Module- SLP: THE ROLE OF THE FINANCIAL MANAGER
For this assignment, go to the Yahoo Stock Screener and use this page to find a publicly traded company that you find interesting and would like to study for this class. The company should not be a bank or a financial institution of any kind including insurance companies.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Write a two to three page paper discussing what you find interesting about this company, and whether or not you think this company will have a successful future. Get to the company's web site, into the "investors relations" section and provide some financial highlights of your company for the past year. Indicate which stock exchange the company is listed on and what was the past 12 month rate of return (% gain or loss) to investors who bought shares of this company a year ago and sold the shares yesterday. This rate of return is called the one-year Holding Period Return, or HPR. Also state what is the most recent price of the shares on the company?
In addition discuss briefly some information about the top management team including the CEO and CFO. If there are any issues involved with the company that relate to the issues discussed in the case assignment, mention them briefly as well.
Module Overview
What is a financial manager and how does s/he fit in to the overall corporate structure? We begin by assessing the role of the financial manager in the modern corporation.
Managers, in general, guide the organization. They make sure that things get done. Combining organizational resources - people, material, transportation, and the like - managers make sure that everything comes together in a way that meets the company's objectives.
Management has been defined as "the process by which a cooperative group directs the actions of others towards a common goal." Others see it in terms of organizational objectives; coordinating resources; planning; and directing, controlling, and managing people. Of course, they are all right. These are all essential elements to the role of management in the modern corporation.
A manager must have excellent interpersonal skills, be able to create and disseminate information, be a solid decision maker, and more. As if this skill list was not demanding enough, changes in the 21st century make the role of the manager even more challenging.
The role of the financial manager, in particular, has very specific demands. The financial manager sees everything and is involved, to some extent, in everything. We will be looking at the issue of what I would call "epistemic privilege" in the modular case-based analysis.
The role of financial manager covers two different operations:
• Capital Financing
• Operational Financing
The financial manager must be concerned with the monies necessary in order to get the operation up and running, and expanding. This is the matter of capital finance.
On the other hand, the financial manager must also be concerned with financing ongoing activities. This we call operational finance.
The former is discretionary. A company can move in different directions and move into new projects at its own discretion. However, operational finance is a must. Meeting payroll, paying taxes, servicing equipment, and so on, is a mandatory element of any business. The lack of this mandatory operational capital is the number one reason companies go bankrupt.
Most people see the financial manager as simply a treasurer. However, the financial manager is an integral part of the overall management team. In some sense, s/he is the cynosure. In this module we will be assessing the role of the financial manager in the overall corporate structure.
Banking and Finance (2015) Pearson Learning Solution, New York.
Financial Statements (2015) Pearson Learning Solution, New York.