BAF 202- Banking and Finance

INTRODUCTION From the last Unit, it would be clear that the financial managers are central to the management of a company’s funds. They are responsible for a company’s investment decisions, advising on the allocation of funds in terms of the total amount of assets, the composition of fixed and current assets, and the consequent risk profile of the choices. They are also responsible for the raising of funds, choosing from a wide variety of institutions and markets, with each source of finance having different criteria as regards cost, availability, maturity and risk. The place where supply meets demand is called the financial market, which is made up of the short-term money markets and the long-term capital markets. A major source of finance available to a company is internal rather than external, that is, to retain part of the earnings generated by its business activities. The managers of the company, however, will have to strike a balance between the amount of earnings they retain and the amount paid out to shareholders as a dividend. 25 In this Unit, we shall look at the relationship between finance and overall operations of an organization.