About
Corporate finance deals with the sources of funding and the capital structure of corporations and the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, as well as the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources. Although it is in principle different from managerial finance which studies the financial management of all firms, rather than corporations alone, the main concepts in the study of corporate finance are applicable to the financial problems of all firms.
Corporate finance generally involves balancing risk and profitability, while attempting to maximize an entity’s assets, net incoming cash flow and the value of its stock, and generically entails three primary areas of capital resource allocation. In the first, “capital budgeting”, management must choose which “projects” (if any) to undertake. The discipline of capital budgeting may employ standard business valuation techniques or even extend to real options valuation.
The second, “sources of capital” relates to how these investments are to be funded: investment capital can be provided through different sources, such as by shareholders, in the form of equity (privately or via an initial public offering), creditors, often in the form of bonds, and the firm’s operations (cash flow). Short-term funding or working capital is mostly provided by banks extending a line of credit. The balance between these elements forms the company’s capital structure.
The third, “the dividend policy”, requires management to determine whether any unappropriated profit (excess cash) is to be retained for future investment / operational requirements, or instead to be distributed to shareholders, and if so, in what form. Short term financial management is often termed “working capital management”, and relates to cash-, inventory- and debtors management.
Corporate finance also includes within its scope business valuation, stock investing, or investment management. An investment is an acquisition of an asset in the hope that it will maintain or increase its value over time that will in hope give back a higher rate of return when it comes to disbursing dividends. In investment management – in choosing a portfolio – one has to use financial analysis to determine what, how much and when to invest.
