Sivut

maanantai 7. marraskuuta 2016

PBL 7: Lack of Knowledge in Accounting

Where does profit come from?

Profit is generally a financial benefit when expenses, costs and taxes are less than a revenue from a business activity. Profit is the money a company makes after all expenses, it is the same if it’s a small business or a multinational company. It is very important to be profitable to be able to invest in the business in the long run and staying healthy as a company. There are three kinds of profit that can be analyzed: gross profit, operating profit and net profit. They all give valuable information about the company and explain how the company performs, when the numbers can be analyzed using different periods of time or be compared against competitors in the same industry. All three kinds of profit can be found on the income statement.

The first one is gross profit. It is the sales minus the cost of the goods sold. The sales is usually the first line in the income statement and is very important for a business that is performing well. Cost of goods sold might be also referred as CGS. If you divide gross profit with sakes you get the gross profit margin, which is presented in percentages.
The second kind of profit is operating profit. It is calculated by deducting operating expenses from the gross profit. Operating expenses are expenses such as salaries, general and administrative costs. They are often referred as SG&A. If you divide operating profit with sales, you get the operating profit margin.
The last one is then net profit. It is the income left after deducting all expenses. In this case you need to deduct your taxes and interest as well. If you divide net profit with sales, you get the net profit margin.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/profit.asp

Income statement and balance sheet

Income statement is an important document for accountants and owners of a business. It’s sometimes referred as profit and loss statement. It demonstrates the profitability of a company during a time period, like 3 months or a fiscal year. It can be important for a lender to research a company if it will issue a loan. It shows if a company is spending properly, if it has enough sales or if it is profitable. The income statement is in general the same for all companies, but is more complex if it’s a big business. The following should be included nonetheless:

A. Revenues and Gains
1. Revenues from primary activities
2. Revenues or income from secondary activities
3. Gains (e.g., gain on the sale of long-term assets, gain on lawsuits)

B. Expenses and Losses 
1. Expenses involved in primary activities
2. Expenses from secondary activities 
3. Losses (e.g., loss on the sale of long-term assets, loss on lawsuits)

Revenues from primary activities is often referred as operating revenues. They are revenues from the core activities, such as revenues for sale coffee and pastries in a coffee shop. Revenues from secondary activities is something not related with the core activities and is often referred as nonoperational activities. Rent or investments can fall into this category. These revenues are reported when the sale is done, not when the business receives its money. The gains are income that comes when other assets are sold, such as a company car.

Expenses involved in primary activities are such expenses that are needed to get normal business revenues. All money paid out of a company is not seen as expenses, such as paying a bank loan. Also investments are expenses, but they are divided often on many years, despite being paid at once.
Expenses from secondary activities are something not directly related with primary business function, such as interest on a loan. It is a finance function.
Losses is loss for sale of long-term assets, such as selling some property with a loss, it is not directly associated with the primary business function.

http://www.accountingcoach.com/income-statement/explanation/
http://www.accountingcoach.com/income-statement/explanation/2

A balance sheet is a financial statement where a company’s assets, liabilities and shareholder’s equity at a specific time is documented.
Assets are divided depending on their liquidity, that is how easily they can be converted into cash. Current assets can be converted into cash in one year and non-current or long-term takes longer

Current assets

  • Cash and cash equivalents
  • Marketable securities: equity and debt securities that can be sold easily.
  • Accounts receivable: money that customers owe the company
  • Inventory
  • Prepaid expenses: something of value already paid such as insuranceLong-term assets

Long-term assets

  • Fixed assets: such as machinery
  • Intangible assets: such as intellectual property


Liabilities is what a company owes to outside parties, such as debts, bills it has to pay and salaries to its workers. They are divided into current and long-term liabilities.

Current Liabilities
Current portion of long-term debt
Bank indebtedness
Interest payable
Rent, tax and utilities
Customer prepayments
Wages payable
Dividends

Long-term Liabilities
Long-term debt
Pension Fund liability
Deferred tax liability

Some liabilities are off-balance sheet, such as operating leases.

Shareholder’s equity is money attributable to shareholders. It’s also known as net assets, because it is total assets deducted the liabilities. Retained earnings are net earnings a company can reinvest in its operations or pay off debt. The rest of that money is distributed to shareholders. Treasury stock is a stock the company has repurchased or never issued. It can be sold later. Additional paid-in capital is what shareholders have paid in the company in excess over the common and preferred stock par value.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/balancesheet.asp

sunnuntai 6. marraskuuta 2016

PBL 6: How To Start a Company

Problem- Lack of knowledge to survive in a business world. How to start an own company?

Learning Objectives-

How to maintain a business?

Maintaining a good and solid business is a key to success. It’s about hard work and being focused for a long time. A business might not be successful from start, but how you manage your business is often more important than the business idea.

Some key facts about maintaining your business:

One thing that can’t be emphasized enough is planning. A business owner needs to have a detailed plan for its operations and have to ability to foresee the future. When there is a plan it’s easier to see how the business is doing, how the revenues are coming in. It’s also very important to know what happens day-to-day.

Customers are the key to get sales and to have more sales in the future. In order to have happy customers you need to have something valuable to sell but also take good care of the customers, it is crucial to have good customer service.

If you want to make some money, as a business-owner you can’t be to fond of security, you need to be able to take some risks. If there is no risk, there is probably no reward.
To stay in the game you need to have great products a retain a competitive edge against the competition.


How to fund your business?

When starting a business and before revenues are coming in you need money to rent a place of business, pay salaries, pay for equipment and so on. Your company does not probably have that mony, so you need some financing. The most obvious way to finance is to use your savings. If you don´t have enough savings you could try to have your friends and family to lend you some money to get things going. It’s a bit risky if you can’t pay them back, you might end up having problems with the relationships with them.

When you have a bit more solid base or an exceptional idea you could get financing from investors, a bank or some other establishment. A bank needs some securities and a detailed businessplan to give a loan. Investors might lend the money for higher interest, but often they might as well be interested in buying a part of your company or wanting a royalty of your future sales, so you need to evaluate what is good for you and your business.


How does the limited liability company manage their obligations in 
Finland?                                                                                                                                             

A Finnish Limited Liability Company (LLC) is an equivalent to a British Ltd or a German GmbH. It can be a private limited company where there needs to be a total of shares for 2500€ or a Public where there needs to be shares of 80000€. The capital is then the company’s assets and can be used for business purposes. The shareholders responsibility is limited to their shares, they are not personally responsible for debts. A shareholder can be a natural person or a legal person (e.g a LLC).

The Board is the top managing organ of a company and must have at least one member and one substitute member. One member must reside in the European Economic Area. In the articles of association the term of the board members is agreed. It can be fixed for an amount of time or be ongoing.

The vast majority of companies appoint a managing director, but it’s not mandatory.
The shareholder assembly is the top organ in a company and is limited by shares. The assembly must be convened 6 months after the end of the fiscal year. There is not a need to have an actual meeting, it can be held in writing as well.

Limited Companies usually needs to have a qualified auditor. If a company is operating a very small scale business, it’s not mandatory.

Usually the relationships between shareholders is regulated in the shareholders agreement. It is normal practice to agree on such issues as pre-emption rights, regulations about financing responsibility, profit distribution policy, prohibition of competition, and the means of settlement of litigation.

Liability for losses or damages in a LLC is usually limited to the shares, but management has a larger responsibility. The founders, members of the board and the supervisory board as well as the managing director are liable in damages for any loss they cause the company in their work whether wilfully or negligently.

maanantai 3. lokakuuta 2016

PBL 5: Price War in the Petrol Business

Learning objectives?

How does price affect demand of petrol?

The main factors affecting price of petrol are:
·       the price of crude oil, refining costs and profits
·       Refining costs and profits
·       distribution and marketing costs and profits
·       Taxes

Price of petrol varies a lot between countries and regions. The main component of the total price is crude oil and it is roughly the same for all the markets. The price depends on production volume and demand and also many other factors. Refining costs has some variation, but it is not very significant. Technology improves efficiency and can produce better products for less money, but needs significant investments as well. Small markets sell in small volumes and needs more profits to survive. Bigger markets can if they are efficient sell with less profits, but stay competitive. The taxes is the factor that differentiates markets the most, the amount of taxes people pay for the petrol can be close to zero or even 75% of the price.

The price elasticity of petrol is fairly low. When prices rise, people still need to get to work and to the supermarket. There are assumptions how much a price-increase of 10% impacts the demand. In this case in the US the demand decreases only by 2,6% or 5,8% in the long run.  


It is also notable that a fall in demand does not affect prices greatly. In 2014 in the UK when demand had gone down sharply prices went up sharply. Sale of petrol could be seen a bit dysfunctional. When demand drops, the production is also dropped and then price for crude oil rises. Also in this case the dollar was expensive and when oil is traded in dollars it affected markets such as UK using pounds.


The demand for oil is rising in the developing countries, such as China. It pushes the demand, but the correlation between petrol-prices is not that simple. In Europe for instance people drive less and petrol is stockpiled in large quantities,  therefore it may be sold at a higher price despite current cheaper oil. What keeps the prices down is at least in the UK a very competitive market situation. When there is a lot of competition, it is good for the customer because prices should stay at a reasonable level due to possibility to get the product from a competitor.








How can a petrol station market their service to customers?
A petrol station is not making a lot of revenues from petrol, when it´s very competitive. An owner must ensure there is other goods for sale that interests the consumer. It is obvious that a consumer wants to visit a clean shop, where the pumps are maintained and the overall impression is not dirty. Competitive pricing is also very important, but one can very seldom be the cheapest by a large margin, so it is more like something you have to be rather than a way of making money. Good promotions if you fill your tank might be useful, serving tasty foods or having groceries the consumer wants could work very well the get additional profits. One thing that is often overlooked at petrol stations is as well actually providing servicing and maintenance of cars, which might be a good way to generate additional income.




How does price war affect the company and the consumer?
The sale of petrol is a highly competitive business. It has a lot to do with supermarkets being more popular and small shops being forced to adjust to the situation. In 1992 petrol stations at supermarkets had a market share of 11%, but in 2015 it was 44%. It has forced smaller shops selling petrol to quit and during this period the number of petrol stations have halved. This is a rather clear that competition is fierce and only the strong will survive or have survived. Opening a petrol station is not an affordable venture, it costs about 2 million pounds to open one in the UK. When it´s a heavily competed business it is really hard to get revenues and get an interest on the investment.


For the consumer competition is a good thing. It keeps prices as low as possible, but prices are not at all stable. Prices have been ranging during recent years from under 1 pound per liter to almost 1,5 pounds per liter. In the start of this year it was estimated that prices might drop to 0,90 pounds per liter, because supermarket-chains like Lidle and Aldi are entering the business. They are selling petrol for 5-8 p per liter excluding wholesale price and taxes. This forecast has not materialized at least yet, because prices have stayed over the 1 pound limit per liter.



maanantai 26. syyskuuta 2016

Economic problems in Venezuela

HOW TO STABILIZE THE ECONOMY?
Why is the economy failing?

The facts:
·       
  •      Unemployment is high, might climb from 17% to 30% in a year.
  • ·       Worst negative growth rate by IMF
  • ·       Shortage of basic food supplies
  • ·       Ninth most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International
  • ·       Oil revenues make half of the country´s budget and 95% of foreign trade.

Venezuelan economy has been dependent of oil revenues and International debt for long. During recent years the oil prices have been falling and as a result of that state revenues have been falling. During recent years oil money has been used to fund spending and many private companies have been forced under state control and therefore economy has not been functioning. Nicolas Maduro´s government has been blaming the crisis on the US, because they are said to have cut oil production and as a result of that Venezuelan revenues have been falling. The government have been printing money as a solution to the problem, it has not worked and inflation has sky-rocketed and prices of necessities are constantly rising. Many producers say that they can´t go on producing basic goods, because they do it with a loss. This is a huge problem for regular people, because they can´t afford buying food for their families. Venezuela is funding the price-controlled system with foreign money, but it has not worked, it has made the lives of ordinary people harsh and difficult. Venezuela has also used their gold reserve to pay off their debt, but this cannot go on for long.


How does Government save its economy?
Venezuela has not done the most obvious thing to save its economy, holding off payments to its creditors. As a sovereign country no one can force them to pay, but Venezuela is rather waiting to oil prices to rise again and even pay off their debt, despite the humanitarian crisis. If they don´t pay it can weaken their position as an oil exporting country.


The current government might have a hard time saving the economy, but the opposition might do a better job when they have not been actively making the poor decisions in the future. The first thing would be addressing the humanitarian crisis. The National Assembly team made a 10-point plan to 
fight corruption, change the policy of deficit spending and tackle inflation.


Many parts of the government, central bank and national run oil-company should be revised in order to get rid of corruption. Venezuela should also find international allies to gain support for their new policies. They should also fight crime, which is a huge problem in a country with low buying power and huge crisis. They can´t spend on social welfare if they don´t make money. This mismanagement of the government in addition with falling oil prices is the biggest reason for their problems.

If Venezuela decides to adopt new policies what should be done? Many things in the government 
should be changed, but it´s not enough. These steps could help Venezuela´s situation.

No more price controls: Price controls make it impossible for producers to make a profit, if prices are heavily controlled but producers have to pay wages and other costs without price control.

Free the currency: The Bolivar is a fixed rate currency. It´s politically good for support, but foreign companies can´t make a profit and flee the country and export is difficult when it has to be done with dollars.

Get rid of subsidies: Venezuela spends more on subsidies than on education and healthcare. This is very harmful for the people and the country. This is not an easy step, because some people will suffer, but it is needed to make the economy healthier.

International loans: Venezuela is not in a good position to negotiate with creditors, but if they were to ask for help from the IMF, they could get money, but as well knowledge how to solve the crisis. They would have to make strict reforms, but the outcome could be a lot better than the situation today.


Diversing the economy

Firstly it has to be said, the Venezuelan economy is not at all diverse. They mainly export oil products, some agricultural products and some aluminum. When the country will not be able to sell oil for a high price forever, they should do something to have other sources of income. They should think how they can have a sound domestic demand and what products they can sell abroad, besides oil. Venezuela has large agricultural sector and producers should be able to sell with a profit. Prices should not be decided by the government. If that is possible, then growth could happen and jobs could be created. This would have positive impact on domestic demand with resources already available.


If growth is a target, then education should be considered important and more money should be spent on that. Now less in spent on healthcare and education, than on subsidies and this will have far reaching consequences if nothing is done. Educated people will start businesses and generate taxes and create jobs absolutely necessary for diversifying the economy. In some oil-producing Arab countries they have had similar issues and started to tackle these problems. Some key elements are that the impact of price volatility of oil should be reduced, energy should be produced without oil, public sector should not compete with the private sector, it should strengthen it and security should be a major concern. These are all big problems in Venezuela. If these had some kind of solutions, Venezuela might be a better place to live when babies grow up, than it is at the moment for their parents.

maanantai 19. syyskuuta 2016

3rd PBL opening trigger

Solving a problem: How to manage a company after growth?

An owner sees his/hers company grow, but encounters problems associated with its growth. How can it be handled?

Why do companies need to restructure their operations when company size changes?

A company should regularly evaluate is there is there a need for restructure. It´s important to evaluate are the business goals met and if not could better results be accomplished with restructuring inside the organization. If the answer is yes, then a company should decide carefully how to manage the restructure process and have a clear agenda how to achieve its goals.

Often restructuring is needed when a company is preparared for sale, merger or an employee buyout. A common reason might as well be difficulties keeping sales above break-even point. In addition to these an impotant reason could be preparation for future growth.

Steps for restructure

·      Diagnosis – Firstly it´s needed to evaluate every possible situation and scenario
·      Planning – Formulating of strategic and operational plans
·      Implementation – is closely tied with the business restructuring plan and is monitored by owners and stakeholders.

The Result

When a new plan is implemented and approved in an organization it replaces the former business plan. When a company grows, it will usually become more complex and it is the case with the new plan as well. The new plan is more detailed to suit the growing company and hopefully prepare it for future growth.



What is a value chain?

Value chain a set of interrelated activities a company uses to create competitive advantage. The idea was pioneered by Michael Porter and is divided in 5 steps.

The primary business activities are:

·      Inbound logistics – receiving, warehousing and inventory control
·      Operations – value creating activities which transform inputs into products
·      Outbound logistics – activities to get the product to customers
·      Marketing and sales – To get the customers to buy the product
·      Service – maintaining and enhancing a products value


In addition to succeed a company needs effective supporting activities or processes: procurement, technology development, Human Resources Management and Firm Infrastructure.

What impact does value chain have on a company?

An effective value chain can be a competitive edge for a business, a tool to generate more sales, be cost-efficient and as a result make money for its owners and secure employment for its employees. Valuechain has a big impact on the entire process in production, sales, marketing, business and every single division in a company if it´s correctly applicated. It makes companies greener, the money spent goes in the right direction and employees are happy when the work flow is functioning.


maanantai 12. syyskuuta 2016

2nd PBL opening trigger

In the opening trigger we discussed the case of Fuji Film and its problems and came up with problems as follows:

Discussions:
Fujifilm Thrived by changing focus: CEO Says Firm, Kodak Saw Digital Age Coming, 'The Question Was, What to do about it'
To reach a goal, to adapt a market, we need innovation. They need to be innovative. Because of the demands of market Fujifilm venture into new businesses too. They utilize their market, their technology. They make some targets.

Problem:  Facing small (falling) revenues. Unemployment were rising.  The problem was marketing. They need to be innovative. Lack of experts. How do they decide which area to develop more. Demand of market.  They are losing their main revenue source.  The company is losing their main revenue source, so what they do about it?  How we define the company’s strategy?  The company’s main function is to make profit to the owner.  Strategy is to adapt to the market. They formed new strategy and they succeed. But the challenge was utilization.
What are the factors affecting the choice of strategy?
A good strategic choice process enables a company to make sustainable strategic decisions. Management is in charge of evaluating different strategies and on basis of that to present and to decide which strategies the company should adapt. It can be for instance about which markets to go to, what kind of products they should produce or should they sell parts of its operations.
First management should decide what´s the fundament purpose of the organization. It should lay out who benefits from the organization and how. It should be clear how performance is measured. Management should also be clear about how decisions impact the company and why they are being made. Company should decide what they are aiming for (how much sales, quality, quantity etc).
Management should evaluate company´s strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities, and summarize in a swot-analysis.
The choice of strategy can include an abcd-model. Autencity: it should be a real choice, where there are many options to choose from. It should be targeted to specific group as well and it should be useful. Believability: the choice should be documented, discussed and if necessary it can be explained afterwards. The process should be conducted in way that is is clear way the choice was made. Communicability: it should be conducted in a way that it is understood and not misunderstood. It should be easy to understand the key concepts. Deliverability: Strategic choice should be one that can be executed. Should be able to break down in doable steps. It should be concrete things which can be done in the real-world.

How do companies utilize the resources to reach the goal?
      Business resources should be managed wisely. It´s anything of value as you operate business successfully. Understand your resources in order to use them fully and gain best return of your investment. You your human business resources, your employees with respect so that they enjoy working, become skilled workers and have good motivation. Use your tangible resources economically, so that they are operational longer and brings savings when maintenance and new purchases are less needed. Negotiate your financial agreements in order to have most funds for your core business operations.

What is the purpose of determining company's business strategy?
      If you want your business to be successful, you need to have a good business strategy. It should be clear and understandable. If it´s not the business won´t grow optimally. A business strategy should point out what your strengths and weaknesses are and what the market has to offer. It defines what needs to be done in order to reach business goals. It also helps making decisions about resource allocations, such as possible hirings, investments in production. It also ensures all departments work in the same direction and there is no conflicts between them.
How do companies form strategies to tackle (to handle) challenges?
Strategic management involves both continual steering of the strategy and performance via strategic plans and the tackling of one-off issues and challenges, such as entering a new market, dealing with an aging workforce, defending against a competitor’s attack, or responding to market down-turns or other shifts in external conditions. The Strategy Challenge process can be used to tackle a wide range of issues, from very simple cases up to larger and more complex situations.

This process is as follows according to strategydynamics:

1                  A white-board workshop lays out the architecture of the challenge, which will itself generate value in terms of changes to decisions or increased confidence in what to do.
       
2               If this is successful and sufficient value is at stake, you can go on to stage 2
3                
4               Develop a small demonstration simulation, using readily available information and estimate, which will give more value, through testing alternative scenarios and policies.
5                
6               If this is successful, and again, if there is a lot of value at stake,

7                Build a fully-validated simulation model to confirm exactly what to do, when and how much across all decisions relating to the challenge.
What they should do in raising world?
How do companies come back from failure?
      Ford was not successful until it gained recognition in an auto-show and made a affordable car the T-Ford.
      The Body shop was not considered a good name, but when the owner protested it to a newspaper people became intetersted
      Steve Jobs burned Millions in Next. In 1996 apple bought the company and Jobs became CEO and introduced IPhone, IPod and IPad.

How do they decide which area to develop more? How do they decide to do it?