Equity Investment Decision Making

Introduction The acquisition of capital is a challenge faced by businesses. However, business enterprises can obtain startup funds from venture capital firms. Venture capital focuses mainly on high-risk startup businesses. Often, entrepreneurs seek venture capital once their businesses are operational and need expansion.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Equity Investment: Decision Making – Business Valuation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Venture capitalists, however, prefer to finance high-risk businesses that promise high financial returns (Bart Mlambo 2008, pp. 33). Nevertheless, venture capital firms usually perform evaluation of new investment opportunities before they decide to invest in a new venture. They use both qualitative and quantitative data in evaluation processes. Nonetheless, their evaluation processes do not yield dependable results. Notably, new ventures do not have relevant revenue and financial performance information that can be used in evaluation processes. Moreover, venture capital firms usually have lean staff. However, they have to evaluate numerous proposals to determine appropriate ones. This affects the productivity of venture capitalists’ staff. This paper presents literature on decision assembly and business evaluation considerations that venture capital firms consider before they finance a project. Literature Review Venture Capital Many entrepreneurs have business ideas but lack the required funds to start business operations. Banks and other debt finance providers can fund business projects that entrepreneurs have. However, these organizations do not fund high-risk businesses. Moreover, they require much information that startup businesses do not have. Hence, entrepreneurs turn to venture capitalists since they focus on high-risk businesses that have high financial rewards. However, the problem that venture capital firms and entrep reneurs face is the determination of the financial viability of an enterprise to be financed. Additionally, there is little academic guidance on the determination of financial viability of an enterprise (Wong 2009, pp. 62).Advertising Looking for critical writing on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The inadequacy of information on new ventures and the ineffectiveness of venture capital market creates theoretical and economic challenges in valuation of new businesses. Valuation approaches of businesses rely on accounting information. However, new ventures do not have such information. Hence, venture capitalists can use nonfinancial methods to determine whether to invest in a new venture or not. The arrangement of investment markets facilitates the existence of venture capital. Venture capital assists entrepreneurs who do not have adequate capital. The return on capital that they use to finance entrepreneurs is high. The high returns sustain venture capital firms. Additionally, venture capital exists since it attracts entrepreneurs who have business ideas that can be transformed into profitable ventures. Venture capital industry has four main participants. These include entrepreneurs, investors, investment bankers and venture capitalists (Bishop Nixon 2006, pp. 23). Additionally, investment activities of venture capitalists go through different stages. These stages include deal origination, screening process, evaluation process and finally, negotiation process in which a deal is structured. Moreover, management and control of a financed venture is normally redesigned to protect the investment made by venture capitalists (Wong 2009, pp. 63). An initial stage, where viability of a venture is assessed, can also be included. Venture Capital Decision Assembly Several studies have examined the stages and criteria used in decision assembly by venture capitalists (Bart Mlambo 2008, pp. 34). T he processes used in decision assembly require that new businesses undergo screening. This involves review of the business preparation of a venture. After screening of a venture, the second phase is the due diligence stage. This involves documentation, negotiations and thorough examination of investment details. Venture capitalists use decision assembly processes to collect vital information needed in the determination of whether to accept or reject a proposal. However, risk is high due to limited financial information.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Equity Investment: Decision Making – Business Valuation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Investment decision assembly processes used by venture capital firms seek to limit the risk of undesirable choice. The decision processes examine the potential for positive achievement or collapse of a venture based on accessible information. However, the deci sion assembly processes of venture capital firms face challenges. This is mainly due to informational asymmetry (Bishop Nixon 2006, pp. 23). Two kinds of informational asymmetry exist. These are hidden action and hidden information. Hidden action informational asymmetry occurs when a party does not have knowledge of relevant activities done by the other party of a transaction. On the other hand, hidden information unevenness occurs when one party of a contract knows some germane information while the other party does not (Wong 2009, pp. 63). Often, entrepreneurs have information that financiers cannot access. Hence, it is possible for entrepreneurs to employ exploitative behaviours after finalization of an investment deal (Bart Mlambo 2008, pp. 35). The possible exploitative or opportunistic behaviors of entrepreneurs necessitate the need for financiers to make accurate decisions in the selection of projects to finance. Entrepreneurs should understand the character and procedure o f decision assembly used by venture capitalists in evaluation of businesses. In this way, entrepreneurs increase the possibility of their venture being financed. Moreover, knowledge of the decision-making procedures improves their negotiations abilities. Choice Criteria The techniques that venture capitalists use in information compilation include interrogation, experiments and surveys. Venture capitalists use in-use and espoused criteria in their evaluations. They use in-use criteria in actual decision assembly. On the other hand, they use espoused criteria in evaluation processes (Bishop Nixon 2006, pp. 24). They consider market conditions, competition and management capabilities as they make investment decisions.Advertising Looking for critical writing on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The personality and experience of entrepreneurs plays a pivotal role in investment decisions made by venture capitalists. Previous studies used various categories in examination of the factors that distinguish successful and unsuccessful ventures in screening processes (Bishop Nixon 2006, pp. 21). These categories include product, market, industrialist and monetary characteristics. Some studies found that competitiveness of a product and market acceptance play critical roles (Bart Mlambo 2008, pp. 34). Other studies included competitive strategies and resource-based capabilities as additional categories for analysis (Bart Mlambo 2008, pp. 34). Notably, financial considerations do not influence the success of a venture in the evaluation processes. However, the generic criteria that all venture capitalists use comprise potential rewards of a venture, proven abilities of a concept or product, competitive advantages and realistic capital requirement. In management construct, venture capitalists rate entrepreneurs through various criteria. Financiers consider the integrity, experience and records of accomplishment of entrepreneurs. They check leadership, managerial and technical skills (Bishop Nixon 2006, pp. 21). It is vital that venture capitalists determine the most appropriate methods to evaluate ventures to minimize risks. At the same time, it is vital that entrepreneurs know the decision factors that affect the financial proposals and negotiations that they make. Conclusion New enterprises face numerous financial challenges. However, they can obtain start-up capital from venture capital firms. Venture capital firms fund new businesses that are high-risk but promise high financial rewards. However, evaluation of new businesses is complicated due to the inadequacy of financial information. This complicates investment decision-assembly processes that venture capitalists do. The lack of academic literature guidance also complicates the situation. This paper e xplored some of the concerns that venture capitalists should consider in decision assembly. These include market, product, entrepreneur and competitive characteristics. It also discussed features of venture capital and the complications that arise due to information asymmetry. List of References Bart, V Mlambo, C 2008, â€Å"Factors influencing venture capitalists’ project financing decisions in South Africa†, South African Journal of Business Management, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 33-41. Web. Bishop, K Nixon, R 2006, â€Å"Venture opportunity evaluations: Comparisons between venture capitalists and inexperienced pre-nascent entrepreneurs†, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 19-33. Web. Wong, L 2009, â€Å"Effective evaluation criteria for successful ventures: A study of venture capital in Hong Kong†, The Journal of Private Equity, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 62-73. Web. This critical writing on Equity Investment: Decision Making – Business Valuation was written and submitted by user Anya Kirby to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Shopping in English Vocabulary

Shopping in English Vocabulary Use  polite questions  when shopping or helping a customer in a shop. Polite questions are asked with could, may, and would. You can also ask for advice in shops using should. Shopping for a Sweater Shop assistant: May I help you?Customer: Yes, Im looking for a sweater. Shop assistant: What size are you?Customer: Im an extra large. Shop assistant: Would you like a plain sweater or something else?​Customer: Im looking for a plain blue sweater. Shop assistant: How about this one?Customer: Yes, thats nice. Could I try it on? Shop assistant: Certainly, the changing rooms are over there.Customer: Thank you. (goes into a changing room to try on the sweater) Shop assistant: How does it fit?Customer: Its too large. Do you have a large? Shop assistant: Yes, here you are. Would you like to try it on to see if it fits?Customer: No thats Okay. Thank you. Ill take it. Im also looking for some nice slacks. Shop assistant: Great. We have some very nice wool slacks over here. Would you like to take a look?Customer: Yes, thanks for your help.   Shop assistant: What are your measurements?Customer: Im a 38 waist and a 32 inseam. Shop assistant: What do you think about these?Customer: Theyre nice, but Id prefer cotton trousers if you have them. Shop assistant: Certainly, our summer slacks collection is over here. How about these?Customer: Yes, I like those. Do you have them in grey as well? Shop assistant: Yes, heres a pair. You said you the measurements are 38 by 32, didnt you?Customer: Yes, thats correct. Ill go try them on. Shop assistant: Let me know if you need any help.​Customer: Thank you. (comes back) These are great. So, that makes one sweater and a pair of grey slacks. Shop assistant: ​OK, how would you like to pay?Customer: Do you take credit cards? Shop assistant: Yes, we do. Visa, Master Card, and American Express.Customer: OK, heres my Visa. Shop assistant: Thank you. Have a nice day!Customer: Thank you, goodbye. Key Vocabulary Phrases Could / May I help you?Could I try it (them) on?How does it fit?How would you like to pay?Im looking for...Id prefer... Words Changing roomsSize - extra small, small, medium, large, extra large - Used with standard measurementsMeasurements - used with specific measurements for trousers, suits, etc.  Shop assistant/store clerkTrousers/Slacks/PantsWaist  Inseam  Credit cards Quiz Provide the missing word to fill in the gaps to complete this conversation with a store clerk.   Store clerk: Hello, _____  I help you find anything?​Customer: Yes, Im looking _____  a blouse and some matching trousers. Store clerk: Great. What _____  would you like?Customer: Im _____  for a white blouse and black trousers. Theyre for an important job interview. Store clerk: Okay. Please follow me to the business apparel section.Customer: Thanks for your help. Store clerk:  Its my pleasure. Do you see anything you like?​Customer: Yes, that blouse looks nice. Store clerk: What _____  are you?​Customer: Im a small. Now, lets take a look at the pants. Store clerk: These are nice. Would you like to _____  them on?Customer: Do you have anything else? Store clerk: Yes, we also have these trousers.Customer: I like those, Ill try those _____  . Store clerk: What are your _____  ?Customer: I have a 26 waist and 32 inseam. Store clerk: Heres a pair. Would you like to try them on?Customer: Yes, wheres the _____  ? Store clerk: You can try them on over there.Customer: Thank you. (tries the clothing on, walks out of the changing room to show the store clerk) What do you think? Store clerk: You look fantastic! Im sure youll get that job!Customer: Thanks! Ill take them. Store clerk: Would you like to _____  by cash or by credit card?Customer: _____  , please. Heres my visa card. Store clerk: Thank you. That will be $145. Answers May/could/canForColorSizeTryOnMeasurementsChanging roomPayCredit card

Sleep Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sleep - Essay Example Sleep might be a way through which brain recharging is achieved. Also, brains have an opportunity to shut down as well as ensure repair of neurons and on the other hand exercise essential connections of neurons, which may otherwise become compromised due to activity deficiency. Sleep grants brains that vital chance to make a reorganization of data to aid in finding a solution to a predicament, process newly obtained information as we as re-organize and save memories. Sleep declines human rate metabolism and also the consumption of energy. In both children and also young adults, hormones of growth are released while sleeping. However it is vital to note that circadian rhythms greatly influence the timing, amount and quality of sleep. (sleepdex.org, 2011) Even prior to human knowledge about what biological clock entails, it was human knowledge that some humans are ‘morning persons’ or ‘evening persons’. This is, in other words, genetic. Evening persons take a longer time period in their rhythm of circadian hence they do not sleepy as time to sleep approaches. (Pihlajamaa-Glimmerveen. 2005) Average human adults require around an eight-hour sleep. Children still growing requires more hours. Deprivation of sleep has been portrayed to shorten the life span. Lack of sleep leads to; memory predicaments, immune responses, lower levels temperatures, and swings of moods.

The endangered anmial-Mouse Lemur and White-flag Dolphin Essay

The endangered anmial-Mouse Lemur and White-flag Dolphin - Essay Example Conservation programs are being developed carried out to ensure the continued existence of these fascinating animals. This essay presents a comprehensive description and current circumstances of these two endangered animals. Introduction Extinction naturally happens. In fact, a huge number of species has already died out. With regards to this, several individuals and groups have explained the worsening global scarcity of species by declaring that because extinction naturally occurs, the extinction of recent species is merely an extension of a natural occurrence. The 1973 Endangered Species Act (ESA) was the first official, federal attempt to recognize that every species serves a distinctive, special function in the environment and that people, especially governments, should keep from disturbing the balance of nature or the ecosystem (Liebesman & Petersen, 2003, 89). The double responsibility for stable and organized management of the ESA is assigned to the Fish and Wildlife Service ( FWS) for land and several marine species and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for marine life forms. The Act’s original goal was â€Å"to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved† (Liebesman & Petersen, 2003, 89). ... From the point of view of ecology, a more effective method is to focus on protecting self-sufficient environment of these species, and allowing nature do its part (Liebesman & Petersen, 2003, 89-90). The FWS is tasked to list, delist, and reclassify protected species. When it is suggested to list a species as Endangered or Threatened, the FWS publicizes the suggestion in the U.S. government’s publication—the Federal Register (Baur & Irvin, 2010, 1). Afterward the FWS makes a decision whether to endorse, modify, or reject the suggestion. A species can be classified either ‘threatened’ or ‘endangered’, which depends on its condition and the level of threat. By definition, a ‘threatened’ species is â€Å"likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range† (Baur & Irvin, 2010, 34), whereas an ‘endangered’ species is â€Å"in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range† (Baur & Irvin, 2010, 34). A species is listed as endangered or threatened due to any of these reasons (Liebesman & Petersen, 2003, 18-20): (1) the threatened or current disruption or devastation, alteration, shortening of its range, or weakening of its habitat; (2) overexploitation for scientific, business-related, or recreational purposes; (3) the incompetence of current regulatory measures; (4) disease; and (5) other human-made or natural phenomena affecting its ability to survive. Once a species is listed, protective measures begin. Such measures involve protection from damaging impact of government programs or operations; limitations on the capturing and selling of species; and execution of recovery plans. These attempts strengthen the survival

Administrator and Teacher Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Administrator and Teacher Interview - Essay Example After enrolling at Hardin-Simmons University, I realized what my calling was. A professor noticed that I had many hours in Spanish and asked me if I had ever considered teaching Spanish or bilingual education. I had always loved working with children, as I had worked with children in my high school years, helping them to read and practice math. And so, my career in education began. After some time in school, I began to realize all the benefits of being an educator: summers and holidays off, time with my family, working with children, and a love for a career unlike any other. (2) Would you recommend the education profession to others? Why or why not? I would only recommend the education profession to others that truly want to teach. The rewards from the students’ successes are wonderful. Most parents are kind and helpful. There are many more positive aspects to teaching, but there are also negative aspects to teaching. For example, teachers are some of the lowest paid professio nals in the country. Teachers must continue to educate themselves to stay current in educational trends, often at their own expense. There is immense pressure to make students perform on state accountability tests because student scores are tied to state funds for the schools. (3) Are there any other teachers in your family? If so, who? I have two cousins who are educators in Texas. (4) What is your highest level of education? (Masters) Leadership of Learning, M.Ed. (5) How long have you been an educator? I have been an educator for thirteen years. (6) What is your greatest challenge as an educator? My greatest challenge is getting parents involved in their children’s education. (7) How do you balance the demands of your profession with the political realities of the education system? It is difficult. I often take the political realities personally. I try to do my job and leave the other â€Å"stuff† at school. Sometimes I vent to those I trust, and sometimes administr ators hear my voice if I feel passionately enough about the topic. I try not to rock the boat too often because I feel like everyone is constantly critiquing my actions and me. (8) Do you live in the community that you work in? If yes, do you believe that it is important for educators to live in the community in which they work? Why or why not? I live in a nearby town. I believe that it is important for the educator to be involved in the community. An educator does not have to live in the community to be involved. I loved living in the community where I taught because the students could come over at any time. On the other hand, living outside the community offers more privacy. (9) Who was your greatest educational influence? My high school science teacher helped me love learning. He taught me to become a life-long learner. Later, he hired me in my first teaching position. During my time working with him, Mr. Hardy taught me what a true leader is: one who serves others. (10) What is the greatest benefit of being an educator? The greatest benefit is watching young people learn and love learning. When a child realizes that he/she can do anything with effort, it is amazing to watch them try new things and succeed. It is more amazing to watch them fail and try again in a different way. That shows that they are growing as students. When they accomplish what they thought was impossible, their smiles and hugs are the greatest pay. b) Administrator and Teacher Interview i) Make arrangements to interview both an administrator and a teacher. Utilize the questions below in the interview and record their responses: (1) Why did you choose to go into education as a career? I chose to go into edu

Non Financial Performance Measures: Summary and Analysis

Non Financial Performance Measures: Summary and Analysis Total quality management and non financial performance measures In order to answer the first, fundamental, question of using non financial performance measure: why should companies use non-financial reporting, it is necessary to look at the relationship between market value and book value. The market value of a company reflects the investors’ perception of the company’s present, and future, value, as manifested by stock prices. The book value, on the other hand, reflects the value of the company as reported in the official balance sheet: assets less liabilities, or net assets. Thus book value represents, in a way, the official company value and is reported to shareholders and the financial community. The market and book values for companies were very close by the end of the 1970s. The picture has, however, changed dramatically, and one estimate from the current level of stock market valuations says that book value now represents on average just around one quarter of the market value (Dutta and Reicheistein, 2005). Other data indicates an even more dramatic change in companies with valuable brands, a reputation for high quality or technical expertise, for example, in individual companies, e.g. Microsoft, the estimated book value portion is around 9%, for SAP around 5%, and for Coca-Cola around 7%. (Daum, 2002) The ratio of book value to market value is often so small that the relevance of the balance sheet to modern has often questionable. It is, of course, crucial to understand the gap between market and book values, as the market value comes from the intangible assets, such as the customer, human resource, partner, and brand assets. In order to understand the gap, there is an ob vious need for relevant and reliable information on these intangible assets, thus non-financial performance measures aim to providing such information to the stakeholders, and in particular, to the present and future investors. Lack of reliable and relevant information on intangible assets implies there is no basis for non-financial reporting, which in turn implies that market values will change over time in a less well-founded way. There is always a certain level of volatility on the stock markets, and the increasing relative importance of intangible, non financial performance measurements that has emerged over the last few decades, in combination with a persistent lack of reliable and relevant information on these assets, and no systematic non-financial reporting, is expected to create an increasing volatility. This is clearly seen, for example, on the trends in the NYSE over the past three decades (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). It is, naturally, expected that a lack of non financial reporting will imply a significant portion of unnecessary volatility, which is clearly demonstrated by the stock price development for technology stocks (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). For example, the IT ‘bubble’ to a significant extent was built up by a lack of proper information and analysis of intangible assets in these companies, due to a lack of non financial performance measurement and thus an overvaluing of intangible technology assets, such as AOL’s telecommunications distribution networks at the time of the AOL-Time Warner merger (The Economist, 2002). It is clear that this demonstrates a malfunctioning of the capital markets, causing significant negative consequences by destroying values in the short term, as well as long term. As such, the main purpose of non financial performance measurement is to provide the market investors and analysts with information to verify the present and expected future value of a company. Ultimately, the process of verifying the market value at a certain time will then be more fact based, thus reducing the unnecessary price volatility. In order to accurately achieve this, the key predictors of a company’s future financial performance: revenue, profits and market share, are crucial. Most recent research identifies these predictors as being primarily intangibles, non financial assets, thus explaining why market value today is basically determined by intangible assets. (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) In particular, indicators related to the customer asset: the size and ‘quality’ of the customer base, the human capital, the brand assets, the value of corporate citizenship, and the firms product quality and expertise, will dominate. If such an indicator is a reas onably stable, strong and sustainable predictor of future financial performance, it should be called a ‘Value Driver’ (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). Non-financial reporting aims at disclosing information on value drivers, which must be operationalised and transparent and, ideally, verifiable according to new accounting standards in order to become true non financial performance measures. Total quality management (TQM) practices have been implemented by firms interested in enhancing their survival prospects by including quality and continuous improvement in their strategic priorities. As such, they often have to be measured using both financial and non financial measures, as the expertise and cultural aspects of the TQM process are often difficult to measure by purely quantitative, financial means. One of the key measures of the success of TQM is the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach, which appraises both the four key dimensions of firm performance: customers, financial, learning and growth, and also the internal business processes. The main advantage of this is that TQM does not consider employee satisfaction in its search for continuous improvement, but the BSC does consider employee satisfaction. (Hoque, 2003) Therefore, by adopting a BSC a firm that has adopted TQM will overcome this oversight which will in turn increase employee satisfaction and subsequently firm performance. Indeed, in the modern business context, employee satisfaction is key to firm performance, and so the BSC is an important non financial performance measure. TQM’s relentless pursuit of quality demands that firms identify all non-value adding waste in the manufacturing process and implement procedures to eliminate, or at least reduce, such activities. This implies better production planning to limit over-production and excessive inventory and improved product and plant design to eliminate wasteful movement and handling. (Smith, 1997) Substandard items must be eliminated and a changed attitude reinforced which is customer-focused and adopts ‘the next person on the production line is my customer’ approach (Hoque, 2003). The cost of quality is a potentially important component of management accounting systems which may facilitate the implementation of total quality management, despite being difficult to measure in absolute financial terms. The costs of prevention, appraisal and failure are all aspects of the cost of quality, and it is often necessary to use non financial performance measures to assess these. Prevention costs include the costs of plant, product and process planning, preventive maintenance, training and the implementation of statistical process control systems, and appraisal costs include the costs of inspection and testing of both incoming and outgoing materials, and the cost of maintaining and administering appraisal systems and equipment, both of which can be measure financially However, whilst failure costs include, at the internal level, the financial costs of scrap, rework, redesign and safety stocks necessary to provide a buffer against such failure; at the external level they include losses associated with customers, goodwill and reputation, all of which require non financial performance measurements. Analysis of the costs of external failure is increasingly becoming the focus of attention in this area, reflecting the current trend towards increasing customer orientation of management accounting. (Smith, 1997) Quality considerations also extend beyond those focused on the difficult ‘cost of quality’ question, and non financial reporting is useful in providing measures of other aspects of quality, such as the quality of purchased components, equipment failure and maintenance efforts. As a result, it is necessary for TQM practitioners to consider the relationship between the types of targets or benchmarks used in the two main contrasting performance improvement strategies continuous improvement and radical change. (Johnston et al, 2001) hypothesised that the process of target setting and the reward structures adopted would be different between the two strategies, proposing that organisations involved in continuous improvement of a process will base their performance targets on past performance and internal benchmarking, arrived at through consultation and with a mixture of financial and non-financial measurements of targets. However, for processes involving radical change, targets will be based on external benchmarks imposed by senior management, with purely financial targets, and financial rewards for their achievement. However, research showed that financial measurement and reward strategies predominated in both improvement strategies, thus implying that the pot ential benefits of adopting process changes are being constrained by only considering the financial side. However, whilst academic research and other research activities among accounting organisations on intangible assets has so far mainly focused on creating awareness of the significant importance of intangibles on future financial performance, to a lesser extent, research has dealt with the serious information deficiencies related to intangible assets (Hothorn et al, 2005). In particular, the research focus seems to have been on studying the dramatic shift in production functions and asset composition of the economy, rather than the underlying problems associated with measuring intangible assets, especially in cases such as Enron, where derivatives were grossly overvalued (Wilson et al, 2003). This research involves a multitude of research activities, including the macroeconomic theory of growth, as well as empirical studies on individual companies. The growing importance of intangible assets has already been demonstrated, and one rationale behind this development is the fact that the annual United States investments in intangible assets are of approximately the same magnitude as investments in physical assets: approximately $1.2 trillion (Lev, 2001). These activities have clearly led to a rather general acceptance that traditional, financial, accounting-based, information systems fail to provide investors and policy makers with insights on the impact on the economy from intangibles. This is of increasing importance, given that the volatility of stock prices is becoming abnormally high, and this raises many serious consequences, including systematic inefficiency in managerial decisions. The recommendations so far from researchers seem to be voluntary disclosure of information on intangibles, and indeed, some companies now report externally on various aspects of intangible assets, but this happens in a very non-standardised way and seems to be of limited value for investors’ decisions. Consultants, in particular linked to the accounting industry, are empirically analysing causes and consequences of investments in intangible assets, but this research provides only marginal guidelines in identifying best practice for non financial reporting (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) Different suggestions have been presented by researchers to identify the new research agenda to understand better and manage intangible assets, with Lev (2001), for example, suggesting a focus on research related to organizational structures. The obviously incorrect validation of intangible assets in the cases of Enron and WorldCom (The Economist, 2002), shows that another focus of research mus t be to identify best practice methodology to measure intangible assets, and to measure the main intangible value drivers for future financial performance. Indeed, the sustainability of non financial reporting is completely dependent on how it will be accepted by the stakeholders of the business community: investors, analysts, customers, boards, management, employees, the accounting profession, etc This, in turn, completely depends on the ability and willingness by the accountants to provide a formal verification of the process to generate information, as well as on the information itself. Finally, this in turn depends on the quality of the information: â€Å"Companies must start by first identifying their true value drivers both financial and non-financial within the context of their business model, and by ensuring they have defined the right metrics as well as the measurement methodologies and systems to capture the right information for internal management† (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2001). Recognising that the treatment of non financial performance is a key current issue in accountancy, accounting associations have already identified a number of criteria and principles to secure and describe the quality of non-financial information. This process, however, appears far from being finalised, and in particular lacks a focus on the statistical characteristics of the information, and there is also a need for further operationalisation and transparency of the quality principles (Lev, 2001) As a general principle, any verification process should verify that non-financial reporting includes the right choice of information, has the necessary degree of relevance, and that the information provided has a reasonable level of reliability. If these three requirements are not sufficiently fulfilled there is unlikely to be a sustainable future for non financial performance measurement, in TQM or any other business aspect. Further to this, information that does not say anything or very little about future financial performance should not be included in non-financial reporting. All the included information must manifest the so called Value Drivers (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) and such value drivers should be either directly linked to future financial data, or they could be indirectly linked, through a direct value driver. Thus, relevance should be defined by the existence of verified links to future financial numbers; however this raises a number of pertinent questions to be answered by the accounting profession. Mainly, they would need to decide which financial criteria should primarily be considered to secure relevance; and which future time period is of interest to investors. For the moment, it is probably worthwhile to have a very broad scope here, as this would mean that any financial information of interest could be used and, in addition, the future time period is defined in a very generic way. Of course, it is much more difficult to verify links to financial numbers if the lead time is substantial, and so care should be taken that the data will have a recognised financial impact within a reasonably short period of time. Indeed, whatever financial criterion and time period is chosen, it is crucial to be able to verify a strong enough and stable likely future financial impact from the non financial data. In order to better, and more accountably, measure this, such impacts should be statistically significant according to a standard statistical measurement, written into the accounting standards. However, the question that remains is still whether impacts should also exceed a certain financial level, as well as a statistical level, in order to qualify as a significant non financial value driver. In this context, it is also difficult to decide whether these qualifying criteria should also involve the extent to which a value driver will explain any likely variation in the future financial criterion. There are many potential principles to be found in information theory and statistics that might be used here, such as direct explanatory power (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003), but unfortunately the requirement levels necessary to use these principles are not very easy to determine, and could be open to abuse. In summary, in almost all modern industries, the book value of a company does not reflect the actual market value of the company, due to the increasing importance of branding, technology, knowledge and reputation. Whilst the market and book values were still very close at the end of the 1970s, since then the picture has changed dramatically, with estimates stating that book value now represents just one quarter of the market value. As a result, it is reasonable to conclude that the measurement of intangible, non financial factors is now roughly three times as important to investors as the measurement of financially measured, tangible assets. As the market value comes from intangible assets, like the customer, human resource, partner and brand assets, in order to understand the gap there is an obvious need for relevant and reliable information on these intangible assets, which is best provided by non financial performance measures. In the context of TQM, a large portion of the process improvements seen due to TQM initiatives will not have a definite financial effect; rather they will improve a product’s attractiveness to customers, or improve the efficiency of a firm’s processes. As a result, their primary impact will be difficult to measure by financial measures, and so non financial performance measures will be most relevant. From this, it follows that the accountancy profession needs a new reporting system and also need to define a best practice of measurement for these non financial performance measures, in order to reflect the true value of initiatives such as TQM. This system has a number of requirements, including causality, standardisation, relevance or link to financial results and reliability. The prevailing opinion appears to be that it is time that new reporting systems are introduced and implemented, as the discrepancy between the importance of intangibles and the ability to account for these types of assets constitutes a growing challenge for companies, investors and for society in general. The relevant people, including academics, managers, accountants, practitioners and auditors, should thus come together and formulate a new charter for future reporting of non financial performance measures. References: Daum, J. H. (2002) Intangible Assets or the Art to Create Value Wiley. Dutta, S. and Reicheistein, S. (2005) Stock Price, Earnings, and Book Value in Managerial Performance Measures. Accounting Review; Vol. 80, Issue 4, p. 1069. Hoque, Z. (2003) Total Quality Management and the Balanced Scorecard Approach: A Critical Analysis of their Potential Relationships and Directions for Research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting; Vol. 14, Issue 5, p. 553. Hothorn, T. Leisch, F. Zeileis, A. and Hornik, K. (2005) The Design and Analysis of Benchmark Experiments. Journal of Computational Graphical Statistics; Vol. 14, Issue 3, p. 675. Johnston, R. Fitzgerald, L. Markou, E. and Brignall, S. (2001) Target setting for evolutionary and revolutionary process change. International Journal of Operations Production Management; Vol. 21, Issue 11, p. 1387. Kristensen, K. and Westlund, A. H. (2003) Valid and reliable measurements for sustainable non-financial reporting. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence; Vol. 14, Issue 2, p. 161 Lev, B. (2001) Intangibles: Management, Measurements and Reporting Brookings Institution Press. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (2002) Value reporting, Forecast 2002 Bringing Information out into the Open. Smith, M. (1997) Putting NFIs to work in a balanced scorecard environment. Management Accounting: Magazine for Chartered Management Accountants; Vol. 75, Issue 3, p. 32. The Economist (2002) A steal? Vol. 365, Issue 8296, p. 57. Wilson, A. Key, K. G. and Clark, R. L. (2003) Enron: An In-Depth Analysis Of The Hedging Schemes. Journal of Applied Business Research; Vol. 19, Issue 4, p. 15.

Eskimo Pie Corporation :: Business Management Essays

Eskimo Pie Corporation Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reynolds Metals is the majority owner of the ice scream company Eskimo Pie Corporation and has decided to sell this company. Nestle Foods provided the highest offer of $61 Million. Due to delays of the Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s purchase, Reynolds Metals has take into consideration the IPO proposal of David Clark, president of Eskimo Pie Corporation, rather than selling the company to Nestle Foods (Case Study, 2001).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This analysis will identify the current value of the company at a stand-alone value and explain why Nestle Food would want to buy this company and the synergies involved for their reasoning. We will also discuss who will benefit if Reynolds Metals were to sell to Nestle or were to create an IPO. Finally we will provide a recommendation for Reynolds Metals that will be most beneficial to the company financial needs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stand-Alone Value   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many valuation methods that could be used to evaluate this company. Finding a method that valuates the stand-alone value is difficult. The stand-alone value should be dependent upon the firm’s own assets and projected future income. We decided to evaluate this company based upon two methods: The Discounted Cash Flow Method and the Comparable Companies Method. Discounted Cash Flow Method takes the forecast free cash flows during forecasted horizon. Then we estimate the cost of capital (weighted average cost of capital) and estimate continuing value (value after forecast horizon). The future value is discounted to the present value. We than add back cash ($13 Million) and non-current assets and deduct total debt. With the information provided several assumptions had to be made to obtain reasonable values (life period of 30-years, Capital expenditures not to exceed $1 million dollars, depreciation to stay constant at $1.15 Million and a discounted rate of 10%). Based on our analysis, the company has a stand-alone value of $51 Million at the end of fiscal year end 1990 with a net present value of cash flows of $33 million that does not include the cash and non-current assets a cash of and non-current assets. The greatest risk using Discounted Cash Flow Method is all the assumptions that were made. Without knowing and having complete information this method could report underestimated or overstatement figures. The second method we used to analyze the firm’s value was the Comparable Companies Method. We used the historical figures as of 1990 and Goldmans Sach’s Projections. With an average of 22.