SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This chapter introduced you to some of the basic ideas in corporate finance. In it, we
saw that:
1. Corporate finance has three main areas of concern:
a. Capital budgeting. What long-term investments should the firm take?
b. Capital structure. Where will the firm get the long-term financing to pay for its
investments? In other words, what mixture of debt and equity should we use to
fund our operations?
c. Working capital management. How should the firm manage its everyday
financial activities?
2. The goal of financial management in a for-profit business is to make decisions that
increase the value of the stock, or, more generally, increase the market value of the
equity.
3. The corporate form of organization is superior to other forms when it comes to
raising money and transferring ownership interests, but it has the significant
disadvantage of double taxation.
4. There is the possibility of conflicts between stockholders and management in a
large corporation. We called these conflicts agency problems and discussed how
they might be controlled and reduced.
5. The advantages of the corporate form are enhanced by the existence of financial
markets. Financial markets function as both primary and secondary markets for
corporate securities and can be organized as either dealer or auction markets.
Of the topics we’ve discussed thus far, the most important is the goal of financial man-
agement: maximizing the value of the stock. Throughout the text, we will be analyzing
many different financial decisions, but we will always ask the same question: How does
the decision under consideration affect the value of the stock?
20 PART ONE Overview of Corporate Finance
1.6
Concepts Review and Critical Thinking Questions
1. The Financial Management Decision Process What are the three types of fi-
nancial management decisions? For each type of decision, give an example of a
business transaction that would be relevant.
2. Sole Proprietorships and Partnerships What are the four primary disadvan-
tages of the sole proprietorship and partnership forms of business organization?
What benefits are there to these types of business organization as opposed to the
corporate form?
3. Corporations What is the primary disadvantage of the corporate form of or-
ganization? Name at least two of the advantages of corporate organization.
4. Corporate Finance Organization In a large corporation, what are the two
distinct groups that report to the chief financial officer? Which group is the fo-
cus of corporate finance?
5. Goal of Financial Management What goal should always motivate the ac-
tions of the firm’s financial manager?
6. Agency Problems Who owns a corporation? Describe the process whereby
the owners control the firm’s management. What is the main reason that an
