Questions and Answers of Future of Business

Which Apple products can be expected to drive revenue growth in 2008 and beyond?
Are there indications that Apple’s rapid growth is beginning to level off?
What impact did Apple’s February 2005 stock split have on the performance of shares in subsequent years?
Why did Apple reduce the price of its stock through stock splits?
Would value investors be interested in purchasing Apple shares today?
Describe a value investor.
7. Research the job responsibilities of a corporate Investor Relations Officer (IRO). If possible, try to interview an IRO, by either phone or e-mail. The National Investor Relations
6. The MaxFunds University, http://www.maxfunds.com/?q=node/35, offers courses on investing and mutual funds. Choose either MAXuniversity–Part I, Investing Basics, or MAXuniversity–Part II,
5. Using the information and links available at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s (SIFMA’s) Web site, http://www.sifma.org, write a brief paper explaining the pros and
4. Choose a company currently traded on the NYSE (http://www.nyse.com). Find the company’s Web site using a search engine such as Google.com. At the Web site, find the firm’s investor relations
3. Compare the listing requirements of the NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX using the information at their Web sites: http://www.nyse.com, http://www.nasdaq.com, and http://www.amex.com.Search the sites for
2. Go to vfinance.com, http://www.vfinance.com, and link to three different venture capital firms. Compare the firms’ investment strategies (industry specialization, age of companies in which they
1. If factoring accounts receivable is still a mystery to you, visit the 21st Financial Solutions site, http://www.21stfinancialsolutions.com. Follow the links on the home page to answer these
6. Team Activity Is joining an investment club a good way to learn about investing in the stock market? Divide the class into groups of five to eight students to develop a strategy to form their own
5. While having dinner at a Manhattan restaurant, you overhear two investment bankers at the next table. They are discussing the takeover of Bellamco Industries by Gildmart Corp., a deal that has not
4. Research the trends in the IPO marketplace from 1998 to 2007. Then select two IPO success stories and two failures. Prepare a report for the class on their performance. What lessons about the
3. Team Activity Does paying dividends enhance the value of a company? Some financial experts caution companies to look long and hard before beginning to pay dividends. They believe that committing
2. You are the chief financial officer of Discovery Labs, a privately held, five-year-old biotechnology company that needs to raise $3 million to fund the development of a new drug. Prepare a report
1. The head of your school’s finance department has asked you to address a group of incoming business students about the importance of finance to their overall business education.Develop an outline
Briefl y describe the key provisions of the main federal laws designed to protect securities investors. What is insider trading, and how can it be harmful? How does the securities industry regulate
Why is the globalization of the securities markets important to U.S. investors? What are some of the other exchanges where U.S companies can list their securities?
what organizations compose each of these two markets?
How do the broker markets diff er from dealer markets, and
Why do mutual funds and exchange-traded funds appeal to investors? Discuss why futures contracts and options are risky investments.
Describe the types of bonds available to investors and the advantages and disadvantages they off er.
Distinguish between primary and secondary securities markets. How does an investment banker work with companies to issue securities?
Describe a fi rm’s main motives in making capital expenditures.
What is the fi nancial manager’s goal in cash management?List the three key cash management strategies.
Distinguish between short- and long-term expenses.
What is the main goal of the fi nancial manager? How does the risk-return trade-off relate to the fi nancial manager’s main goal?
How do the three key activities of the fi nancial manager relate?
What is the role of fi nancial management in a fi rm?
What demographic groups are most likely to embrace mobile banking, and why?
Does the switch to digital banking leave the financial-services industry vulnerable to a worldwide economic attack triggered by cyber warfare groups? Explain.
What impact do you think mobile banking will have on the traditional retail services that banks offer through their local branch offices?
6. What are your rights to privacy when dealing with financial institutions? Research the specific privacy provisions related to banking and financial services using the Internet and write a paper on
5. There is a current move to increase the security of financial transactions with credit cards that generate a onetime passcode for every transaction. Go to http://www.dogpile.com to research
4. Using an Internet search engine such as Google (http://www.google.com) or Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com), research information on the bank branch renaissance. Make a presentation describing the
3. Find out everything you want to know about financial institutions and banking from the latest edition of the U.S. Census Bureau Statistical Abstract of the United States. Visit the U.S. Census
2. Visit the International Money Laundering Network Services Association (http://www.imolin.org) for the latest information on what organizations are doing to ensure that international monetary
1. Banking on a great career? Go to http://www.careerbank.com to explore what positions are available. Use the Salary Wizard to estimate what you can earn and make a presentation on the type of job
6. Team Activity During its regular meetings, the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy-making body, considers a number of economic indicators and reports before
5. Banks use databases to identify profitable and unprofitable customers. Bankers say they lose money on customers who typically keep less than $1,000 in their checking and savings accounts and
4. Research the banking system of another country and write a report on your findings by answering these questions: Is there a central banking system similar to the U.S. Federal Reserve System in
3. If you watch the news, you’ve undoubtedly heard mention that the Fed is going to raise or lower interest rates. What exactly does this mean? Explain how the Fed’s decision to raise and lower
2. You are starting a small business selling collectible books over the Internet and need to establish a business banking account that will provide the following services: business checking, credit
1. How much does a checking account cost? Call or visit several local banks and weigh prices and services. Take into consideration how you use your checking account, how many checks a month you
3 What are the key financial institutions, and what role do they play in the process of financial intermediation?
2 How does the Federal Reserve manage the money supply?
1 What is money, what are its characteristics and functions, and what are the three parts of the U.S. money supply?
How do banks fi ght money laundering?
What impact has terrorism had on the banking industry?
What is microlending? What role do microfi nance institutions and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending networks play in microlending?
How are remote deposit capture (RDC) and automated clearing houses (ACHs) changing the nature of business transactions?
What factors are creating direct banking opportunities for banks? What will likely drive further growth in mobile banking?
What can the FDIC do to help fi nancially troubled banks?
What are the major deposit insurance funds?
What is the FDIC, and what are its responsibilities?
If you were an entrepreneur, would you be more inclined to use Virgin Money to broker a family loan, just ask your parents to invest, or max out your credit cards as a means of securing capital to
Is Virgin Money a depository or a nondepository financial institution? Explain.
What are the four main types of nondepository fi nancial institutions?
What is the fi nancial intermediation process?Diff erentiate between the three types of depository fi nancial institutions and the services they off er.
What role do you think self-service banking(ATMs, online and mobile banking, kiosks, etc.)plays in customer satisfaction?
What kind of services could a bank offer to increase customer satisfaction? Are some services more feasible for large banks? Smaller banks?
What three tools does the Federal Reserve System use to manage the money supply, and how does each aff ect economic activity?
What are the four key responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System?
In the clip, the Mariner mentions “Smokers,” another group of individuals who travel around in packs and, like the prisoners of war during World War II, use cigarettes as a medium of exchange.
What is the role of the man behind the banker in this financial transaction?
In detail, what is “the banker’s” role in the financial transaction that occurs with the Mariner’s dirt?
In the clip, we know of two exchange mediums: dirt and chits. How do these two forms of exchange media compare to the U.S. money supply?
The Mariner takes his dirt to a central “banker” instead of simply bartering with each of the traders at the atoll and dividing the dirt among them. Based on the functions that money serves, why
How can advances in information technology help employ ees in different locations and different business units communicate and work together more effectively?
Why did AOL survive whereas Apple’s electronic programs, such as AppleLink and eWorld, did not?
What new developments occurred at Apple in response to new advanced technologies, including the Internet?
How were these early advances precursors to later developments at Apple?
What early advances in information technology did Apple Computer develop?
Why are companies turning to firms like Compliance 360 and Open Pages to improve compliance procedures?
How does the Web help companies manage compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?
5. Go to the Web site of the company whose annual report you evaluated in Question 4. Find the Web version of its annual report and compare it to the print version. What differences do you find, if
4. Can you judge an annual report by its cover? What are the most important elements of a top annual report? Go to Sid Cato’s Official Annual Report Web site, http://www.sidcato.com, to find his 15
3. Corporate reports filed with the SEC are now available on the Web at the EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system) Web site, http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.First, read
2. Do annual reports confuse you? Many Web sites can take the mystery out of this important document. See IBM’s “Guide to Understanding Financials“ at http://www.prars.com/ibm/ibmframe.html.
1. Visit the Web site of one of the following major U.S. public accounting firms: Deloitte &Touche, http://www.deloitte.com; Ernst & Young, http://www.ey.com; KPMG, http://www.kpmg.com;
What changes is the FASB considering for GAAP?
What role do data tagging and XBRL play in fi nancial reports? What is the outlook for data tagging using XBRL?
What issues have surfaced since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act went into eff ect, and how is the accounting industry resolving them? How has the relationship between public accounting fi rms and their
What kinds of information do activity ratios give? Why are debt ratios of concern to lenders and investors?
Name the main liquidity and profi tability ratios and explain what they indicate.
How can ratio analysis be used to interpret fi nancial statements?
What situations can you cite from the chapter that support your answer?
Why has cash fl ow become such an important measure of a fi rm’s fi nancial condition?
What is the purpose of the statement of cash fl ows?
What ways can you think of for fast-growing companies to increase their cash flow? Aren’t high growth and large cash reserves mutually exclusive situations?
Is managing cash flow only critical in difficult economic environments?
What kind of cash flow did Beltmann increase with its new process?
Should Bell run financial statements for each of his three shops or for his company as a whole?Explain your reasoning.
Barber and consultant Joe Grondin recommends pricing haircuts at least as much as the cost of the lease by the square foot. For example, if the lease is $20 a square foot, the haircut should cost at
How can a service company, like a barbershop, calculate the cost of goods sold?
How do retained earnings relate to owners’ equity?
What are the three main categories of accounts on the balance sheet, and how do they relate to the accounting equation?

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