Strayer JWI531 Discussions Latest 2021 January (Full)

JWI531 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT II

Week 1 Discussion

Two Rules in Investing

In the HBO video above, Warren Buffett discusses Graham's two rules of investing. In addition, you have read about the role of the CFO and how finance managers work every day to ensure their company is a value to their investors and owners. Take a minute to reflect on your experience with finance and what you want to learn about investing.

Introduce yourself and tell us if you have any financial management responsibilities in your current or former job(s), such as department budgets, or developing sales, marketing, operational, or other strategic plans.

What experience do you have investing in stocks, and what would you like to learn more about?

This week only, post your initial response by Friday, midnight of your time zone, and reply to at least 2 of your classmates' initial posts by Sunday, midnight of your time zone.??

JWI531 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT II

Week 2 Discussion

Identifying and Balancing Risk and Reward

Name one of the biggest strategic risks and one of the biggest financial risks that you face in your business or industry, and briefly explain how each of these can impact your business. For one of these, provide your ideas on the steps your company should take to significantly mitigate these risks.

JWI531 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT II

Week 3 Discussion

Measuring What Matters

There is an adage in business that says, “You get what you measure.” This suggests that we must introduce performance tracking metrics if we want to improve business results like increasing productivity, mitigating costs, or improving employee engagement.

What is an important performance tracking metric that your company uses, and what is the likely business result they are trying to influence (such as increasing revenue, lowering costs, managing risks, etc.)?

Briefly describe how your company calculates and communicates this metric, and share your opinion on the extent to which this performance tracking is helping to improve business results.

Share your ideas on how else the company could improve this performance tracking process.

JWI531 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT II

Week 4 Discussion

To Merge or Not to Merge…?

Mergers or acquisitions only make sense when the combined entities create greater value together than they can separately.

Locate and provide a link to a recent news story from The Wall Street Journal or other reputable news source about a merger or acquisition that has been announced between two publicly-traded companies in the last year.

In your own words (not simply copied from the article), describe how the combined entities were expected to create greater value together than separately (e.g., how they were going to increase revenue, lower costs, and/or better manage risks). Be descriptive and thorough in explaining these potential synergies. To support your response, include specific references to M&A strategies discussed in Chapter 6 of The CFO Guidebook.

Applying your business acumen and emerging CFO skill base, provide your assessment and supporting rationale about whether this merger makes sense from three perspectives:

Does the merger make sense from a strategic fit perspective?

Does the valuation of the deal seem reasonable?

Identify the biggest risk(s) you think the acquirer will confront in extracting the synergies post-transaction.

JWI531 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT II

Week 5 Discussion

Forecasting

This week, we learned about the importance of forecasting future sales and profit for companies. Of course, there are many factors which can affect the reliability of these forecasts, such as interest rate fluctuations, competitive innovations, new customers, etc. But still, finance leaders must make every attempt to build their business strategy on forecasts that are as accurate as possible.

As you think about your company’s ability to forecast future sales and profit, what are two or three of the most significant variables that are difficult to predict?

What information and data would you use to improve the forecast accuracy?

How can you go about collecting and leveraging this data?

JWI531 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT II

Week 6 Discussion

Aligning Strategy and Budget

In Chapter 9 of The CFO Guidebook, we are introduced to the tools of capital budgeting. Making specific reference to what you read in that chapter, respond to the following questions:

Which metrics and methodologies are the most useful when evaluating a capital investment? Why?

How can finance leaders be more effective partners to managers and business leaders in developing capital budgets that align with the risk tolerance and mission of the organization?

What can be done to make sure everyone understands the connection between the strategy and the capital budget?

JWI531 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT II

Week 7 Discussion

Putting Cash to Work

Locate and post a recent news story from The Wall Street Journal or other reputable source about a publicly-traded company that has been criticized for its cash management practices and/or the amount of debt it is carrying.

What were the criticisms leveled against the company? Was it accused of being too conservative and hoarding too much cash, or of taking unnecessary risks such as being too highly leveraged?

How did the CFO or CEO address this criticism?

How has the stock performance been impacted by these cash management practices?

What are three ways, other than revenue growth, that the company could generate significant cash growth? Hint: take a look at the cash flows.

JWI531 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT II

Week 8 Discussion

Welcome to Shark Tank

You have a great idea about a new business opportunity. You’ve run the numbers and are confident that with an initial investment of $500,000, you can turn a profit in three years and generate $150,000 in operating income per year. But you realize there are no guarantees. Further, you anticipate that there is at least a 50/50 chance the economy will enter a recession within the next two years.

What factors will be most important in determining if you want to fund your venture through equity or take a loan for the $500,000?

If you meet all your projections, will you be happier in five years that you used equity to fund the venture or debt? Why?

If the company goes bankrupt in five years, would you have a different answer? Why?

JWI531 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT II

Week 9 Discussion

Going Public

Locate a recent story from The Wall Street Journal or other reputable news source about a company that has gone public through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) within the last year.

How did the company arrive at the valuation for the IPO? Yes, we know there are multiple valuation methods and also supply and demand based on hype, but what was said publicly by the CEO/CFO and/or the bank that took the company public to defend the initial stock price?

Was the IPO price justified? How has the price changed since the IPO? Be sure to consider overall market and segment performance to support your position.

JWI531 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT II

Week 10 Discussion

Circle of Competence

Locate and post a link to a recording of the most recent earnings call or to a press release from a company you are personally interested in

How did the CEO and/or CFO present the company in a positive light and address concerns and questions?

What did they say that demonstrated the competence of the senior leadership team and the company's strategy to manage risks and drive growth?

Include at least two specific examples to support your response.

Reflect on your Week 1 Discussion response. Share what you learned since then. How has your own circle of competence in finance grown?