1173 Posts Found

Content: Online Resource | Subjects: Associations / Organizations, Finance | Industry: Finance / Banking

Content: Online Resource | Subjects: Associations / Organizations, Finance | Industry: Investment Banking

Do hedge funds improve management of the companies they invest in? A new study by Harvard Business School professor Robin Greenwood and coauthor Michael Schor argues that, in fact, hedge funds create shareholder value through anticipation of change, not necessarily delivering it.

Content: Article | Author: Robin Greenwood | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subject: Finance | Industry: Investing

Although methods for determining the value of a brand have proliferated in recent years, most are a bit flimsy, explains IESE Professor Pablo Fernández in his paper “Valoración de marcas e intangibles” (“Valuation of Brands and Intangibles”). The author analyzes and criticizes the reliability of the methods used by Damodaran, Interbrand, Financial World and Houlihan Valuation Advisors. According to his analysis, the methods are too … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Pablo Fernández | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Finance, Marketing / Sales

FinanceProfessor.com has a post (with link) about an important finance paper which potentially explains “a host of puzzles.”

Content: Article | Authors: James Mahar Jr., Xavier Gabaix | Sources: FinanceProfessor.com, Social Science Research Network (SSRN) | Subject: Finance

Ever since Activity-Based Costing turned out not to be as easy as A-B-C, businesses have longed for a simpler costing model. Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing may be the answer.

Content: Article | Authors: Robert S. Kaplan, Steven R. Anderson | Source: Business Finance Magazine | Subjects: Finance, Management

Fred Wilson blogs about how VC funds distribute returns to limited partners, in particular looking at the issue of whether it is better to distribute stock or cash.

Content: Article | Author: Fred Wilson | Source: A VC | Subjects: Finance, Venture Capital

ROI, TCO, ROA… these financial terms provide power to wield for marketing executives of complex and expensive products or services. Sales organizations of companies that embrace ROI based selling, understand every nuance of the economic argument for decision-makers from the top down. Optimizing ROI tools and sales processes sets the bar high for your competitors.

Content: Member-Contributed Content | Author: Glenn Gow | Source: Crimson Consulting Group | Subjects: Finance, Marketing / Sales

Benjamin Graham has been called the most important investment thinker of the twentieth century. As a master investor, pioneering stock analyst, and mentor to investment superstars, he has no peer.

This volume is Graham’s timeless guide to interpreting and understanding financial statements. It has long been out of print, but now joins Graham’s other masterpieces, The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis, as the three priceless keys … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Benjamin Graham, Spencer B. Meredith | Subject: Finance | Industry: Investing

Return on capital is the benchmark for comparing performance between businesses. But new math is needed when a company’s capital intensity is low.

Content: Article | Authors: Mikel Dodd, Werner Rehm | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Finance

According to the results of a recent APQC study, finance organizations, no matter what their size, are still spending almost two-thirds of their time on transaction processing, to the detriment of more strategic functions such as decision support and management. The study concluded, in part, that the respondents who are able to spend the most time in these critical areas are able to do so … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Sources: American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC), SAP | Subjects: Best Practices, Finance

The best measure for performance is to look at the discounted cash flow model of a company. The comparison of the economic profits relative to the expectations of economic profit is a one period measure, while the discounted cash flows attempt to look at the performance of the company over many time periods into the future. I have found that when I correlate the discounted … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Monitor Group | Subject: Finance

if you use earnings per share or the gross earnings per share you completely ignore any information about balance sheet management. Consequently, companies that focus on earnings are relatively inefficient in the way that they manage their balance sheet. It actually does make a difference whether you generate one dollar of earnings with one dollar of capital or generate the same dollar of earnings with … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Monitor Group | Subject: Finance

Real options are an emerging field of financial engineering that in my opinion will completely replace net present value in the next 10 years. The reason is that net present value is a flawed model for evaluating projects. The problem is that managers who experience these decisions know that that approach is full of implied assumptions that are rigid or even wrong. For example, if … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Monitor Group | Subject: Finance

Marc Andreessen summarizes and provides a copy of a 2007 paper in the Financial Analysts Journal by Tom Arnold, John Earl, and David North:

“Headlines from featured stories in Business Week, Fortune, and Forbes were collected for a 20-year period to determine whether positive stories are associated with superior future performance and negative stories are associated with inferior future performance for the featured company. “Superior” and … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Marc Andreessen | Source: Pmarca | Subjects: Finance, Miscellaneous

One of the most eminent authorities in the field of valuation is Tom Copeland, not least because of the fact that he is the co-author of the standard work in the field of valuation. Professor Copeland is the most appropriate person to ask which subjects are currently under discussion in the field of finance and financing. Are fundamental changes taking place or are the developments … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Tom Copeland | Sources: Monitor Group, NIVRA | Subjects: Finance, People

Determining a company’s true costs and profitability has always been difficult, although advancements such as activity-based costing (ABC) have helped. Professor Robert Kaplan and Acorn Systems’ Steven Anderson offer a simplified system based on time-driven ABC that leverages existing enterprise resource planning systems.

Content: Article | Author: Sarah Jane Gilbert | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Finance, Management

Even seasoned startup personnel frequently misunderstand the ins and outs of their options. This series of blog posts are intended for help employees and other people that own startup stock options. Topics to be covered include:
* How options are granted
* Vesting schedules
* Liquidation events
* Buyback rights
* Option prices & how they are set
* Early Exercise
* Multiple grants
… [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Dave Naffziger | Source: Naffziger’s Net | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Finance

Most acquirers tend to overpay because they overestimate the value they will add to the target and execute poorly in delivering promised benefits This article discusses how Boards of Directors, CEOs, CFOs and Corporate Strategists can use EVA-based valuation and performance management techniques to improve their company’s chances of success in M&A and other major investments.

Content: Article | Authors: Anurag Dwivedi, Jatin Lal, Tejpavan Gandhok | Source: Stern Stewart & Co. | Subject: Finance

Companies that focus on planning, budgeting and forecasting perform better than those that emphasize control and cost accounting and management, says this survey.

Content: Article | Author: Laurie Brannen | Source: Business Finance Magazine | Subjects: Best Practices, Finance