This report presents the importance of financial decision making in the accounting and finance department of an organization. It analyzes the financial position and performance of SKANSKA PLC and concludes that it is not feasible to invest in the company.
Contribute Materials
Your contribution can guide someone’s learning journey. Share your
documents today.
Financial Decision Making Report
Secure Best Marks with AI Grader
Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
Executive Summary This report presents about the importance of financial decision making in respect to the accounting and the finance department in an organization. Along with analyzing the financial position and performance of theSKANSKAPLC from the perspective of an investors. Based on eth findings, it is not feasible to invest in the SKANSKA PLC.
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................4 TASK 1......................................................................................................................................4 Evaluating the importance of accounting and finance function within an organization........4 TASK 2......................................................................................................................................7 Part a: Calculation of the financial ratios for the two years...................................................7 Part b: Analysis and interpretation of the financial ratios......................................................8 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................10 REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................11
INTRODUCTION This report is about the financial decision making of theSKANSKAPLC which is a construction company based in UK. The company was started in the year 1984and is having a presence in most of European nations which is its key strength and is willing to expand busines in other countries in next 10 years. This provides an insight on the importance of the accounting and finance function in an organization and determining the financial position and performance of the company. TASK 1 Evaluating the importance of accounting and finance function within an organization 1.Accounting department: Financial accounting The financial accounting plays an important part which allows the organization in keeping track of their financial transactions. It is the branch of accounting which financial transactions of the business is recorded which is further used for undertaking business decisions. For example, the accounting department of SKANSKA PLC will use it in generating various types of accounting reportswhich mainly involves income statements, balance sheet and the cash flow statement of the company. This will help in communicating about the overall health of the organization to both internal and external users (Atrill and McLaney, 2016). Based upon this, the users take decision whether to invest in the company or not. Along the reports prepared can be further used for the purpose of effectively comparing it with the other companies within the same industry in order to gain an insight about the company’s performance in comparison to its competitors. But it requires staff with good knowledge and skills of financial accounting for preparing the reports. Management accounting(MA) The management accounting is mainly concerned with the effectively providing accounting information to the internal management team for undertaking business decisions. This form of accounting is beneficial for the company and is widely used now. The MA is used in effectively planning the business activities through the way of timely preparation and presentation of the information at different interval (Ax and Greve, 2017). It involves forecasted budgets and other relevant information will assist in planning the business activities more appropriately. For instance, SKANSKA PLC can be benefited through the reports prepared under this approach in terms of taking relevant decisions on account of introducing new product in the market. This will provide support at different stages from the
Paraphrase This Document
Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser
planning stage till the execution with a complete breakdown of the details pertaining to the production capabilities along with gaining actual picture of the whole market. Thus, this function of accounting department is very crucial in undertaking various decisions. But on the other hand, for making it an easy task requires highly experienced and qualified personnel having knowledge in this work. Tax function The tax function of the organization helps it in complying it with the various tax regulations. The main function of tax department is to effectively analyze and comply with the tax regulation such as tax return, business support and consulting, determining the transaction taxes, carrying out the accounting practices appropriately for determining the income tax liability of the organization (Correspondent, 2020). In an organization like SKANSKA PLC, the accounting department also performs tax function which includes the timely filling of the IT return and other legal requirement which help in ensuring that the company is working as per the standards and there is no problem which might result into government intervention. On the other hand, it is important to understand that the for ensuring effective tax functioning, the organization requires to have staff having immense knowledge in relation to the taxation as not everyone is god in it and requires special skills. Auditing function The auditing function in an organization helps it in identifying the areas where in which the business can save its time and money through the way of examining the daily tasks of the business and identifying the areas requiring further improvement. The auditing function also helps in identifying the areas which is a complete waste for the organization along with determining the fraud or misappropriation of the funds and improper business transactions by the employees (Munene, Njangiru and Ngungu, 2016). For the company like SKANSKA PLC. A formal internal audit function will include various tasks other than detecting fraud. It mainly involves the policies and procedures which are required to be taken care of and examined periodically which helps in ensuring or minimizing the chances of fraud or risk and other losses impacting an organization. It will also monitor the examining of the credit lines which is being provided to the customers in order to reduce the loss along with carrying out the internal audit tests in order to ensure compliance with the policy. On the flip side, it is essential for the organization to ensure that the company is having highly qualifiedstaffwhoiseligibleforconductingtheauditbytherelevantprofessional
association. Thus, this function is very important for an organization for monitoring and improving the organization’s functioning. 2.Finance department: Investment function The most important function of the finance division is effectively allocating the capital into the long term assets of the business which will provide benefit in future. It is also referred to as the capital budgeting and follows 2 main aspects of investment decisions which are- proper evaluation of the new investment proposals in regard to the profits and the comparison of the cut off rate with the current existing investment rate (Zhu, 2020). For instance, the investment decision function in SKANSKA PLC will help it in not only distributing capital to the long- term assets which mainly involves the decisions pertaining to the usage of the funds which will be obtained from the selling of the assets in which the funds are invested which might be less profitable. It also involves the decision in relation to the decomposing of the assets (depreciable) which is not adding a value to the business and can be used for utilizing those funds for the purpose of securing other beneficial assets. Financing function Financial decision function is a significant function which an organization must perform. It is essential to settle on wise choices about when, where and by what means should a business secure asset. Assets can be obtained through numerous ways and channels.There are various sources of financing like debt, equity, letter credit, venture funding’s and loans throughwhichcompanycanstartanewventureorexpandexistingbusiness. Comprehensively a right proportion of an equity and obligation must be kept up. A firm will in general profit most when the market estimation of an organization's stock maximizes which is not exclusively is an indication of development for the firm yet additionally expands investors wealth (Ferri and Lipari, 2019). Then again, the utilization of obligation influences the risk and return of an investor. It is more hazardous however it might build the profit for equity reserves. Thus, for effectively exercising this function, SKANSKA PLC requires to have highly proficient staffs having in depth knowledge in the field of finance. The finance professional aims at expanding investors get back with least risk. In such a situation the market estimation of the firm will expand and consequently an ideal capital structure would be accomplished. Other than equity and obligation there are a few different tools which are utilized in choosing a firm capital structure. Dividend function
Dividend refers to the amount which is paid out of profits to the shareholders of the company as a return on the capital invested by them in the company.Acquiring benefit or a positive return is a typical point of most of the business entities. Be that as it may, the key capacity a finance manager acts in the event of productivity is to conclude whether to convey all the benefits to the investor or hold all the benefits or appropriate piece of the benefits to the investor and hold the other half in the business (Jatmiko and Kusumastuti, 2017). It's the budgetary supervisor's obligation to choose an ideal dividend strategy which concentrates on maximizing the market estimation of the firm. Subsequently an ideal dividend payout proportion is determined. It is a typical practice to deliver standard profits in the event of productivity Another route is to give extra offers to existing investors. But along with it, SKANSKA PLC requires to comply with the contractual and other legal obligations like while providing credit, the lending party might enforce certain terms in regard to the payback of the dividend on the future date. Therefore, the organization requires to ensure that the dividend payout does not affect the terms and conditions of the loan in any way. Working capital function Working capital refers to the financial metric which states about the operational liquidity of the company in respect to meeting with the daily business requirements.The working capital function of a business entity is mainly focused on ensuring that the company is having sufficient amount of funds to meet its daily business requirements. It is critical to keep up a liquidity position of a firm to evade bankruptcy. Company's benefit, liquidity and risks all are related with the investment made in the current resources. To keep up a tradeoff among benefit and liquidity it is imperative to put adequate assets in current resources (Honková, 2019). In any case, since current resources don't procure anything for business consequently an appropriate figuring must be done prior to putting resources into current resources. Current resources ought to be appropriately valued and discarded from time to time in order to reduce the risk once they become non beneficial. The current resources of the organization must be utilized in the midst of liquidity issues and at the time of indebtedness. Thus, in this way, working capital function will help SKANSKA PLC in sufficiently meeting with its daily operational needs. TASK 2 Part a: Calculation of the financial ratios for the two years (i)Return on capital employed
Secure Best Marks with AI Grader
Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
ParticularsFormula20182019 EBIT750975 Total assets44708070 Current liabilities6452220 Capital employed Total assets - current liabilities38255850 Return on capital employed19.61%16.67% (ii)Net profit margin ParticularsFormula20182019 Net profit600675 Sales48006000 Net profit ratio Net profit / sales * 10012.5%11.25% (iii)Current ratio ParticularsFormula20182019 Current assets15152070 Current liabilities6452220 Current ratio Current assets / current liabilities2.350.93 (iv)Debtor’s collection period ParticularsFormula20182019 Trade receivables9001200 Sales48006000 Debtors collection period Trade receivable s / Sales *3656873 (v)Creditor’s collection period ParticularsFormula20182019 Trade payables5702100 Purchase27004800
Creditors collection period Trade payables / purchase *36577160 Part b: Analysis and interpretation of the financial ratios (i) Return on capital employed (ROCE) The ROCE is used for measuring the profitability of the business in respect to how efficiently company is utilizing its capital employed in generating profits for the busines. This metric is mainly used by the investors in order to determine whether this company is suitable for the investment purpose or not. Higher the ratio more favorable from the investor’s point of view. The ROCE ofSKANSKA PLC has shown a decrease in trend as it has reduced to 17% in 2019 as against the previous year’s 20%. The main reason behind the change is the increase in the capital employed with inaccurate change in the operating profit of the company (Easton et.al.,2018). The change in ratio is not equal which has resulted into lower ROCE. Therefore, in order to improve the situation, it is recommended that the company should implement strategy which will help in ensuring the company is effectively making use of its capital employed in terms of earning higher profits. (ii)Net profit(NP)margin The NP margin is also a profitability ratio which is a proportion of net profit to the net sales. This ratio assists in determining whether the company is effective in earning high profits through its sales and is also an indicator of the financial health. It is mainly utilized by the lenders and the investors for knowing the ability of the company in converting its sales intoprofits(Alexander,2018).Thelowerratiohighlightsthattheorganizationis experiencing higher expenses pertaining to the sales and thus, increases the requirement of the management to reduce it. In the given case, the NP margin has decreased to 11% in the year 2019 as compared to the previous year of 13%, this decline in ratio conveys that the SKANSKA PLC in not effectively managing its expenses. Therefore, for improving the situation the company requires to implement strategy for reducing its expenses along with increasing the revenue. (iii)Current ratio This ratio measures the short term position of the company in respect to meeting with its short-term obligation with the current assets available without any need for taking additional funds. This ratio is very important depicting the short term management of eth
business ability. It is desirable to have ratio higher than 1. Current ratio is mostly crucial for the manufacturing organizations which requires sufficient amount of funds for meeting the daily needs of raw material and the entire production cycle (Hasanaj and Kuqi, 2019).The SKANSKA PLC is having the current ratio of less than 1 in comparison to the last year of 2.35 timeswhich indicates that the company is facing the financial problem in carrying out the daily business activities. This increases the need for the company to make efforts to reduce its current liabilities along with increasing its current assets with the aim of increasing the ratio. This ratio can be considered as an alarming bell for the company and if prompt action is not taken then it may lead to the situation of cash crunch. (iv)Debtor’s collection period Debtor’s collection period basically refers to the amount of time it will take for the management in respect to collecting the due amount from the customers to whom goods are sold on credit and payment of which is required to made on due date. The longer the duration means that the company is not effective in collecting the due amount which might result into increase in the risk of turning into bad debts. TheSKANSKA PLC is having the ratio of 73 days in 2019 as compared to 68 days in 2018. There is an increase in the days which should concern the company (Heath and Goksu, 2017). The main reason for this is that the company is not having an ineffective credit policy which in turn has provided more credit to the customers for the rising the sales. Along with that, the slowdown of the economy might have impacted the cash flow. Therefore, company should implement revised credit policy and an effective team for collection for making the ratio favorable. (v) Creditor’s collection period This ratio refers to the time the company takes to pay the due amount to its creditors and vendors. It is mainly desirable to have higher ratio but up to a certain limit. This is because higher number of days means that the company is facing financial problem and thus paying back slowly.SKANKSA PLC has increased the ratio to 170 days from 77 days in 2018 which is beneficial for the company as it can retain the amount for longer period and can make an investment of it but the higher ratio might have a negative impact. Thus, the SKANSKA PLC needs to reduce the ratio little by quickly making payment to its creditors. CONCLUSION Therefore, based on the above analysis, it can be recommended that the current position ofSKANSKA PLC is not sound, thus, Camden Limited should notprovide loan to
Paraphrase This Document
Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser
it, by looking at the ROCE, current ratio and debtor’s collection period which are very poor, thus, making it riskier for Camden Limited. This is because of the reason that the company is struggling in terms of liquidity and profitability and for improving the circumstances requires implementing remedial actions on a prompt basis.
REFERENCES Books and Journals Alexander, J., 2018.Financial planning & analysis and performance management. John Wiley & Sons. Atrill, P. and McLaney, E., 2016.Financial Accounting for Decision Makers 8th Edn. Pearson Higher Ed. Ax, C. and Greve, J., 2017. Adoption of management accounting innovations: Organizational culturecompatibilityandperceivedoutcomes.ManagementAccounting Research.34. pp.59-74. Correspondent, I.T.R., 2020. Tax functions must break through ‘midlife crisis’ for a better future.International Tax Review. Easton,P.D.andet.al.,2018.Financialstatementanalysis&valuation.Boston,MA: Cambridge Business Publishers. Ferri, G. and Lipari, F., 2019. Sustainable Finance Management. InThe Rise of Green Finance in Europe(pp. 79-93). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Hasanaj, P. and Kuqi, B., 2019. Analysis of Financial Statements.Humanities and Social Science Research.2(2).pp.p17-p17. Heath, M.R.M. and Goksu, E.B., 2017.Financial stability analysis: What are the data needs?. International Monetary Fund. Honková, I., 2019. Working capital and its impact on business performance.Scientific papers of the University of Pardubice. Series D, Faculty of Economics and Administration. 46/2019. Jatmiko, I. and Kusumastuti, R., 2017.Ownership Structure and Dividend Policy in Non- Financial Company. Bandung Islamic University. Munene, L.W., Njangiru, M.J. and Ngungu, S.W., 2016. Effect of auditing on financial performanceofWaterandSanitationCompanyinKirinyagaCounty, Kenya.Journal of Finance and Accounting.4(5). p.271. Zhu, Z., 2020. Optimal investment policy for a company under inflation risk.Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal.7(1).pp.125-130.