財經(jīng)專業(yè)英語教程（第三版） 宋德富 孫正峰課件Unit 4

Unit4

TheGoalofFinancialManagementIntroduction

[Para1]Assumingthatwerestrictourselvestofor-profitbusinesses,thegoaloffinancialmanagementistomakemoneyoraddvaluefortheowners.Thisgoalisalittlevague,ofcourse,soweexaminesomedifferentwaysofformulatingitinordertocomeupwithamoreprecisedefinition.(Page12)Suchadefinitionisimportantbecauseitleadstoanobjectivebasisformakingandevaluatingfinancialdecisions.PossibleGoals

[Para2]Ifweweretoconsiderpossiblefinancialgoals,wemightcomeupwithsomeideaslikethefollowing:Survive.Avoidfinancialdistressandbankruptcy.Beatthecompetition.Maximizesalesormarketshare.Minimizecosts.Maximizeprofits.Maintainsteadyearningsgrowth.

Theseareonlyafewofthegoalswecouldlist.Furthermore,eachofthesepossibilitiespresentsproblemsasagoalforthefinancialmanager.[Para3]Forexample,it‘seasytoincreasemarketshareorunitsales;allwehavetodoislowerourpricesorrelaxourcreditterms（賒銷付款條件）.Similarly,wecanalwayscutcostssimplybydoingawaywiththingssuchasresearchanddevelopment.Wecanavoidbankruptcybyneverborrowinganymoneyornevertakinganyrisks,andsoon.It'snotclearthatanyoftheseactionsareinthestockholders'bestinterests.[Para4]Profitmaximization[?m?ks?mai?zei??n]wouldprobablybethemostcommonlycitedgoal,buteventhisisnotaverypreciseobjective.Dowemeanprofitsthisyear?Ifso,thenactionssuchasdeferringmaintenance,lettinginventoriesrundown,andothershort-runcost-cuttingmeasureswilltendtoincreaseprofitsnow,buttheseactivitiesaren'tnecessarilydesirable.[Para5]Thegoalofmaximizingprofitsmayrefertosomesortof"long-run"or"average"profits,butit'sstillunclearexactlywhatthismeans.First,dowemeansomethinglikeaccountingnetincomeorearningspershare?Theseaccountingnumbersmayhavelittletodowithwhatisgoodorbadforthefirm.Second,whatdowemeanbythelongrun?Asafamouseconomistonceremarked,inthelongrun,we'realldead!Moretothepoint,thisgoaldoesn’ttelluswhattheappropriatetrade-offisbetweencurrentandfutureprofits.(Page13)[Para6]Thegoalswe'velistedabovearealldifferent,buttheydotendtofallintotwoclasses.Thefirstoftheserelatestoprofitability[?pr?fit??biliti].Thegoalsinvolvingsales,marketshare,andcostcontrolallrelate,atleastpotentially,todifferentwaysofearningorincreasingprofits.Thesecondgroup,involvingbankruptcyavoidance,stability,andsafety,relatesinsomewaytocontrollingrisk.Unfortunately,thesetwotypesofgoalsaresomewhatcontradictory.Thepursuitofprofitnormallyinvolvessomeelementofrisk,soitisn'treallypossibletomaximizebothsafetyandprofit.Whatweneed,therefore,isagoalthatencompasses

[in?k?mp?siz]bothfactors.TheGoalofFinancialManagement

[Para7]Thefinancialmanagerinacorporationmakesdecisionsforthestockholdersofthefirm.Giventhis,insteadoflistingpossiblegoalsforthefinancialmanager,wereallyneedtoansweramorefundamentalquestion:Fromthestockholder'pointofview,whatisagoodfinancialmanagementdecision?(Page14)[Para8]Ifweassumethatstockholdersbuystockbecausetheyseektogainfinancially,thentheanswerisobvious:Gooddecisionsincreasethevalueofthestock,andpoordecisionsdecreaseit.[Para9]

Givenourobservations,itfollowsthatthefinancialmanageractsintheshareholders'bestinterestsbymakingdecisionsthatincreasethevalueofthestock.(Page15)Theappropriategoalforthefinancialmanagercanthusbestatedquiteeasily:

Thegoaloffinancialmanagementistomaximizethecurrentvaluepershareoftheexistingstock.

[Para10]Thegoalofmaximizingthevalueofthestockavoidstheproblemsassociatedwiththedifferentgoalswelistedabove.Thereisnoambiguity[??mbi?ɡjuiti]inthecriterion,andthereisnoshort-runversuslong-runissue.Weexplicitlymeanthatourgoalistomaximizethecurrentstockvalue.[Para11]Ifthisgoalseemsalittlestrongorone-dimensionaltoyou,keepinmindthatthestockholdersinafirmareresidualowners.Bythiswemeanthattheyareonlyentitledtowhatisleftafteremployees,suppliers,andcreditors(andanyoneelsewithalegitimateclaim)arepaidtheirdue.Ifanyofthesegroupsgounpaid,thestockholdersgetnothing.So,ifthestockholdersarewinninginthesensethattheleftover,residualportionisgrowing,itmustbetruethateveryoneelseiswinningalso.

[Para12]Sincethegoaloffinancialmanagementistomaximizethevalueofthestock,weneedtolearnhowtoidentifythoseinvestmentsandfinancingarrangementsthatfavorablyimpactthevalueofthestock.Thisispreciselywhatwewillbestudying.Infact,wecouldhavedefinedcorporatefinanceasthestudyoftherelationshipbetweenbusinessdecisionandthevalueofthestockinthebusiness.AMoreGeneralGoal[Para13]Givenourgoalasstatedabove(maximizethevalueofthestock),anobviousquestioncomesup:Whatisappropriategoalwhenthefirmhasnotradedstock?Corporationsarecertainlynottheonlytypeofbusiness,andthestockinmanycorporationsrarelychangeshands,soit'sdifficulttosaywhatthevaluepershareisatanygiventime.[Para14]Aslongaswearedealingwithfor-profitbusinesses,onlyaslightmodificationisneeded.Thetotalvalueofthestockinacorporationissimplyequaltothevalueoftheowners'equity

[?ekwiti].Therefore,amoregeneralwayofstatingourgoalis:Maximizethemarketvalueoftheexistingowners'equity.[Para15]Withthisinmind,itdoesn’tmatterwhetherthebusinessisaproprietorship[pr??prai?t??ip],apartnership,oracorporation.Foreachofthesegoodfinancialdecisionsincreasethemarketvalueoftheowners'equityandpoorfinancialdecisionsdecreaseit.Infact,althoughwechoosetofocusoncorporationsmentionedahead,theprincipleswedevelopapplytoallformsofbusiness.Manyofthemevenapplytothenot-for-profitsector.

[Para16]Finally,ourgoaldoesnotimplythatthefinancialmanagershouldtakeillegalorunethical[??n?eθik?l]actionsinthehopeofincreasingthevalueoftheequityinthefirm.Whatwemeanisthatthefinancialmanagerbestservestheownersofthebusinessbyidentifyinggoodsandservicesthataddvaluetothefirmbecausetheyaredesiredandvaluedinthefreemarketplace.

[Para1]Thisgoalisalittlevague,ofcourse,soweexaminesomedifferentwaysofformulatingitinordertocomeupwithamoreprecisedefinition.

句中的formulate表示“系統(tǒng)闡述”，comeupwith為“提出”。全句可譯成：“當(dāng)然該目標(biāo)是有些含糊不清，因此我們可嘗試著采用別的方法進(jìn)行系統(tǒng)地闡述，以便提出更為精確的概念。[Para5]Moretothepoint,thisgoaldoesn’ttelluswhattheappropriatetrade-offisbetweencurrentandfutureprofits.

“tothepoint”表示“切題”；“tradeoff”表示“權(quán)衡”。此句講本段給財務(wù)管理所確定的目標(biāo)沒有告訴我們協(xié)調(diào)和權(quán)衡當(dāng)前利潤和未來利潤的合適的方法。[Para7]Giventhis,insteadoflistingpossiblegoalsforthefinancialmanager,wereallyneedtoansweramore