Study And Analysis On Cash Flow Statements Finance Essay

Study And Analysis On Cash Flow Statements Finance Essay The Statement of Cash Flows is one of three very important financial reports that managers and investors look at when analyzing a companys past or present financial status. The balance sheet and the income statement are the other two reports. All of these reports are very important in running a successful business, but I personally feel that the cash flow statement is the most important. It is like the blood of a company since it would not survive successfully without it. Cash on hand can actually be much more important than income, profits, assets, and liabilities put together, especially in the early stages of our company. The cash flow statement tells us how much cash we have on hand after all costs are met. It shows how much cash we started with and how much we pay out. There are two parts to the Cash Flow Statement which are the top and bottom halves. The top half deals with the inflow and outflow of our companys cash. The bottom half of the statement reports where the funds end up. Just like the balance sheet, the top and bottom halves of a cash flow statement match. Knowing just how important it is to have cash on hand to pay the bills we want to make sure and review our cash flow statement regularly (How to Prepare, 2010). The top half of the cash flow statement deals with the inflow and outflow of cash. This tracks where our company gets our money and what we spend those funds on. Cash flow is a little more honest than an income statement, because the cash flow statement shows money coming in only when we actually deposit it and money going out only when we physically write out a check (How to Prepare, 2010). Because the cash flow statement reflects the actual receipt of cash, no matter where it comes from, the entries are a bit different from the revenue shown in a companys income statement. These funds are usually made up of gross receipts on sales, dividend and interest income, and invested capital. Gross receipts on sales represent the total money that we take in on sales during the period. Gross receipts are based on our gross revenue, of course, but they also take into account when you actually receive payment. Dividend and interest income is the income that we receive from savings accounts and other securities (Dividend Income, 2010). This is one of those amounts that are also reported on the income statement and should be the same as long as we actually receive the money during the period covered by the cash flow statement. Invested capital is part of the owners equity in the balance sheet. Although it does not represent revenue from our business operations and would not be part o f the income statement, it can be a source of cash for our company. The cash flow statement keeps track of the costs and expenses that we incur for anything and everything. Some of the expenses appear in the income statement and some dont because they dont directly relate to our costs of doing business. These funds consist of cost of goods produced, sales, administration, interest expense, taxes ECT. The cost of goods produced is exactly that, the cost incurred to produce our product or service during the period. Sales expenses are the same expenses that appear in an income statement except that paying off bills or postponing payments may change the amounts (. On to the bottom half of the cash flow statement which shows where our money is ending up. When our companys cash reserves raise the money flows into one or more of our asset accounts. The bottom half of the cash flow statement keeps track of what is happening to those accounts. This part of the Statement consists of changes in liquid assets and net change in cash position. With cash flowing in and out of the company, our liquid assets are going to change during the period covered by the cash flow statement. The items listed in this portion of the cash flow statement are the same ones that appear in the balance sheet. Raising the level of our liquid asset accounts has the effect of strengthening our cash position. In order to properly construct a cash flow analysis we have to look at three very important activities which are operating, investing and financing (Cash Flow, 2010). Operating activities are the cash components that are generated from the sales of the companies goods or products effecting the core business operation. These include the purchase of raw materials, production costs, advertising cost and even the delivery to customers (Cash Flow, 2010). Investing activities are straight forward items that report adjustments in the balances of fixed asset accounts like equipment, buildings, land and vehicles. Investing activities include making and collecting loans and acquiring and disposing of investments and property, plant and equipment (Investing, 2010). Financing activities are cash adjustments to fixed liabilities and owners equity. Cash increases when the company takes up a loan or raised capital, when dividends are paid out, cash decreases accordingly. Financing activities involve liabilities and owners equity items. They include obtaining resources from owners and providing them with a return on their investments, and borrowing money from creditors to repay the amounts borrowed (Financing, 2010). There are a few main objectives of the Statement of Cash flows one of which is to help assess the timing, amounts and the uncertainty of future cash flows (Revenues, 2010). This is one of the quarterly financial reports that publicly traded companies are required to release to the public. According to Investopedia, because public companies tend to use accrual accounting, the income statements they release each quarter may not necessarily reflect changes in their cash positions. The statement of cash flows is very important to businesses because it helps investors see where the company can benefit from better cash management. There are many profitable companies today that still fail at adequately managing their cash flow so it is important to be able to see where the weaknesses are in order to correct them. In conclusion the statement of cash flows is very important for companies and people that want to invest into a certain company. It shows how well a company manages its cash incomings and outgoings as well as showing how profitable a company might be or become. It is a very clear document to understand so that we dont fall victim to making a profit while still going broke. It is also helpful for the companies finance department so that they can see where the company stands in order to get more potential investors. It is a great resource to look at in order to recap a companys financial standing that most people are able to understand.

Repetition and Metaphor in the Short Story, Eleven by Sandra Cisneros E

Use of Repetition and Metaphor in Sandra Cisneros' Short Story, Eleven In the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros, a young girl named Rachel is characterized. Through a specific incident, Cisneros shows how Rachel does not act as old as eleven ideally should. Through repetition and metaphor, Cisneros alludes to Rachel?s personality and childish views. This story basically tells of a girl?s pride being hurt. It was Rachel?s birthday and her teacher embarrassed her by stating a raggedy old sweater was hers. The metaphors Rachel uses to describe this article of clothing and her age throughout the story are indicators that she is still a child and that she lives a simple life. For example, Rachel said ?Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside ...

Black Hawk Down Analysis

In the 1990s, Somalia is undergoing a famine along with a civil war. Many civilians have died as a result of the war, and so the UN has intervened and started a peacekeeping operation there, with a base just outside Mogadishu. Unfortunately, the Somalis, distrusful of the UN, have declared war on everyone involved in the operation. In response to this, the US army deploys Delta Force to aimed at undermining the power of the president of Somalia. They plan a mission to capture Omar Salad Elmi and Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid, two of the President’s top advisers.The operation is planned out, and everything seems foolproof. Before they leave however, a lieutenant is removed from duty due to a seizure, and so a less experienced soldier must take his place and lead the crew. Delta Force is deployed to capture the two men in Mogadishu, and all goes according to plan. Helicopters are flown in over the city, and they can see tires burning, which is the Somali’s signaling that the y were coming. They then convince a taxi driver to show them where the two men will be, and they go in with helicopters and armored vehicles.They successfully capture the two advisers, and wait for the extraction team to come pull them out of the hostile territory. On the way, the extraction team takes heavy fire, and one of the helicopters is hit with an RPG. It goes into a tailspin and hits a rooftop before crashing into a street. Two of the passengers in the helicopter crawl out and away, but the other two have extensive injuries and have to stay in the helicopter. Another helicopter is told to take the place of the one that went down.This helicopter is quickly shot down as well, but lands with less injuries. At this point the armored vehicles are diverted from the path of retrieving the two captured men and told to go to the first crash site, retrieve the soldiers there, and then move to the second crash site and secure it. On the way to the crash site, one of the armored vehicl es is hit by an RPG, and men are thrown out of it. The convoy stops and retrieves the wounded, but in the process another soldier is shot. Throughout the mission, the armored convoy is being given directions by a plane overhead.At this point, the confusion is too great and the directions are inaccurate. Roadblocks are being set up by the Somalis, which makes it impossible for the convoys to reach the crash sites. Unbeknownst to the ground forces, the convoys give up trying to reach the crash sites and head back to the UN safe zone, in the stadium. Meanwhile, ground forces are also trying to reach the crash sites. A group of men reach the first crash site, and set up a defensive perimeter around it, with the base inside the house that the helicopter crashed into.They attempt to treat the wounded soldiers, and hold back Somali forces. At the second crash site, two snipers are dropped in by helicopter to try to retrieve the wounded. They find one soldier injured and alive, but as night falls, both of them are killed and the injured soldier is taken captive. Under cover of darkness, the Somalis attack the first crash site, but air support from the military holds them back until help can arrive. A relief convoy arrives and rescues the wounded, but many of the soldiers are forced to run back to the stadium.As they arrive, they are greeted with hundreds of smiling and cheering Somalis. In the end, there were 19 American, and over 1,000 Somali casualties. The injured soldier that was captured at the helicopter crash site was released almost two weeks later. The two snipers that went in to retrieve the injured soldier were awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. Soon after, the president of Somalia was killed in a battle with a rival group. The following day, the general in control of the operation resigned. In terms of accuracy, most of this movie is biased toward the Americans.In the beginning, there is a scene where the Americans are flying over the UN food supply trucks that were sent in to feed Somalia, and in this scene, Aidid’s men mercilessly gun down civilians in order to take the food trucks. In reality, that event never even happened. Throughout the whole movie, director Ridley Scott added and took away events to delude the viewer into believing that the Somalis were evil people who had no motive, and just wanted to be in control. When this war actually happened, there were two phases of UN involvement.The movie mixes them together in a way that suits its purpose. Phase one was actually a benevolent move by the UN; food trucks were brought in an attempt to feed the starving citizens of Somalia. This lasted for awhile, but not forever. Then came phase two, which was the violent phase. The US Army came in to the city with a, â€Å"military campaign to to install a fresh political system in Somalia. † The Somalians resented this. Another, more blatant inaccuracy was when the movie announced onscreen that â€Å"Aididâ€℠¢s militia first killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and then began to target US troops.†The opposite of this is actually true. US troops were targeting Aidid before the Pakistanis were killed by a Somali mob. The UN interfered with Aidid’s affairs before the events of the movie even took place. This omission of information is meant to convince the viewers that the attack on the US troops was unprovoked and aggressive, to indicate that the US was in the right and Aidid’s army was in the wrong. Also, the movie makes it seem as though this is the first time US troops had engaged in any kind of action in Mogadishu.In actuality, the Delta Force had flown in over Mogadishu many times before to harrass Aidid and his supporters. US troops â€Å"rotor-washed† houses and people in downtown Mogadishu, meaning they would hover above the town in helicopters and blow down structures with the force of the wind from the rotors. The final and most glaring piece of evidence still remains. Through the entire film, it is not explained why the US troops and Delta Force were met with such violence and antagonism on the streets of Mogadishu.The movie plot and the way the characters are presented leads the viewer to believe that the Somalians are just naturally aggressive and ferocious people. The real reason is that months before, on July 12, 1993, the dominant groups in Mogadishu held a meeting to discuss a peace proposal from a main official at the UN, Jonathan Howe. Many prominent leaders of groups opposed to Aidid were also there. During the meeting, US helicopters attacked the building that the gathering was in, and slaughtered Somali religious leaders and elders.This enraged the Somalis, and so when they met the US troops in the streets of Mogadishu, they took out their full anger and ferocity on them in retaliation for what was done at the meeting. This film is skewed to favor of the US, in order to sway viewers to believe that what the UN did was entirel y justifiable, that the Somalis have short fuses and will fight, unprovoked, at the drop of a hat. The viewers of this movie would naturally be led to have a negative attitude toward Somalia, and ultimately in future engagements, be biased towards the US military as heroically on the side of justice.The US military establishment was more than pleased with this depiction of the October 3, 1993 raid on Somalia, in which 18 US soldiers lost their lives and two Black Hawk helicopters were destroyed. As evidence, thousands of videotapes of the film were sent to US military bases abroad and the producer of the movie, Jerry Bruckheimer was widely quoted as telling General John Keane, â€Å"General, we’re going to make a movie that you and your army will be proud of. † After seeing the film, General Keane told reporters â€Å"He did that, and we thank him. †

How the Mongols Took Over Baghdad in 1258

How the Mongols Took Over Baghdad in 1258 It took just thirteen days for the Ilkhanate Mongols and their allies to bring the Golden Age of Islam crashing down.  Eye-witnesses reported that the mighty Tigris River ran black with ink from the precious books and documents destroyed along with the Grand Library of Baghdad, or Bayt al-Hikmah.  Nobody knows for sure how many citizens of the Abbasid Empire died; estimates range from 90,000 to 200,000 up to 1,000,000.  In two short weeks, the seat of learning and culture for the entire Muslim world was conquered and ruined. Baghdad had been a sleepy fishing village on the Tigris before it was promoted to the status of the capital city by the great Abbasid caliph al-Mansur in 762.  His grandson, Harun al-Rashid, subsidized scientists, religious scholars, poets, and artists, who flocked to the city and made it an academic jewel of the medieval world.  The scholars and writers produced countless manuscripts and books between the late 8th century and 1258.  These books were written on a new technology imported from China after the Battle of Talas River, a technology called paper.  Soon, most of the people of Baghdad were literate and well-read. Mongols Unite Far to the east of Baghdad, meanwhile, a young warrior called Temujin managed to unite the Mongols and took the title Genghis Khan.  It would be his grandson, Hulagu, who would push the boundaries of the Mongol Empire into what is now Iraq and Syria.  Hulagus primary purpose was to solidify his grip on the heartland of the Ilkhanate in Persia.  He first completely annihilated the fanatical Shiite group known as the Assassins, destroying their mountain-top stronghold in Persia, and then marched south to demand that the Abbasids capitulate. The Caliph Mustasim heard rumors of the Mongols advance but was confident that the entire Muslim world would rise up to defend its ruler if need be.  However, the Sunni caliph had recently insulted his Shiite subjects, and his own Shiite grand vizier, al-Alkamzi, may have even invited the Mongols to attack the poorly-led caliphate. Late in 1257, Hulagu sent a message to Mustasim demanding that he open the gates of Baghdad to the Mongols and their Christian allies from Georgia.  Mustasim replied that the Mongol leader should return to where he came from.  Hulagus mighty army marched on, surrounding the Abbasid capital, and slaughtering the caliphs army that sallied out to meet them.   The Mongols Attack Baghdad held out for twelve more days, but it could not withstand the Mongols.  Once the citys walls fell, the hordes rushed in and collected mountains of silver, gold, and jewels.  Hundreds of thousands of Baghdadis died, slaughtered by Hulagus troops or their Georgian allies.  Books from the Bayt al-Hikmah, or House of Wisdom, were thrown into the Tigris, supposedly, so many that a horse could have walked across the river on them. The caliphs beautiful palace of exotic woods was burned to the ground, and the caliph himself was executed.  The Mongols believed that spilling royal blood could cause natural disasters like earthquakes.  Just to be safe, they wrapped Mustasim in a carpet and rode their horses over him, trampling him to death. The fall of Baghdad signaled the end of the Abbasid Caliphate.  It was also the high point of Mongol conquest in the Middle East.  Distracted by their own dynastic politics, the Mongols made a half-hearted attempt to conquer Egypt but were defeated at the Battle of Ayn Jalut in 1280.  The Mongol Empire would grow no further in the Middle East.

6 Steps of the Scientific Method

6 Steps of the Scientific Method The scientific method is a systematic way of learning about the world around us and answering questions. The key difference between the scientific method and other ways of acquiring knowledge are forming a hypothesis and then testing it with an experiment. The Six Steps The number of steps can vary from one description to another (which mainly happens when data and analysis are separated into separate steps), however, this is a fairly standard list of the six  scientific method steps that you are expected to know for any science class: Purpose/QuestionAsk a question.ResearchConduct background research. Write down your sources so you can cite your references. In the modern era, a lot of your research may be conducted online. Scroll to the bottom of articles to check the references. Even if you cant access the full text of a published article, you can usually view the abstract to see the summary of other experiments. Interview experts on a topic. The more you know about a subject, the easier it will be to conduct your investigation.HypothesisPropose a hypothesis. This is a sort of educated guess about what you expect. It is a statement used to predict the outcome of an experiment. Usually, a hypothesis is written in terms of cause and effect. Alternatively, it may describe the relationship between two phenomena. One type of hypothesis is the null hypothesis or the no-difference hypothesis. This is an easy type of hypothesis to test because it assumes changing a variable will have no effect on the outcome. In reality, you probably expect a change but rejecting a hypothesis may be more useful than accepting one. ExperimentDesign and perform an experiment to test your hypothesis. An experiment has an independent and dependent variable. You change or control the independent variable and record the effect it has on the dependent variable. Its important to change only one variable for an experiment rather than try to combine the effects of variables in an experiment. For example, if you want to test the effects of light intensity and fertilizer concentration on the growth rate of a plant, youre really looking at two separate experiments.Data/AnalysisRecord observations and analyze the meaning of the data. Often, youll prepare a table or graph of the data. Dont throw out data points you think are bad or that dont support your predictions. Some of the most incredible discoveries in science were made because the data looked wrong! Once you have the data, you may need to perform a mathematical analysis to support or refute your hypothesis.ConclusionConclude whether to accept or reject your hypothesi s. There is no right or wrong outcome to an experiment, so either result is fine. Note accepting a hypothesis does not necessarily mean its correct! Sometimes repeating an experiment may give a different result. In other cases, a hypothesis may predict an outcome, yet you might draw an incorrect conclusion. Communicate your results. The results may be compiled into a lab report or formally submitted as a paper. Whether you accept or reject the hypothesis, you likely learned something about the subject and may wish to revise the original hypothesis or form a new one for a future experiment. When Are There Seven Steps? Sometimes the scientific method is taught with seven steps instead of six. In this model, the first step of the scientific method is to make observations. Really, even if you dont make observations formally, you think about prior experiences with a subject in order to ask a question or solve a problem. Formal observations are a type of brainstorming that can help you find an idea and form a hypothesis. Observe your subject and record everything about it. Include colors, timing, sounds, temperatures, changes, behavior, and anything that strikes you as interesting or significant. Variables When you design an experiment, you are controlling and measuring variables. There are three types of variables: Controlled Variables:  You can have as many  controlled variables  as you like. These are parts of the experiment that you try to keep constant throughout an experiment so that they wont interfere with your test. Writing down controlled variables is a good idea because it helps make your experiment  reproducible, which is important in science! If you have trouble duplicating results from one experiment to another, there may be a controlled variable that you missed.Independent Variable:  This is the variable you control.Dependent Variable:  This is the variable you measure. It is called the  dependent variable  because it  depends  on the independent variable.

Financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Financial management - Essay Example The Return on Equity, ROE, measures how much profit a company earned in comparison to the money shareholders have invested. Generally, the higher it is the more promising a company is. Potential investors rely on ROE when deciding whether or not to invest their money in a company. Furthermore, financial institutions use the ROE to assess capability of a company meeting its loan repayment obligations (Bull, p.29). Net profit margin is the ratio of net profits to net sales of a company.   This ratio reflects companys efficiency especially within its industry.   Investors are attracted to stocks of companies with high net profit margin (Moyer, James and William, p.70) It is the ratio of company market share price to Earnings per share and is mostly used as a valuation of investments indicator. P/E reflects the premium paid for a share and thus growth investors look for higher P/E ratios in contrast to value investors. It reflects future earnings growth of a company and consequently implying it has no debt risk to banks. . It is important for investors and financial institutions to note that financial ratios are subject to weakness in accounting methods. In addition, some ratios on their own are meaningless and thus need to be combined with others to draw a conclusive financial decision. Thus, in my opinion financial ratios should be used as indicators and not as complete evidence of company financial position (Beyer,

Management - Managing People For A Competitive Advantage Essay

Management - Managing People For A Competitive Advantage - Essay Example A common and visible example of unfair discrimination is a company asking for women applicants to be over 40 (so as to avoid the loss incurring out of leave of absence due to child birth). (B) Fair Discrimination Discrimination usually carries a negative connotation, kind of a stereotype for the word. However, the term does have a positive note, discriminations such as ‘teens below 16 should not be allowed to drive’ is a positive stereotype for the term as it is rationally correct. Fair discrimination is when the discrimination is (Featherman, Hall and Krislov 77-79) (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration): (i) Mandatory by law (example: Children below 16 cannot drive) (ii) â€Å"Based on affirmative action† (Simon 3-7) (example: setting up quotas based on gender or race). The positive effects of affirmative action are quite controversial, Rai and Critzer (2000, p. 8-11) argue that government authorized or forceful discrimination (quotas) is also unfair discrimination as such an activity might allow a person with lower qualification get the ‘quota advantage’.