Tools Used in Financial Management

For the purpose of calculating the net present value of the project, an appropriate cost of capital has to be calculated at which free cash flows of the project should be discounted. Since the project will be solely financed by selling new shares, cost of equity will be used as the discount rate. Beta for the company can be assumed to be equal to average of the betas of the competitors of the company. This average beta value comes out to be 1.2. Risk free rate is 0.17% while risk premium has been estimated to be 6%. Thus by putting these values in CAPM formula, we can find the cost of equity for the company which is 7.39%.

The purpose is that the cost capital will be used for capital budgeting, financial accounting, performance assessment, stock repurchases estimations. Also the cost of capital is a necessary basis for the expected growth and forecasted demand.

Financial Management is an important aspect of how a business operates efficiently. The way that the finances are controlled can determine how successful the company is. The finances of a business allows for the growth of the company. The five practices of financial management: capital structure decision, investment appraisal techniques, dividend policy, working capital management and financial performance assessment are critical when assessing a company. The performance of a company plays a key role on how successful the company is on meeting goals. There are different strategies and tools that a company can implement and if they are used to effectively the company can meet their goals. If a company has good finances, a good

The cost of equity is the theoretical return that equity investors expect or receive from the company for investing their funds in the company. The risk free rate that is the Government Treasury bill rate is 3.1%, the market risk premium is 7% and the beta has been calculated as

Financial leverage is the ability of the company to maneuver with financing options to meet the obligations (Investopedia, 2012). There are two leverage ratios that were analyzed for this financial statement 1) debt ratio and 2) debt-to-equity ratio.

We use Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) approach to calculate the cost of equity. The formula of CAPM is re = rf + β × (E[RMkt] – rf).

• Cost of capital must reflect current capital market conditions (current required returns) • Cost of capital must also reflect the optimal relative proportions of debt and equity the firm will

The mixture of debt-equity mix is important so as to maximize the stock price of the Costco. However, it will be significant to consider the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) as well so that it can evaluate the company targeted capital structure. Cost of capital (OC) may be used by the companies as for long term decision making, so industries that faced to take the important of Cost of capital seriously may not make the right choice by choosing the right project(Gitman’s, ).

Risk free rate + Equity Beta * (Expected return on market - Risk free rate)

The senior management of Company A employ you to advise them on the cost of capital the company should use to calculate net present value and decide whether or not to undertake a new investment project. You may assume that the new project is comparable to the average of the company’s existing projects in all respects.

* We assume the cost of capital to be a stated annual rate to facilitate calculations;

Cost of Equity is the return that stockholders require for a company. A company’s cost of equity represents the compensation that the market demands in exchange for owning the assets and bearing the risk of ownership. Based on capital markets the cost of equity varies in direct relation to the assumed risk in that specific market. The distinctive of the firm is the sensitivity to market risk (β) which depends on everything from management to its business and capital structure. Therefore past performances and present conditions have a direct effect on the overall value. Applying calculations at a divisional level allows specified markets to be analysis based on present market conditions for that service or product. The formula used to calculate Cost of Equity is:

1-a How can the CAPM be used to estimate the cost of capital for a real business investment decision?

Please refer to Appendix 2 for other considerations for cost of equity calculations. Most firms use the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to determine the cost of equity. The components that make up the CAPM include: the risk free rate, the beta of the security, and the expected market return of the stock. These values are all based on forward-looking data. The model dictates that shareholders require a return equal to the return from a risk-free investment plus an equity risk premium for bearing extra risk. Refer to Appendix 1 for a full breakdown of the CAPM formula.

3) What is the weighted average cost of capital and why is it important to estimate it? Is the