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Accounting and Finance

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Accounting and Finance
Introduction
Accounting and finance are two very important factors that exist in every company out there that is commercialized. Every firm needs to do accounting and manage its finance well in order to continue operating, an organization cannot run without any funds. The management of the company will need to evaluate the accounts and finance of the company to make important decisions, such as whether to invest in a certain stock or to buy more of a particular item to sell. In this report, we will be looking at some of the methods that are commonly used or should be used in using accounting and finance for decision making.

Accounting and Budgeting Information
Accounting and budgeting information can play a key role in how a company calibrates and ultimately implements strategy. This is the case for any company, but let us use the fictional example of a computer manufacturing company (“Tell”) in order to understand how this information can be used.

Tell wants to a know a number of things in order to produce computers and components for its consumers. First, it wants to know what the allocation of capital should be to different divisions in the company. For example, should the company merely focus on the production of the product, or should it also focus on marketing and sales? The answer is likely both; however, the budget will decide which of these activities is emphasized by allocating resources to it. A substantial budget given to marketing will indicate that marketing is a priority of the company, and a strategy will then need to be promulgated in order to use those resources effectively. If the company wants to focus on production as an OEM producer, then the firm may decide to allocate majority of resources to the production department.

Another key question that budget and accounting information answers is: how should the company finance itself? This is likely the most important question the company will answer in its attempt to balance



References: Amazon. Cash Flow Statement, 2011-2012. Available at: www.amazon.com Amazon. Financial Statements, 2011-2012. Available at: www.amazon.com Boyar, E. Cash Flow Statements. Lampbert Academic Publishing. Huo, Y. & Kwansa, F. Effect of Operating and Financing Leverage on Firm’s Risk. Virginia Polytechnic University Thesis. Kieso, D. et al.(2011) Intermediate Accounting. Boston: Wiley. Kimmel, P. Financial Accounting, Tools for Business Decision Making. New York: Wiley Kuzmina, O. Capital Structure and Employment Contract Flexibility. Available at: http://www.columbia.edu/~ok2149/CS.pdf. Levi, M. (2009). International Finance, Fifth Edition. London: Routledge. Sinha, S. Operating Leverage Analysis: A conceptual framework. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 3(2), 08-27.

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