Essays and Research Papers on Finance

This 7 page paper uses Xerox to demonstrate how to use both the weighted average cost of capital and the capital-asset pricing model to examine the cost of capital to a company, The writer explains both the models, why they are different and their weaknesses. The bibliography cites 6 sources.

This well written 32 page paper is a comprehensive study of the use of derivatives, such as futures and options for hedging. The writer begins with an in-depth look at what hedging is, why and how it is undertaken and the motivations that drive companies into hedging policies. The second part of the paper then ...

A 20 page paper discussing the global banking industry as it is and as at least one bank is designing it to be. "The world's local bank" is the slogan of Britain's BSBC Bank. This is a marketing paper, evaluating HSBC's position in its industry, trends in the global market and suggesting steps ...

This 5 page paper considers the way in which the auditing profession does not fulfil the role it was set up to do. The writer considers the scope and extent of the problems and some of the proposed solutions. The bibliography cites 7 sources.

This 50 page paper considers the use and value of gold as an investment. This in-depth paper puts forward the hypothesis that gold has a different role to play compared with other investments and due to the nature and longevity of the commodity, as well as the psychological association and international acceptance, gold is an ...

This 7 page paper considers what is meant by job costing, how it differs from process costing, how and when it can be used, as well as the advantages and disadvantages in real world applications. The bibliography cites 4 sources.

This 9 page paper answers questions on a case study provided by the student. The writer looks at how fixed overheads can be absorbed, based on either capacity or on projected production and how different factors may impact on how they are allocated for the transfer of goods within a company.

This 5 page paper considers the different forms of corporate ownership, how and when they are used and how effective the structure of diverse or concentrated shareholders may be. The bibliography cites 10 sources.

This 20 page paper examines why companies go bankrupt. The writer considers issues such as external environment and economic factor and argues that there are four main models that create bankruptcy; the decline of the market for the product, the failure of the product to adapt to market trends, very intense pressure from competition and ...

A 6 page paper answering 5 questions about what SPEs are, why they exist and how Enron abused the tool in its accounting. The paper reviews the FASB rules under which Enron first – and legitimately, early on – began using the SPE as an accounting and functional tool. It provides examples of ...

This 9 page paper is an analysis of the Hilton Group and trends in the years 1999 and 2000. The 9 pages include 2 pages of calculations used to compute the ratios placed as an appendix to the paper. The bibliography cites 5 sources.

This 10 page paper considers why Enron failed. The paper looks at the root causes and why it was not caught earlier by the auditors and accountants, and asks if the same would, or could, have occured in the UK. The bibliography cites 6 sources.

This 7 page report discusses the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) anticipated approval of an Exposure Draft attempting to establish appropriate guidance and standards for the consolidation of special-purpose entities (SPE) may result in implementation of procedures that, hopefully, will clarify rules and applications. The reason such an issue is of particular concern at this ...

This 5 page paper answers questions posed by the student concerning the dividend discount model, what it is, how it works for both the stable and the two stage version of the model, why dividends rather than earnings per share are used and other related questions. The bibliography cites 1 source.

This 5 page paper explains what is meant by capital budgeting and why it is so important to a company. Using both real and fictitious examples the writer demonstrates how capital budgeting should be important and add value to any company. The bibliography cites 3 sources.

This 12 page paper is written in three parts. The first part looks at how UK GAAP accounting policies have impacted on the accounts of Signet PLC, the second part examines the changes that the McDonalds Corporation would have to make to comply with UK GAAP. The third part of the paper explains what transfer ...

This 5 page paper considers the way the Wall Street Journal may be used to determine if it is a good time for an initial public offering to be made. The writer shows how the financial and news pages ma be used to search for relevant information. The bibliography cites 5 sources.

10 pages. Places such as Merrill Lynch, J. P. Morgan, Chase and Citicorp are suffering these days due to the attention-getting problems of other major corporations such as Enron, Worldcom, and others. While Merrill Lynch and other financial institutions may not be doing anything in error in their accounting and finance departments, nonetheless ...

This 5 page report discusses the issue of corporate ethics and business practices in terms of what employees can and should be prosecuted for illegal and ethical infractions of corporate policies. What becomes clear in the report is that the issue of prosecuting employees still focuses on upper levels in the organizational structure. However, new ...

This 4-page paper discusses how a company determines readiness to declare bankruptcy for reorganization purposes. The essay touches on some financial models that forecast bankruptcy including the univariate financial ratio and MDA. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

This 5 page paper critically evaluates the evidence concerning the information efficiency of stock markets in terms of how effectively they reflect information about a company in that company's share price. The paper undertakes this by considering the different forms efficient market hypothesis (EMH). The bibliography cites 8 sources.

This 7-page paper provides a financial analysis of Household Finance, Corp. a subsidiary of Household International. The essay touches on the background of the corporation, analyzes its performance and provides recommendations for investment. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

This 9 page paper analyses the 2000 annual accounts of the Hilton Group PLC to consider performance ands efficiency changes comparing the result to the year 1999. The bibliography cites 4 sources.

This 6 page paper considers the impact that scandals such as Enron and WorldCom and the effect that they had on the stock markets. The paper argues that the impact was not as great as generally argued that the evidence shows the markets were already in decline. This supports the idea that the markets are ...

A 6 page paper discussing changes proposed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in interpreting the Accounting Research Bulletin (ARB) No. 51 that defines the special purpose entity (SPE) and provides guidelines on when an SPE’s results must be consolidated into the balance sheet of the company that owns it. This paper summarizes ...