Predicting Financial Distress and Corporate Failure

The financial failure of a company can have a devastating effect on all seven users of financial statements e.g. present and potential investors, customers, creditors, employees, lenders, the general public, etc. As a result, users of financial statements as indicated previously are interested in predicting not only whether a company will fail, but also when it will fail e.g. to avoid high profile corporate failures at Enron, Arthur Anderson, and WorldCom, etc. Users of financial statements can predict the financial position of an organization using the Altman Z score model, Argenti A score model, and by looking at the financial statements i.e. balance sheet, income statements, and cash flow statements. Business failure is defined as the unfortunate circumstance of a firm’s inability to stay in the business. Business failure occurs when the total liabilities exceed the total assets of a company, as total assets are considered a measure of the Continue reading

Bank Risk Exposure Types – On-balance Sheet and Off-Balance Sheet Exposures

Generally, credit risk is related to the traditional bank lending activities, while it also comes from holding bonds and other securities. Basel (1999) reports that for most banks, loans are the largest and most obvious source of credit risk; however, throughout the activities of a bank, which include in the banking book as well as in the trading book, and both on and off the balance sheet, there are also other sources of credit risk. Various financial instruments including acceptances, inter-bank transactions, financial futures, guarantees, etc increase banks’ credit risk. Therefore, it is indispensable to identify all the credit exposures— the possible sources of credit risk for most banks, which can also serve as a starting point for the following parts of this work. 1. On-balance Sheet Exposures Commercial and industrial, real estate, consumer and others are the most common types of loans. Commercial and industrial loans can be made Continue reading

Concept of Economies and Diseconomies of Scale in Managerial Economics

In the process of production a firm enjoys several advantages or experience several disadvantages which are either the result of the scale of operation or due to the location of the firm. The advantages and disadvantages thus experienced are reflected in the cost of production. The average cost of production is  favorably  affected when a firm starts enjoying economies, whereas the average cost begins to rise when the firms experience diseconomies. Those advantages or disadvantages that accrue to a firm from within, as a result of its scale of operation are summarily referred to as Internal economies and diseconomies, whereas those advantages or disadvantages which come to the firm from outside and are experienced by the industry as a whole mainly due to localization are referred to as External economies and diseconomies respectively. Internal Economies Internal Economies are those advantages which a firm enjoys from within itself by way of Continue reading

Introduction to Commercial Credit Analysis

Businessmen need loans for their businessess. There are many instances when the applicant (businessman), unaware of the bank’s needs, does not present all the details required or presents it in a manner that causes the Bank to reject the application. At other times, as the information given is incomplete, the applicant is harassed by demands for more information and then after he has submitted that asked for for yet some more. Time drags on while the bedeviled applicant runs hither and thither exasperated, frustrated and harrowed. The banker is also exasperated, frustrated and harrowed. He exists to make loans but before he approves the application and permits disbursal, as a responsible professional, he has to be convinced that the borrower has the capacity and the willingness to repay. Nothing thrills him more than a well presented detailed application that addresses all the concerns that he may have. Credit Management seeks Continue reading

The Concept of Securitization

Securitization is a process by which identified pools of receivables, which are usually illiquid on their own, are transformed into marketable securities through suitable repackaging of cashflows that they generate. The Broader Meaning of Securitization Securitization is the process of commoditization. The basic idea is to take the outcome of this process into the market, the capital market. Thus, the result of every securitization process, whatever might be the area to which it is applied, is to create certain instruments, which can be placed in the market. Securitization is the process of integration and differentiation: The entity that securitizes its assets first pools them together into a common hotchpot (assuming it is not one asset but several assets, as is normally the case). This process of integration. Then, the pool itself is broken into instruments of fixed denomination. This is the process of differentiation. Securitization is the process of de-construction Continue reading

Green Marketing – History, Importance, Benefits and Problems

Customers often link green marketing with terms such as recyclable, refillable, ozone friendly, and environmentally friendly. Whilst these terms are green marketing claims, in general, green marketing is a much broader concept. Green marketing is applicable to consumer goods, industrial goods, and as well as services. Theoretically speaking, green marketing is about designing, developing, and delivering products that are eco-friendly which cause less possible harm to the environment and its stakeholders. The American Marketing Association (AMA) has defined green marketing as the marketing of products that are not harmful to the natural environment.  History of Green Marketing Although some considerations were given to green marketing in the 1970s, it was actually in the late 1980s that the idea of green marketing came out. All began in Europe in the early 1980s when some manufactured goods were discovered to be harmful to the natural environment. Since that, green marketing has gone Continue reading