Contents
What is Financial Management
Financial Management means applying management principles to manage the financial resources of an organization. It simply involves planning, organizing, directing, and controlling financial operations to manage the finance of an organization efficiently. Financial Management is a methodology that a business implements to monitor and govern its revenue, expenses, and assets in order to maximize profitability and ensure sustainability.
Management of finance is a vital part of every business. Finance is termed as the backbone of every business and is required for carrying out each and every activity. Financial management is concerned with efficiently planning the procurement of funds and the utilization of these funds in the business. The finance manager is required to decide the proper capital structure of an organization deciding the optimum mix of debt and equity for raising required funds. Financial management concept ensures that an adequate amount of funds is always available in business from different sources and also it earns the best return on its investments.
Scope of Financial Management
Investment decision
Financial management is involved in managing all investment decisions of an organization. Investment decisions involve risk evaluation, measuring the cost of capital, and estimating benefits expected out of a particular project. Managers are responsible for deciding how available funds should be invested in fixed or current assets to earn optimum returns.
Working Capital decision
Taking working capital decisions properly is another important scope of financial management. These decisions are concerned with investment in current assets or current liabilities. Working capital decisions revolve around working capital and short-term financing. Current assets include cash, inventories, receivables, short-term securities, etc. whereas current liabilities include creditors, bank overdraft, bills payable.
Financing decision
Financing decisions involves deciding how the required funds should be raised from available long term or short term sources. A financial manager is required to form a proper finance mix or optimum capital structure of the company to raise its value. They are required to maintain a proper balance between equity and debt to provide maximum return to shareholders.
Dividend decision
Financial management involves taking all dividend decisions of the company. These decisions involve developing a proper dividend policy regarding the distribution or retaining of company profits. The finance manager should decide an optimum dividend payout ratio out of available profit. He should consider all expansion and growth opportunities available to the organization and should avail them by retaining a proper amount of profit.
Ensures liquidity
Maintaining proper liquidity in an organization is another important role played by financial management. The finance manager ensures that there is a regular supply of funds in an organization. He monitors all cash-inflows and cash-outflows and avoids any underflow or overflow like situations. Ensuring the optimum level of liquidity in an organization is one of the important scopes of financial management.
Profit management
Financial management aims at increasing the profit of the company. It works towards reducing the cost of various activities through proper monitoring and setting up proper price policy. The finance manager measures the cost of capital and chooses cheap sources of capital by properly analyzing different sources available.
Nature of Financial Management
Estimates Capital Requirements
Financial management helps in anticipation of funds required for running the business. It estimates working and fixed capital requirements for carrying out all business activities. The finance manager prepares a budget of all expenses and revenues for a particular time period on the basis of which capital requirements are determined.
Decides capital structure
Deciding optimum capital structure for an organization is a must for attaining efficiency and earning better profits. It involves deciding the proper portion of different securities like common equity, preferred equity, and debt. The proper balance between debt and equity should be attained which minimizes the cost of capital.
Select sources of Fund
Choosing the source of funds is one of the crucial decisions for every organization. There are various sources available for raising funds like shares, bonds, debentures, venture capital, financial institutions, retained earnings, owner investment, etc. Every business should properly analyze different sources of funds available and choose one which is cheapest and involves minimal risk.
Selects investment pattern
Once funds are procured it is important to allocate them among profitable investment avenues. The investment proposal should be properly analyzed regarding its safety, profitability, and liquidity. Before investing any amount in it all risk and return associated with it should be properly evaluated.
Raises Shareholders value
Financial management works towards raising the overall value of shareholders. It aims at increasing the amount of return to shareholders by reducing the cost of operations and increasing the profits. The finance manager focuses on raising cheap funds from different sources and invest them in the most profitable avenues.
Management of cash
Financial management monitors all funds movement in an organization. Finance managers supervise all cash movements through proper accounting of all cash inflows and outflows. They ensure that there is no situation like deficiency or surplus of cash in an organization.
Apply financial controls
Implying financial controls in business is a beneficial role played by financial management. It helps in keeping the company actual cost of operation within the limit and earning the expected profits. There are various processes involved in this like developing certain standards for business in advance, comparing the actual cost or performance with pre-established standards, and taking all required remedial measures.
Conclusion of Financial Management
- Applying management principles to manage the financial resources
- Finance is termed as the backbone of every business
- It involves planning, organizing, directing and controlling of financial operations to Manage
- Covers the Fundamentals of Strategic Financial Management