Financial Analysis – Meaning, Definition and Methods

Financial statements are the source of information that present the economic value of a company to the external users. Several articles and books has defined the Financial analysis as to combine financial statement, financial notes, with other information, to evaluated the past, current, and future performance and financial position of company for the purpose of making investment, credit, and other economics decision. Financial Analysis is concerned with risk factors that might affect the future performance of a certain company. Financial analysis is concerned with different aspects of the company, in general financial analysis deals with profitability (ability to generate profit from delivering good and services), cash- flow generating ability (ability to generate cash inflows exceed cash outflows), liquidity (the ability to meet short term obligation), and solvency (the ability to meet long term obligation). In order to conduct a full, comprehensive analysis, analyst must collect information concerning economy, industry, competitors,Continue reading

The Performance Prism

The Performance Prism is a second generation performance measurement and management framework that has been developed by Neely, Adams and Kennerley to further aid organisations in their pursuit of measuring the overall performance of their operations. The creators of this model suggest that for organisations operating within almost any given industry, the most important aspect of management is to deliver on the expectations of the stakeholders associated with that organisation. The Performance Prism is designed to help with the complex relationships that organisations often possess with their various stakeholders within the context of its operating environment. It provides an innovative and holistic framework that directs management attention to what is important for long term success and viability and helps organisations to design, build, operate and refresh their performance measurement systems in a way that is relevant to the specific issues that they face within their given industry. This model attemptsContinue reading

Fama and French Three Factor Model

Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is the backbone of modern portfolio theory. According to CAPM, the expected return on stock is a function of its relationship with the market portfolio defined by its beta. However, Eugene Fama and Kenneth French (1992) brought together two more factors and found that stock return is based on a combination of not just market beta but also firm size and value. They came up with a new model known as Three Factor Model as an alternative to CAPM. What is Fama and French Three Factor Model? Fama and French three factor model expands on the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) by adding size and value factors in addition to the market risk factor in CAPM. This model considers the fact that value and small cap stocks out-perform markets on a regular basis. Fama and French attempted to approach and measure equity returns in aContinue reading

Financial Analysis with the DuPont Model

The dynamic environment of the world today suggests that one should be apt enough to apply his skills immanent to a system and also external with respect to credit management function. These functions include financial planning, plausibility of a defined business strategy or whether a particular merger or acquisition is feasible or not. This has to be done in a rapid yet meaningful way so as to be of immediate need to a particular firm or investor. There are basically four major reasons for an effective financial statement analysis. These have been mentioned as follows: It is useful for long-run business viability so as to determine whether a firm would be able to provide adequate business return when compared to the amount of risks taken. This is essential for outside investors. It is also used by creditors so as to find out whether a potential buyer has the capability toContinue reading

Important Perspectives on Asset Securitization

Asset securitization is the transformation of a mix of illiquid individual loans that are combined into relatively similar pools and transformed into highly liquid bonds traded in securities markets and usually, when securities are backed by non-mortgage loans, they are referred to as asset-backed securities (ABS). Securities issued exclusively against credit and loans with mortgage guarantees are referred to as mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Assets like ABS, MBS and it likes are now widely spread in fixed income portfolios at both the institutional and individual investor level. Although the largest and most well known example of asset securitization is the residential mortgage market. The dealings of asset securitization transactions vary, the typical transaction involves the sale by a bank or financial institution (who are called originator) of certain assets on its balance sheet to a trust, corporation or a separate entity, called special purpose vehicle (SPV). Thus, through the asset securitizationContinue reading

4 Important Profitability Ratios Every Business Must Calculate

While profitability ratios evaluate a business overall financial performance through appraising its capability to produce revenues in surplus of service costs as well as other expenses. There are at least four profitability ratios, which they are gross profit margin, as well net profit margin, besides return on assets, in addition to return on equity. These ratios are used to assess performance and, with other data, forecast prospect profitability. Along with that is the future viability in addition to the soundness, which will repay loans as well as credit, additionally pay interest along with dividends. Since profits are divided amongst shares, the profit per share indicates possible dividend. 1. Gross Profit Margin It demonstrates how well the business is efficiently producing or else providing products as well as services. It shows how well products are priced given the proper otherwise variable costs it takes to create or even give them. TheContinue reading