the possibilities of corporate fraud by increasing the stringency of procedures and requirements for financial reporting. 2. Who is Richard Scrushy and why is he relevant to SOX? Richard Scrushy first CEO charged with violating the SOX Act. He was owner and founder of HealthSouth Corp 3. Who, under SOX, is legally accountable for certifying and approving the integrity of the company and its financial reporting to the SEC and other financial organizations? Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the CEO and CFO of publicly traded companies to certify the appropriateness of their financial statements and disclosures and to certify that they fairly present. 4. What is the difference between a form 10-K and a form 10-Q, and who must submit these to the Securities Exchange Commissions (SEC) for publicly traded company financial reporting? 10-K is a company’s annual report that is filed yearly & make public. 10-Q is the company’s quarterly report. Upper management of major companies is to submit these to the Securities Exchange Commissions. 5. What qualifies as a â€Å"large accelerated filer,† and how long after the end of the quarter do they have to fi le their quarterly financial report? A company that meets conditions of a million dollar amount has been subject to periodic reporting requirements pursuant to Exchange Act Sections for certain amount of time, has previously filed at least one annual report pursuant, and is not eligible to file â€Å"Small Business† forms. They have75 days after the end of their quarter they have to file their quarterly financial report. 6. Where would someone go in order to find the quarterly and annual reports for a publicly traded company? A person would go to a company’s webpage to find quarterly and annual reports for publicly traded company. Each company  should have an investor relations section. 7. Go into the Edgar Database and find the most recent 10K or 10Q for Microsoft, Nike, and Cisco. Who signed off on the 10K for each of those companies? Microsoft: Assistant Director, Nike: Assistant Director, and Cisco: Assistant Director. 8. What are some of the criminal penalties for falsifying documents, or covers up information related to financial matters and SOX? Some of the criminal penalties for falsifying documents or cover ups information related to financial matters and SOX are imprisonment. Imprisonment varies on situation. 9. What is the Japanese version of SOX, and what agency oversees its implementation? JSOX is the Japanese version of SOX. This is overseen by ULVAC Technologies. 10. Of what was Dennis Kozlowski convicted, and how is it related to SOX? Dennis Kozlowski was convicted for crimes related to authorized bonuses, purchase of art, and other high cost money involvement. It’s related to SOX because fraud for public companies. 11. What is the link between SOX compliance law and information systems security? Section 302 and 404 even though they do not mention IT 12. What sections within SOX compliance law pertain to needing proper internal controls? Section 302 and 404 are needed for proper internal controls to be in compliant with SOX. 13. Explain how these sections within SOX compliance law require proper security controls as it relates to having internal controls. The need for strong internal controls is not limited to public companies, however. Effective internal controls provide all management teams with repeatable and reliable information tools that allow them to identify, manage, and mitigate risk on an ongoing basis 14. Why are Vice Presidents and other executive managers who are privy to financial performance data considered insiders to a publicly traded company as defined by the Security Exchange Commission (SEC)? They would be considered insiders because of the information they have from internal resources. 15. True or False. SOX compliance law now holds CEO’s and CFO’s of publicly traded companies accountable for their actions as officers in a publicly traded company.