BUS522 Discussions Latest 2022 September (Full)

BUS522 Financial Tools for Managers

Unit 1 Discussion

Annual Report Highlights

Use either EDGAR or a company’s website to locate their annual report. Provide the reference in APA to the annual report.

Discuss a few highlights of their financial statements, including the definition of the line items you are highlighting and what it tells you about the company.

In response to your peers, explain if you would or would not invest in the company.

The Great Recession

The past can offer us an opportunity to understand and fine tune our understanding of the present and future. Using either the text book or other readings.

Discuss the key factors that lead to the Great Recession of 2017.

Explain why these key factors are important to future financial market.

Provide an example of how the Great Recession has shaped today’s financial market.

 

BUS522 Financial Tools for Managers

Unit 2 Discussion

Bond Risk

Most people view bonds in highly rated companies or municipalities as “safe” investments.

If you could safely say that the bond originator will not default, what are the other risks to holding a bond?

Provide an example of how you could lose money on a default free bond.

In response to your peers, are all the risks captured? What are some ways, looking at your own investments, you could balance the risks?

Annuity

What are the upsides and downsides to annuities for retirees?

What future assumptions do you have to make about market conditions for annuities to make sense for retirees?

In response to your peers, discuss any other upside and downsides to annuities for retirees that may not have been presented in the post. Considering the assumptions made, what could be some potential outcomes?

 

 

 

 

BUS522 Financial Tools for Managers

Unit 3 Discussion

Mutually Exclusive Events

What is the meaning of mutually exclusive events? Are mutually exclusive (or disjointed) events independent or dependent? Provide an example of such events and explain your reason.

What is meant by collectively exhaustive events? Explain how it relates to mutually exclusive with an example.

In response to your peers, do you believe these events are mutually exclusive? Do you have similar experiences?

Examples in your World

The past three units have covered a many different topics and models from corporate structures, to nominal distributions, to anchoring bias. Though the examples are geared toward finance they can be used in many industries or other situations. Taking what was covered so far, how can these tools be useful in your career or personal life? Feel free to expand on the topic and please include at least one reference.

In response to your peers, what do you think of the example? Are there other statistical methods, models or data that could be useful?

 

BUS522 Financial Tools for Managers

Unit 4 Discussion

Opportunity Cost

Think of a project in your work or personal life you have or would like to do: what are the capital and opportunity costs associated with it? For example, are there sunk costs? Are there any capital costs associated with the project?

In response to your peers, can you think of other market factors or externalities that may factor into the costs?

NPV

Summarize two of the capital budgeting methods using the textbooks as well as your own research.

What are some advantages and disadvantages of them?

When assessing the value of two projects, what other criteria should be included, if any?

In response to your peers: Do you agree with the criteria? Are there any capital expenditures in your life that you go beyond NPV to judge?

 

BUS522 Financial Tools for Managers

Unit 5 Discussion

Corporate Governance

Using either the material within this unit or doing your own research find an example of failed corporate governance. Discuss why you believe it happened as well as ways you believe it could be avoided.

In response to your peers, do you agree with your classmate’s assessment on the root causes of the governance failure? Would there be other controls you would put place or process you would change to keep it from happening again?

Value-Based Management

Looking at your organization what are some processes that you would think value-based management would be helpful, what are some value drivers you have identified and how would you forecast their effect?

In response to your peers: Do you have similar experience with those value drivers? What, if any, data do you believe could help your classmate forecast the outcome of the process change?

 

BUS522 Financial Tools for Managers

Unit 6 Discussion

Personal Inventory

After watching the video on inventory, what is something in your personal inventory? Try and go through the examples shown in the video. For example, what is your consumption rate, what are the holding costs and how many do you believe you should have on hand and why?

In response to your peers, what are some other things that might play into your classmate’s inventory example? What other holding costs can you see and what are some things that would affect the forecasts of that item in your life?

Qualitative and Quantitative Forecasting

Why is it important for managers to be able to utilize methods of making decisions or forecasting that are both quantitative and qualitative in nature? Can you recount an instance where a business you've worked for or are familiar with, has made both a qualitative-based and a quantitative-based decision in the same business area? In addition, please provide an example of an instance where you have had to make a decision or forecast and how you came to the conclusion.

In response to your peers, what data, either qualitative or quantitative would you like to have in that situation? How would it have helped?

 

BUS522 Financial Tools for Managers

Unit 7 Discussion

Deciding on a Decision

Think of a decision that you have had to make in your work (you may use the example you used in the Unit 6 DB) and walk through the five steps listed in section 8.2 of the Managerial Decision Modeling textbook. You do not need to create the model but speak to the inputs that would be involved.

In response to your peers, what, if anything, would you add to each step? Thinking of the MECE framework, what other solutions do you think could have been modeled out?

Break Even

Take a process and try and breakout the fixed and unit costs, and what revenue (think per unit or per hour) that item would have to bring either to you, or your organization to break even. For example, if you were driving for uber, what are the fixed and variable costs of the car, and how much per hour would you have to make to break even? Try to find data where you can and estimate otherwise.

In response to your peers, do you agree with their analysis/assumptions? What other costs would you factor in?

 

BUS522 Financial Tools for Managers

Unit 8 Discussion

Doing Business in Other Countries

Using research from the library (e.g., ProQuest, IBIS world and the like) pick a country:

What are some things you need to think about when doing business there?

How stable is their currency, and what affect does their currency have on your purchasing power?

What customs or ethical rules might need to be adjusted?

In response to your peers, what are some differences between the country you posted vs. your classmates? What adjustments would you make to your business model working in that country?

Cash Cycle

Looking at the organization you work for, or an industry you are interested in, what are some factors that would go into your cash conversion strategy? How long do you hold inventory, if you have it, and why?

In response to your peers, how does your industry compare with what has been posted? What are some other factors you might think play into the perfect net working capital amount?

Topics with Greatest Impact for You (Optional)

Thinking back on the prior units, what topics interested you most? Share with the class what you think you learned that had the most direct application to your current role or a role you would like in the future.

In response to your peers, what did you think about that topic and what real-world experiences have you had, if any, with that topic?