Tag: investmentawareness

Here are 5 of the most important things that all professionals in non-Financial roles need to know about Finance…

1. Finance Concepts, Systems & Jargon

There is nothing worse than being in a discussion about a project at work, and not knowing what your colleagues are talking about! The language of Finance does not need to be daunting, and gaining an understanding of the common concepts, systems and definitions used by Financial colleagues will give an essential insight into company plans and priorities. From accruals, statements and adjustments, to reports, records and turnover, a basic understanding is helpful for everyone.

2. Interpreting Financial Statements

Understanding the implications of your organizations financial statements will provide insight into where things are going well, and where they can be improved. Whether you work in the Finance Department or not, it is still your responsibility to work towards the financial success of the organisation. A comprehensive understanding of the financial performance of a company, and the ability to analyse this, will give all individuals the skills necessary to plan, implement and review changes.

3. Business Planning & Budgeting

Planning and budgeting go hand-in-hand, so whatever your role, an understanding of the Financial context that you are planning in is essential. Plans can be acted upon more quickly when budgets are agreed and understood from an early stage. Moreover, the ability to co-operate effectively with Financial colleagues and oversee a project within budget demonstrates your competency, and will support career progression.

4. Investment

Knowing where an organisation is investing is indicative of where the company is likely to go in the next quarter, year, or five years. Knowing this helps all individuals focus on how their day-to-day activities promote this goal. Likewise, an awareness of where funds are being invested gives individuals the opportunity to offer informed suggestions for change if return on investment is not living up to expectations.

5. Diversifying Finance – You Know More Than You Think

Finance can seem daunting, but individuals in non-Financial roles can offer a new perspective to business calculations and numbers. Always remember that the numbers of the Finance Department reflect something far more real in the business, that you have probably been on the front line of yourself – always voice your opinion, and ask for clarification if you need it!

Source: https://theect.org

.

Big Think 2.9M subscribers Everything You Need to Know About Finance and Investing in Under an Hour Watch the newest video from Big Think: https://bigth.ink/NewVideo Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos: https://bigth.ink/Edge ———————————————————————————- Bill Ackman is one of the top investors in the world, and he’s said that he’s aiming to have “one of the greatest investment track records of all time.” As the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund he founded, he oversees $19 billion in assets. But before he became one of the elite, he learned the basics of investing in his early 20s.

This Big Think video is aimed at young professionals just starting out, as well as those who are more experienced but lack a financial background. Ackman takes viewers through the founding of a lemonade stand to teach the basics, explaining how investors pay for equity, a word interchangeable with “stock.” In the example, the owner starts with $750, with $250 of that coming from a loan. ———————————————————————————- WILLIAM ACKMAN: William Ackman is founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management. Formed in 2003, the hedge-fund has acquired significant shares in companies such as JC Penney, General Growth Properties, Fortune Bands and Kraft Foods. Ackman advocates strategies of “activist investing,” the practice of using stock shares in publicly-traded companies to influence management practices in a way that benefits shareholder interests. ———————————————————————————- TRANSCRIPT: Hi, I’m Bill Ackman. I’m the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management and I’m here today to talk to you about everything you need to know about finance and investing and I’m going to get it done in an hour and you’ll be ready to go. How to Start and Grow a Business So let’s begin. We’re going to go into business together. We’re going to start a company and we’re going to start a lemonade stand and now I don’t have any money today, so I’m going to have to raise money from investors to launch the business.

So how am I going to do that? Well I’m going to form a corporation. That is a little filing that you make with the State and you come up with a name for a business. We’ll call it Bill’s Lemonade Stand and we’re going to raise money from outside investors. We need a little money to get started, so we’re going to start our business with 1,000 shares of stock. We just made up that number and we’re going to sell 500 shares more for a $1 each to an investor. The investor is going to put up $500. We’re going to put up the name and the idea.

We’re going to have 1,000 shares. He is going to have 500 shares. He is going to own a third of the business for his $500. So what is our business worth at the start? Well it’s worth $1,500. We have $500 in the bank plus $1,000 because I came up with the idea for the company. Now I’m going to need a little more than $500, so what am I going to do? I’m going to borrow some money. I’m going to borrow from a friend and he’s going to lend me $250 and we’re going to pay him 10% interest a year for that loan. Now why do we borrow money instead of just selling more stock?

Well by borrowing money we keep more of the stock for ourselves, so if the business is successful we’re going to end up with a bigger percentage of the profits. So now we’re going to take a look at what the business looks like on a piece of paper. We’re going to look at something called a balance sheet and a balance sheet tells you where the company stands, what your assets are, what your liabilities are and what your net worth or shareholder equity is. If you take your assets, in this case we’ve raised $500.

We also have what is called goodwill because we’ve said the business—in exchange for the $500 the person who put up the money only got a third of the business. The other two-thirds is owned by us for starting the company. That is $1,000 of goodwill for the business. We borrowed $250. We’re going to owe $250. That is a liability. So we have $500 in cash from selling stock, $250 from raising debt and we owe a $250 loan and we have a corporation that has, and you’ll see on the chart, shareholders’ equity of $1,500, so that’s our starting point.

Now let’s keep moving. What do we need to do to start our company? We need a lemonade stand. That’s going to cost us about $300. That is called a fixed asset. Unlike lemon or sugar or water this is something like a building that you buy and you build it. It wears out over time, but it’s a fixed asset. And then you need some inventory. What do you need to make lemonade? You need sugar. You need water. You need lemons… Read the full transcript at https://bigthink.com/videos/learn-to-…

.