Finance slides

1. Finance – 1
PGP – 1 : Term 2
Overview – Goals n Functions
K Kiran Kumar
IIM- Indore

2. Who am I?
Kiran Kumar, K
 Education n Research profile
 PhD Finance from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (2006)
 Have about twenty+ research papers and five best research paper awards
 Work Experience
Associate Professor, IIM Indore, June 2014 onwards
 Assistant Professor, National Institute of Securities Markets, Mumbai
 Was at ISB in various positions (Researcher, Senior Researcher and Faculty ) between
April 2005 to April 2009
 Prior to that, with ICICI Research Centre (2004-05)
 Exposure - High Frequency data analysis / Market Microstructure / Derivatives
 Extensively dealt with high frequency data in my research
 One of very few academics holding proprietary NSE order book data n research
 Contact co-ordinates:
 kirankumar@iimidr.ac.in / Extn: 514
 Academic Associate : Ms Surbhi Jain
surbhijain@iimidr.ac.in

3. What is Finance?
• Finance is the study of how people and businesses
evaluate investments and raise capital to fund them.
• Finance is the art and science of managing wealth.
– It is about making decisions regarding what assets
to buy/sell and when to buy/sell these assets.
– Its main objective is to make individuals and their
businesses better off.
Why is it important for you??

4. What is corporate finance?
• Every decision that a business makes has financial
implications, and any decision which affects the
finances of a business is a corporate finance
decision.
• Defined broadly, everything that a business does fits
under the rubric of corporate finance.

5. Traditional Accounting Balance Sheet
Assets Liabilities
Fixed Assets
Debt
Equity
Short-term liabilities of the firm
Intangible Assets
Long Lived Real Assets
Assets which are not physical,
like patents & trademarks
Current Assets
Financial InvestmentsInvestments in securities &
assets of other firms
Short-lived Assets
Equity investment in firm
Debt obligations of firm
Current
Liabilties
Other
Liabilities Other long-term obligations
The Balance Sheet
By now…you are very familiar with these….

6. Reasoning behind Accounting B/Sheet
• An Abiding Belief in Book Value as the Best Estimate of Value:
Unless a substantial reason is given to do otherwise, accountants
view the historical cost as the best estimate of the value of an
asset.
• A Distrust of Market or Estimated Value: The market price of an
asset is often viewed as both much too volatile and too easily
manipulated to be used as an estimate of value for an asset.
• A Preference for under estimating value rather than over
estimating it: When there is more than one approach to valuing an
asset, accounting convention takes the view that the more
conservative (lower) estimate of value should be used rather than
the less conservative (higher) estimate of value.
– Exceptions: Current assets are valued close to market value; Banks are
also marked to market; Trend for Fair value accounting

7. The Financial View of the Firm
Assets Liabilities
Assets in Place Debt
Equity
Fixed Claim on cash flows
Little or No role in management
Fixed Maturity
Tax Deductible
Residual Claim on cash flows
Significant Role in management
Perpetual Lives
Growth Assets
Existing Investments
Generate cashflows today
Includes long lived (fixed) and
short-lived(working
capital) assets
Expected Value that will be
created by future investments
Growth Assets
Firm vs Equity ?

8. Big Picture : The Three Major Decisions
• The Allocation / Investment decision
– Where do you invest the scarce resources of your business?
– What makes for a good investment?
• The Financing decision
– Where do you raise the funds for these investments?
– Generically, what mix of owner’s money (equity) or borrowed money(debt) do
you use?
• The Dividend Decision
– How much of a firm’s funds should be reinvested in the business and how
much should be returned to the owners?

9. What are Investment Decisions / Principle?
• Scarce resources  Optimal allocation is reqd
• Not just those create revenues and profits
– Eg: New product line or expanding to new market
• But also that save money
– Eg: Building a new and more efficient system / machinery
– Even working capital decisions are invt decisions
• How much and What Inventory to maintain
• Whether and how much credit to grant to customers
• How to measure viability of these invts?
• Invest in projects that yield a return greater than the
minimum acceptable hurdle rate.
– The hurdle rate should be higher for riskier projects and reflect the financing mix used - owners’ funds
(equity) or borrowed money (debt)
– Returns on projects should be measured based on cash flows generated and the timing of these cash
flows; they should also consider both positive and negative side effects of these projects.

10. Financing Decisions : The Choices
• Equity can take different forms:
– For very small businesses: it can be owners investing
their savings
– For slightly larger businesses: it can be venture capital
– For publicly traded firms: it is common stock
• Debt can also take different forms
– For private businesses: it is usually bank loans
– For publicly traded firms: it can take the form of bonds
• Choose a financing mix that minimizes the hurdle
rate and matches the assets being financed.

11. Fixed Claim
High Priority on cash flows
Tax Deductible
Fixed Maturity
No Management Control
Residual Claim
Lowest Priority on cash flows
Not Tax Deductible
Infinite life
Management Control
Debt EquityHybrids (Combinations
of debt and equity)
Debt versus Equity
What are Financing Decisions / Principle?
• Different claim on cash flows of firm
• Degree of control each exercises on firm?

12. A Life Cycle View of Financing Choices
Stage 2
Rapid Expansion
Stage 1
Start-up
Stage 4
Mature Growth
Stage 5
Decline
Ex ternal
Financing
Revenues
Earnings
Owner’s Equity
Bank Debt
Venture Capital
Common Stock
Debt Retire debt
Repurchase stock
Ex ternal f unding
needs
High, but
constrained by
infrastructure
High, relative
to firm value.
Moderate, relative
to firm value.
Declining, as a
percent of firm
value
Int ernal financing
Low, as projects dry
up.
Common stock
Warrants
Convertibles
Stage 3
High Growth
Negative or
low
Negative or
low
Low, relative to
funding needs
High, relative to
funding needs
More than funding needs
Accessing private equity Inital Public offering Seasoned equity issue Bond issues
Financing
Transitions
Growth stage
$ Revenues/
Earnings
Time

13. The Financing Mix Question
• In deciding to raise financing for a business, is
there an optimal mix of debt and equity?
– If yes, what is the trade off that lets us determine
this optimal mix?
– If not, why not?
Tax benefit; adds discipline to Mgmt / business
Agency costs

14. What are Dividend Decisions / Principle?
• At some stage or other, all businesses grow
mature
• If there are not enough investments that earn
the hurdle rate, return the cash to
stockholders.
– The form of returns – dividends ,stock buybacks and spin offs - will depend
upon the stockholders’ characteristics.

15. First Principles / Big Picture
Corporate Finance
• Invest in projects that yield a return greater than the minimum
acceptable hurdle rate.
– The hurdle rate should be higher for riskier projects and reflect the financing mix used
- owners’ funds (equity) or borrowed money (debt)
– Returns on projects should be measured based on cash flows generated and the
timing of these cash flows; they should also consider both positive and negative side
effects of these projects.
• Choose a financing mix that minimizes the hurdle rate and
matches the assets being financed.
• If there are not enough investments that earn the hurdle rate,
return the cash to stockholders.
– The form of returns - dividends and stock buybacks - will depend upon the
stockholders’ characteristics.
• Who will take these decisions and what is their objective?

16. What n Why do we need an objective?
• An objective specifies what a decision maker is
trying to accomplish and by so doing, provides
measures that can be used to choose between
alternatives.
• Why do we need an objective?
– If an objective is not chosen, there is no systematic way to make the decisions that every
business will be confronted with at some point in time.
– A theory developed around multiple objectives of equal weight will create quandaries
when it comes to making decisions.
– The costs of choosing the wrong objective can be significant.

17. Characteristics of a Good Objective Function
• It is clear and unambiguous
• It comes with a clear and timely measure that
can be used to evaluate the success or failure of
decisions.
• It does not create costs for other entities or
groups that erase firm-specific benefits and leave
society worse off overall. As an example, assume
that a tobacco company defines its objective to
be revenue growth.

18. Goal of a Corporation?
• Is it
– Profit Max / Cost Min
– Sales Max
– Cash flow Max , NPV Max
– Sustainability? / Long term profitability max ?
– Stock price Max / Shareholders wealth max
– Employee / Customer satisfaction ?
– Society welfare max ?

19. The Objective in Decision Making
• In traditional corporate finance, the objective in decision making is to
maximize the value of the firm.
• A narrower objective is to maximize stockholder wealth. When the
stock is traded and markets are viewed to be efficient, the objective
is to maximize the stock price.
• All other goals of the firm are intermediate ones leading to firm value
maximization, or operate as constraints on firm value maximization.

20. Why traditional corporate financial theory often focuses
on maximizing stock prices as opposed to firm value?
• Stock price is easily observable and constantly
updated (unlike other measures of performance,
which may not be as easily observable, and
certainly not updated as frequently).
• If investors are rational (are they?), stock prices
reflect the wisdom of decisions, short term and
long term, instantaneously.
• The stock price is a real measure of stockholder
wealth, since stockholders can sell their stock and
receive the price now.

21. Is stock price maximization the same as profit
maximization?
• No, despite a generally high correlation
amongst stock price, EPS, and cash flow.
• Current stock price relies upon current
earnings, as well as future earnings and cash
flow.
• Some actions may cause an increase in
earnings, yet cause the stock price to
decrease (and vice versa).

22. Maximize stock prices as the only objective function
• For stock price maximization to be the only
objective in decision making, we have to assume
that
– The decision makers (managers) are responsive to the owners (stockholders) of the
firm
– Stockholder wealth is not being increased at the expense of bondholders and
lenders to the firm; only then is stockholder wealth maximization consistent with
firm value maximization.
– Markets are efficient; only then will stock prices reflect stockholder wealth.
– There are no significant social costs; only then will firms maximizing value be
consistent with the welfare of all of society.

23. The Classical Objective Function
STOCKHOLDERS
Maximize
stockholder
wealth
Hire & fire
managers
- Board
- Annual Meeting
BONDHOLDERS
Lend Money
Protect
bondholder
Interests
FINANCIAL MARKETS
SOCIETYManagers
Reveal
information
honestly and
on time
Markets are
efficient and
assess effect on
value
No Social Costs
Costs can be
traced to firm

24. How managers can max shareholders’ wealth?
• Max Stock Price
– What determines stock price??
– Like any other asset, ability to generate cash flow
now and in future!!
– • Size of cash flows
• Timing of the cash flow
stream
• Riskiness of the cash flows

25. The Agency Cost Problem
• The interests of managers, stockholders,
bondholders and society can diverge. What is good
for one group may not necessarily for another.
– Managers may have other interests (job security, perks, compensation) that they put
over stockholder wealth maximization.
– Actions that make stockholders better off (increasing dividends, investing in risky
projects) may make bondholders worse off.
– Actions that increase stock price may not necessarily increase stockholder wealth, if
markets are not efficient or information is imperfect.
– Actions that makes firms better off may create such large social costs that they make
society worse off.
• Agency costs refer to the conflicts of interest that
arise between all of these different groups.

26. What can go wrong?
STOCKHOLDERS
Managers put
their interests
above stockholders
Have little control
over managers
BONDHOLDERS
Lend Money
Bondholders can
get ripped off
FINANCIAL MARKETS
SOCIETYManagers
Delay bad
news or
provide
misleading
information
Markets make
mistakes and
can over react
Significant Social Costs
Some costs cannot be
traced to firm

27. I. Stockholder Interests vs. Management Interests
• Theory: The stockholders have significant control
over management. The mechanisms for
disciplining management are the annual meeting
and the board of directors.
• Practice: Neither mechanism is as effective in
disciplining management as theory posits.

28. The Annual Meeting as a disciplinary venue
• The power of stockholders to act at annual
meetings is diluted by three factors
– Most small stockholders do not go to meetings because the cost of going to
the meeting exceeds the value of their holdings.
– Incumbent management starts off with a clear advantage when it comes to
the exercising of proxies. Proxies that are not voted becomes votes for
incumbent management.
– For large stockholders, the path of least resistance, when confronted by
managers that they do not like, is to vote with their feet.

29. II. Stockholders' objectives vs.
Bondholders' objectives
• In theory: there is no conflict of interests
between stockholders and bondholders.
• In practice: Stockholders may maximize their
wealth at the expense of bondholders.
– Increasing dividends significantly: When firms pay cash out as dividends,
lenders to the firm are hurt and stockholders may be helped. This is because
the firm becomes riskier without the cash.
– Taking riskier projects than those agreed to at the outset: Lenders base
interest rates on their perceptions of how risky a firm’s investments are. If
stockholders then take on riskier investments, lenders will be hurt.
– Borrowing more on the same assets: If lenders do not protect themselves, a
firm can borrow more money and make all existing lenders worse off.

30. III. Firms and Financial Markets
• In theory: Financial markets are efficient.
Managers convey information honestly and
truthfully to financial markets, and financial
markets make reasoned judgments of 'true
value'. As a consequence-
– A company that invests in good long term projects will be rewarded.
– Short term accounting gimmicks will not lead to increases in market value.
– Stock price performance is a good measure of management performance.
• In practice: There are some holes in the
'Efficient Markets' assumption.

31. Managers control the release of
information to the general public
• There is evidence that
– they suppress information, generally negative information
– they delay the releasing of bad news
• bad earnings reports
• other news
– they sometimes reveal fraudulent information

32. Even when information is revealed to financial markets,
the market value that is set by demand and supply may
contain errors.
• Prices are much more volatile than justified by
the underlying fundamentals
– Eg. Did the true value of equities really decline by 20% on October 19, 1987?
• Financial markets overreact to news, both good
and bad
• Financial markets are short-sighted, and do not
consider the long-term implications of actions
taken by the firm
– Eg. the focus on next quarter's earnings
• Financial markets are manipulated by insiders;
Prices do not have any relationship to value.

33. Are Markets Short Sighted?
Some evidence that they are not..
• There are hundreds of start-up and small firms, with
no earnings expected in the near future, that raise
money on financial markets
• If the evidence suggests anything, it is that markets
do not value current earnings and cashflows enough
and value future earnings and cashflows too much.
– Low PE stocks are underpriced relative to high PE stocks
• The market response to research and development
and investment expenditure is generally positive

34. IV. Firms and Society
• In theory: There are no costs associated with the firm
that cannot be traced to the firm and charged to it.
• In practice: Financial decisions can create social costs
and benefits.
– A social cost or benefit is a cost or benefit that accrues to society as a whole and NOT to the
firm making the decision.
• -environmental costs (pollution, health costs, etc..)
• Quality of Life' costs (traffic, housing, safety, etc.)
– Examples of social benefits include:
• creating employment in areas with high unemployment
• supporting development in inner cities
• creating access to goods in areas where such access does not exist

35. So this is what can go wrong...
STOCKHOLDERS
Managers put
their interests
above stockholders
Have little control
over managers
BONDHOLDERS
Lend Money
Bondholders can
get ripped off
FINANCIAL MARKETS
SOCIETYManagers
Delay bad
news or
provide
misleading
information
Markets make
mistakes and
can over react
Significant Social Costs
Some costs cannot be
traced to firm

36. Shareholder
value
Profitability
Invested
capital
Revenue
Costs
Working
capital
Fixed
capital
• Greater customer service
(higher market share,
increased gross margins).
• Greater product availability
• Lower cost of goods sold,
transportation, warehousing,
material handling and
distribution management
costs
• Lower raw materials and
finished goods inventory
• Shorter ‘order-to-cash’
cycles
•Fewer physical assets (e.g.
trucks, warehouses, material
handling equipment)
Increasing Shareholder Value

37. 10 ways to create shareholder value
• Do not manage earnings or provide earnings guidance
– Increase value-creating spending on
• R&D, Advertising, Maintenance and hiring
– Accountant’s bottomline approximates neither a company’s
value nor its change in value over the reporting period.
– Firms compromise value when they invest at rates below the
cost of capital (overinvestment) or forgo invt in value-
creating opportunities (underinvestment) in an attempt to
boost short-term earnings.

38. 10 ways to create shareholder value
• Make strategic decisions that maximize Expected
value, even at the expense of lowering near-term
earnings
• Make acquisitions that maximise expected value,
even at the expense of lowering near-term earnings.
• Carry only assets that maximize value
• Return cash to shareholders when there no credible
value-creating opportunities to invest in the
business.

39. 10 ways to create shareholder value
• Reward CEOs and other senior executives for
delivering superior long-term performance
• Reward operating-unit executives adding superior
multiyear value.
• Reward middle managers and frontline employees for
delivering superior performance on the key value
drivers that they influence directly.
• Require senior executive to bear the risks of ownership
just as shareholders do.
• Provide investors with value-relevant info.