understanding the Notes to the Balance Sheet Your friend, Liz, loves to shop at Target and is now interested in investing in the company.  Tom, another friend, has told her that Target’s debt structure is risky with obligations of nearly 74% of total assets.  Liz sees that debt on the balance sheet is 65% of total assets and is confused by Tom’s comment.  Write an explanation […]

Suppose you have been hired as a financial consultant to Defense Electronics, Inc. (DEI), a large, publicly traded firm that is the market share leader in radar detection systems (RDSs). The company is looking at setting up a manufacturing plant overseas to produce a new line of RDSs. This will be a five-year project. The company bought some land three years ago for $5.5 million […]

Unit II Problem Solving Part 1 For this assignment you will conduct a comparative DuPont analysis of two companies. Using a search engine, find one large corporation included in the S&P 500. Then, find one of its largest competitors. Go to the investor relations portion of each corporation’s homepage and find their most recent annual report. Complete a DuPont analysis by calculating the ROE, ROA, […]

The director of finance has discovered an error in his WACC calculation. He did not factor in the tax rate when determining the cost of debt. UPC has a line of credit at 4% interest, and the company is taxed at 30%. Further, assume that UPC’s required rate of return on equity is 14%, and its capital structure is 40% debt and 60% equity. Additionally, […]

Bannister Legal Services generated $2 million in sales during 2010, and its year-end total assets were $1.5 million. Also, at year-end 2010, current liabilities were $500k, consisting of $200k in notes payable, $200k in accounts payable and $100k in accruals. Looking ahead at 2011, the company estimates that its assets must increase at the same rate as sales, its spontaneous liabilities will increase at the […]

The current ratio measures the degree to which current assets cover current liabilities. A high ratio indicates a good probability that the company can retire current debt. When long term debt exceeds stockholder’s equity, the current ratio will fall.  What effect will reclassifying a long term investment into cash within one year have on the current ratio? Is a firm’s true financial position stronger as […]

Evaluation of Corporate Performance The Final Project will involve applying the concepts learned in class to an analysis of a company using data from its annual report. Using the concepts from this course, you will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the company and write a report either recommending or not recommending purchase of the company stock.   Research Tip: The “Mergent” database in the […]

Imagine you have completed your bachelor’s degree at Strayer and you are searching for a job in finance, accounting or business. Using various employment websites (i.e. Monster.com, Indeed.com, USAjobs.gov) find three (3) careers in finance that you are interested in applying to. Be sure to specifically address why you are interested in the career, what qualifications you have or may need to get this position, […]

POINT: U.S. politicians frequently suggest that China needs to increase the value of the Chinese yuan against the U.S. dollar, even since China has allowed the yuan to float (within boundaries). The U.S. politicians claim that the yuan is the cause of the large U.S. trade deficit with China. This issue is periodically raised not only with currencies tied to the dollar, but also with […]

To expand operations, firms often require more funds than can be generated from operations. These additional funds require a long-term source of capital. There are two primary means of raising the required additional funds: borrowing the funds (bonds), or selling ownership (stock shares). There is a cost to the firm of raising capital using either method. The firm expects to receive a financial benefit from […]