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There are 3 parts to question it is an article:

UK Corporate Governance Code reporting last year, FRC stated that: "Effectively applying the Corporate Governance Code Principles is much more important than a 'tick box' approach". Our assessments of reports this year now give us an evidence base to drive forward better-quality reporting. This is essential if investors and other stakeholders are to evaluate the quality of governance effectively.

Question 1:

talking about the extent to which UK listed companies are looking for a high standard of Corporate Governance reporting which also demonstrates that boards had considered substance and quality compliance beyond a 'tick box' approach?

"Boards of directors are responsible for the governance of their companies. The shareholders' role in governance is to appoint the directors and the auditors and to satisfy themselves that an appropriate governance structure is in place.' This remains 2 true today, but the environment in which companies, their shareholders and wider stakeholders operate continues........... Nevertheless, the debate about the nature and extent of the framework has intensified as a result of financial crises and high-profile examples of inadequate governance and misconduct, which have led to poor outcomes for a wide range of stakeholders. At the heart of this Code is an updated set of Principles that emphasise to develop rapidly.' UK Corporate Governance Code (2018) However, an alternative description is that ".... too often companies who are not compliant with the Code, do not declare non-compliance but offer vague explanations, and continue this pattern year on year."

Question 2:

Talk about why an listed company disregard implementing good practice; and evaluate whether the leadership of the company is fully committed to good governance and transparency. Also the actions it must take to mitigate the impact of not following the Code?

Since the UK Code of Corporate Governance was updated in 2018 there have been more major failings in how some large companies in the UK are managed. In 2020, FRC surprised that in many cases corporate governance reporting was not coherent and cohesive. For example, many companies stated the importance of diversity and diverse boards but offered little explanation in the way of evidence to support their assertions, including: a lack of targets to improve diversity at the board and executive committee levels.

Question 3:

How do other countries manage this area of coherent and cohesive compliance and how could the UK system be improved? Using examples to support the ideas.

Suppose a large institutional investor Alliance's portfolio has a beta of 0.5. Another institutional investor Best's portfolio has an expected return of 10 percent and a standard deviation of 15 percent. Both portfolios have the same Sharpe ratio of 0.6, and the market portfolio can be described as a portfolio comprising these two with equal weights. Suppose there is a firm called Cunning corporation, whose stock's beta is 2 and it can borrow at the risk free rate. Cunning's equity value is 1 million and its debt is 1.5 million. The present value of Cunning's tax shield is 0.3 million. Assuming that both CAPM and the Modigliani-Miller theorem with corporate taxes hold, answer the following questions. a) What is the risk free rate? [5 marks] b) What is the expected return on the market portfolio? [5 marks] c) What is the after-tax WACC of Cunning?

Two countries called Carbon Lovers and the Really Crude are deciding their oil production levels for the year. Carbon Lovers and Really Crude are currently at war and are funding their war efforts through oil revenue. Let q, denote the barrels of oil that Carbon Lovers produces and g2 denote the barrels of oil that Really Crude produces. It costs $10 to produce each barrel of oil. World demand for oil is given by the demand function Q(P) = 200-2P, where P is the price per barrel of oil.

Part A

(i) Which model that we have studied best represents the situation described in this problem. The Cournot model where firms set production levels simultaneously.

(ii) How many barrels of oil will each country produce to maximize profit? How much profit will each firm carn? Note that the inverse demand function is P(Q) = 100-.5Q. Carbon Lovers has the profit maximiza

tion problem

max(100.5Q - 10) g

Taking the first order condition, we find the best response function 9 = 90.592. By symmetry, firm 2 will have the best response function 2 = 90-.59. Solving these two equations simultaneously yields 260. The market price is P-100-.5(60+60) = 40. Each firm earns 1800

(iii) Suppose Carbon Lovers and Really Crude sign a peace treaty and agree to cooperate. Each will

produce the same number of barrels. How many barrels of oil would each sell to maximize their joint

profit? How much profit does each earn?

1. A consumer's preferences are represented by the utility function

u(x, y) = Inx + 2lny.

(a) Which of the two bundles (2AYA) = (1.4) or (B.YB) = (4,1) does the consumer prefer? Solution

Recall that for any two bundles Z and Z' the following equiva lence holds

ZZZ' u(Z) u(Z')

Calculate utility from each bundle.

u(A) u(B) = u(1,4)= In 1+2 ln4=0+2 1.4 = 2.8 u(4, 1) = ln 4+2 In 1 = 1.4+2* 0 = 1.4

Question 1: A firm sells its output in two countries A and B. Demand in country A is given by PA = 200-494, while the demand in country B is pg 150-q8 (where g, is the quantity sold in country i = A.B. and p, is the corresponding market price). Suppose the firm has constant unit costs e > 0; that is, the cost of producing quantity 74 + 9 is de4 +98]. Suppose the firm chooses qa qa to maximize its profits. (i) Find the optimal choices for 94. 38, and compare the prices announced in the two countries. (ii) Use the Hessian matrix to verify your result is a (local) maximum. Suppose now that the firm's costs are described by a cost function c(g), where c is increasing and differentiable. (i) Show that the firm always announces a higher price in country A. (ii) Can such price discrimination be consistent with competitive behavior? Question 2: An individual has at maximum 10 hours a week to spend in leisure. Leisure activities can be diversified in S= sailing and D= diving. He can spend at most 12 yuan in these two activities. One hour's sailing costs 1 yuan, while diving one hour needs 2 yuan We assume his utility function takes a linear formu(S, D) = 4S + D, and write down his optimization problem: max (S, D) = 4S + D, subject to S+D 10 and $+2D 12. [The first inequality constraint represents a time constraint, and the second inequality constraint is a cash constraint. (1) What is the combination of sailing and diving which is feasible and which maxititze the utility? (ii) Use the Bordered Hessian matrix to verify your results.

1. Consider first the goods market model with (exogenously given) constant investment. Consumption is given by

C = c +4 (Y-T)

and I, G, and T are given.

a. Solve for equilibrium output. What is the value of the multiplier?

Now let investment depend on both sales and the interest rate:

b. Solve for equilibrium output. At a given interest rate, is the effect of a change in autonomous spending bigger than what is was in part (a)? Why? (Assume c + b <1.).

Next, write the LM relation as

M/P=dY-di

c. Solve for equilibrium output. (Hint: Eliminate the interest rate from the IS and LM relations.) Derive the multiplier

1 (c) (6 points) Draw the Engel curve for software. (d) (6 points) Suppose that the price of software is pS = 2, the price of clothes is pC = 3, and Xiaoyu's income is I = 10. What bundle of software and clothes (S,C) maximizes Xiaoyu's utility? (e) (6 points) Suppose the price of software increases to pS = 4. What bundle of software and clothes does Xiaoyu demand now? (f) (6 points) Given the price increase, how much income does Xiaoyu need to remain as happy (have the same utility) as she was before the price change? What bundle of software and clothes would Xiaoyu consume if she had that additional income, given the new prices? (g) (6 points) Going back to the situation in part (e) (pS = 4 and I = 10), decompose the total change of software and clothes demanded into substitution and income effects. In a clearly-labeled diagram with software on the horizo

A community bank partnered with an analytics solution provider to develop new fraud detection algorithm for ATM withdrawals. The bank provided historical data and the company trained a model that seemed to provide an acceptable performance when tested on the data. Once implemented, however, the bank faced a major tragedy: the algorithm was too slow in the production environment, and, as such, most ATM withdrawal requests were timed-out and customers were not able to withdraw from their accounts. Discuss which aspects of the project were ignored and which phase(s) of the analytics project, the problem can be associated to?

Why might the cash/deposit ratio and the reserve asset ratio be decreasing functions of the rate of interest? How does an interest sensitive money supply affect the LM curve? Illustrate using an example, comparing the new LM with the standard LM.

In Japan, the price of real estate dropped dramatically in the late 1980s. Many Japanese firms have long-term relationships with a so-called main bank. How would you expect a deterioration of the balance sheets of Japanese firms and of their main banks to affect investment? Would you expect smaller or larger firms to be most affected?

A firm produces output using the technology y = 1 1,000 KL1 2 , where capital, K, is measured in machine-hours, labor, L, is measured in person-hours, and y denotes the yearly output. The hourly wage rate wl = 10, and the hourly rental rate of capital is wk = 20. (a) Show that this technology displays increasing returns to scale. (b) Compute the marginal products of labor and capital. (c) Suppose that at the end of 1999 the firm has signed a contract to rent K = 1,000 machine hours over the course of the year 2000. Derive the firm's short run cost function in the year 2000. (d) What is the firm's short run marginal cost function? What is the firm's short run average cost function? At which point do these two curves intersect? (e) On a diagram plot the firm's short run average and marginal cost curves.

The aggregate labor supply in the state of Bahnanas is Ls = 2,000w, where w is the hourly wage, measured in Bahnanas $ and Ls denotes the number of person- hours supplied by the workers of Bahananas in a year. The aggregate labor demand in the state of Bahananas is Ld = 12,000 2,000w, where Ld denotes the number of person-hours demanded by the firms of Bahnanas in a given year. (a) Compute the equilibrium hourly wage and the amount of hours worked in a given year. (b) The government of Bahnanas introduces a minimum wage law requiring firms to pay an hourly wage not lower than $4. Compute the equilibrium number of hours worked by the workers of Bahnanas. 1 (c) On a diagram that has the wage rate on the y-axis and the number of hours on the x-axis, plot the labor demand and supply functions and the equilibrium prices and quantities that you found in points (a) and (b). (d) Compute the deadweight loss induced by this policy, and show it on the diagram of point (c).

71. Which of the following situations describes a business process changing due to technological factors: A. A manufacturing company purchases a new software program to run its machines. B. A small general store offers more discounts to compete with a new shopping mall. C. A waste treatment plant changes its disposal method to align with environmental law. D. A family-owned restaurant opens a second location in an effort to expand its brand. 72. Which of the following is a true statement regarding the relationship between a business's supply chain management and its performance: A. Good supply chain management leads to unsustainable business practices. B. Good supply chain management leads to decreased value for the customer. C. Poor supply chain management can result in customer satisfaction. D. Poor supply chain management can result in customer dissatisfaction. 73. Chad is buying a new car. Although the first car is a great deal and a more practical choice, he just loves the look of the second car. As a result, he decides to purchase the second car. His decision is based on which of the following internal factors: A. Insight or intuition B. Experience C. Framing D. Emotion

1. Which of the following is a major area of study for economists? a. How countries choose national leaders b. The design of recycling water e. The best way to design a nature reserve d. How people make decisions 2. Economic models: a. Emphasize basic economic relationships by abstracting from the complexities of the real world b. Are limited to variables that are positively related to one another c. Are of limited use because they cannot be tested empirically d. Are unrealistic as they cannot accurate predict the future 3. For economists, statements about the world are of two types: a. Assumptions and theories b. Positive statements and negative statements c. Positive statements and normative statements d. Specific statements and general statements 4. The opportunity cost of going to university is: a. The total spent on food, clothing, books, other expenses transportation, tuition, lodging and b. Zero for students who are fortunate enough to have all of their university expenses paid by someone else e. Zero, since a university education will allow a student to eam a higher income after graduation d. The value of the best opportunity a student gives up to attend university.

a) Indicate true or false to the following statements (no explanations needed): i) Diversification is a sensible reason for mergers because it is cheaper for corporations to diversify their business portfolios than for investors to diversify their portfolios. ii) Agency costs arise from the senior management's inability to control shareholders. [5 marks each; 10 marks] b) Suppose the total value of the firm is 150 million. The firm's debt-equity ratio is 0.5, and the interest rate (before tax) on its debt is 4 percent, while its cost of equity is 12 percent. The effective corporate tax rate is 25 percent. By assuming that the Modigliani-Miller Theorem with corporate taxes holds, answer the following questions. i) What is the value of equity of the firm? ii) What is the after-tax WACC (weighted average cost of capital) of the firm? [5 marks each; 10 marks] c) A firm has the following capital structure: 100 million shares outstanding, trading at 1.5 per share, and 100 million of debt. The beta of the firm's stock is 1.5. The firm's cost of equity is 10 percent, and the yield on riskless bonds is 2.5 percent. There is no tax. Assuming that the firm can borrow at the risk free rate and that both CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model) and the Modigliani-Miller theorem hold, answer the following questions. i) What is the total value of the firm? ii) What is the WACC of the firm? iii) What should be the expected return on the market portfolio? iv) Suppose the firm changes its capital structure so that its debt increases to 150 million, and the equity decreases by 50 million. What should be the firm's cost of equity after the change?

After completing successfully your FIN203 course, you have been asked by many of your family and friends about financial matters. You are trying your best to advise them. (a) Your grandmother has been asked to invest in a product that offers to double her money in 3 years. Indicate the annual rate of return she is being offered. (4 marks) (b) Your parents have $5,000.00 to deposit. Alpha Bank offers 2 percent per year compounded monthly. Bravo Bank offers 2 percent compounded annually. Compute the amount of deposit after being kept 10 years at each bank. Explain the difference between the two (2) future values. (6 marks) (c) Your best friend is saving $1,800.00 and will earn 0.17 percent per month. Determine the number of months until the account grows to $2,000.00. (4 marks) (d) Your cousin plans to expand his business and will require $100,000.00 in 6.5 years. The rate of return will be 0.70 percent per month for the first two years. It will go up to 1.00 percent for the rest of the period. Compute the $ amount to set aside today to reach her objective.