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Nature of Financial Management

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Chapter 3 - NATURE OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT What is finance Finance can be defined as he art and science of managing money. Virtually all individuals and organizations earn or raise money and spend or invest money. Finance is concerned with the process, institutions, markets and instruments involved in the transfer of money among individuals, business and governments. Nature of Financial Management Financial Management as an academic discipline has undergone fundamental changes as regard its scope and coverage. In the earlier years, it was treated synonymously with the raising of funds. In the later years, its broader scope, included in addition to procurement of funds, efficient use of resources. Scope of Financial Management …show more content…

iii) Profit maximization, as an objective is too narrow. It fails to take into account the social considerations as also the obligations to various interests of workers, consumers, society as well as ethical trade practices. Further, most business leaders believe that adoption of ethical standards strengthen their competitive positions. iv) Profits do not necessarily result in cash flows available to the stockholder. Owners receive cash flow in the form of either cash dividends paid to them or proceeds from selling their shares for a higher price than paid initially. Modern Approach - The alternative to profit maximization is wealth maximization. This is also known as Value maximization or Net Present Worth maximization. Value is represented by the market price of the company’s equity shares. Prices in the share market at a given point of time, are the result of many factors like general economic outlook, particular outlook if the companies under consideration, technical factors and even mass psychology. However taken on a long-term basis, the share market prices of a company’s shares do reflect the value, which the various parties put on a company. Normally, the value is a function of two factors (i) The likely rate of earnings per share of a company (EPS) and (ii) The capitalization rate EPS are calculated by dividing the periods total earnings available for the firm’s common shares by

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