1173 Posts Found

Inflation has a corrosive effect on business performance, but like any economic threat, it tends to separate the wheat from the chaff. Those companies able to protect themselves from inflation’s negative effects can exploit an inflationary period to improve their competitive advantage. With prospects for inflation on the rise over the midterm, companies need to start now to make sure their organizations are “inflation ready.” … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Daniel Stelter, Ulrich Pidun | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Finance

GFmag.com, the Global Finance website, presents a free database of information on finance and economics – including such topics as M&A, macroeconomics, FDI flows, and income and taxation – with interactive maps and tools that help present the data in a user-friendly format.

Developed and designed by project coordinator Alessandro Magno and prepared by seasoned journalists Tina Aridas and Denise Bedell, each page presents facts, figures … [ Read more ]

Content: Online Resource | Source: GFmag.com | Subjects: Economics, Finance, Reference / Search

Identifying and understanding important individual investors can help corporate executives predict the direction of share prices.

Content: Article | Authors: Jonathan W. Witter, Kevin P. Coyne | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Finance

This measure of business performance is the best indicator of corporate success.

Content: Article | Authors: Greg Rotz, Ken Favaro | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Finance, Management

Even though CAPM does not work, many (most) still use it with some bad results. Why? One reason may be that few people understand other models. Thus Wes Gray (the mastermind behind the Empirical Finance Blog) goes on to explain the Fama French model, link to Sharpe’s page for data, and then gives spreadsheet examples of how to use it. Simply great job! [FinanceProfessor annotation] … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Wes Gray | Source: Empirical Finance Blog | Subject: Finance

Four principles can help you make great financial decisions—even when the CFO’s not in the room.

Content: Article | Authors: Bill Huyett, Richard Dobbs, Tim Koller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Finance, Management

No business has an inherent value in and of itself; it has a different value to different owners or potential owners—a value based on how they manage it and what strategy they pursue.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Bill Huyett, Richard Dobbs, Tim Koller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Finance, Management, Strategy

When performance is an issue, most executives focus on the income statement—they cut costs. But tight management of the balance sheet often liberates cash and creates more value for shareholders.

Content: Article | Authors: David Sweig, Michael C. Mankins, Mike Baxter | Source: Bain & Company | Subjects: Finance, Management

Companies often want to make decisions based on “the number,” or a precise estimate of a project’s financial potential. When companies only consider a single scenario, they almost always feel as if they have to be conservative, leading them to prioritize “sure things” in known markets over risky ventures in new markets.

While that approach might be reasonable when a company is launching a modest line … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Scott D. Anthony | Source: BusinessWeek | Subjects: Finance, Innovation, Management

This paper explains how companies try to use the budgeting system to integrate everything, but that the different needs are incompatible, leading to companies having problems with their planning and budgeting systems. It goes on to suggest a series of actions to improve the planning and budgeting process.

Content: Article | Author: Mike Bourne | Source: think Cranfield | Subjects: Finance, Management

Use a combination of three measures — revenue growth, economic profit, and free cash flow — to set business targets, track strategy execution, and evaluate management performance. These three measures capture virtually all the high-level financial information that is important for an operating unit. As long as internal management reporting processes are designed to report these measures accurately, they provide excellent feedback on whether the … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Greg Rotz, Ken Favaro | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Finance, Management

Many executives strive for stable earnings growth, but research shows that investors don’t worry about variability.

Content: Article | Authors: Bin Jiang, Tim Koller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Finance, Management

Five reporters stumbled on what seems like a basic question: What is money? The unsettling answer they found: Money is fiction. [Hat tip to FinanceProfessor.com]

Content: Multimedia Content | Source: NPR | Subjects: Economics, Finance

In this video presentation, McKinsey partner Tim Koller explores the four guiding principles of corporate finance that all executives can use to home in on value creation when they make strategic decisions.

Content: Multimedia Content | Author: Tim Koller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Finance, Management

Although receiving a venture term sheet to fund your company is a cause for celebration, please consider the various booby traps that it may contain before you break out the party hats. This is a top 10 list of things an entrepreneur should understand about term sheets.

Content: Article | Authors: Guy Kawasaki, Nitin Gupta | Source: OPEN Forum (American Express) | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Finance

Good companies haven’t always been good investments. Total returns to shareholders may not necessarily be a good measure of management performance. How fast is your treadmill moving?

Content: Article | Authors: Richard F. Dobbs, Tim Koller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Finance

Researchers find no connection between improved overall firm performance and the offering of stock option compensation to rank-and-file workers.

Content: Article | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Finance, Organizational Behavior

If inflation rises again, companies will have to do more than just match it to keep up—they’ll have to beat it.

Multimedia bonus: An interactive exhibit allows you to see over time how much a company’s earnings must increase in order to keep cash flow stable.

Content: Article | Authors: David Wessels, Marc H. Goedhart, Tim Koller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Finance

After 40 years of preaching, we have convinced everybody that cash flow is more important than profit. (Everybody except Wall Street, and Wall Street will never learn that lesson. There are no slower learners than securities analysts. I can testify to that; I was one. So they and the companies they promote still run into credit crunches, which kill about four of every 10 new … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Peter F. Drucker | Source: Context Magazine | Subjects: Accounting, Finance

As the Initial Public Offering (IPO) market gains momentum, more organizations are evaluating the option of becoming a publicly traded company, and the processes associated with an IPO. Going public certainly represents a significant event and major achievement for any company. With all of its rewards, however, an IPO can be complicated, time-consuming, and involve a high degree of risk. The process requires an extraordinary … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Deloitte | Subjects: Finance, Management, Strategy