Michael Taillard

Corporate finance is the study of how groups of people work together as a single organization to provide something of value to society. It’s the job of those in corporate finance to manage the organization so that resources are efficiently utilized, the most valuable projects are pursued, the corporation can remain competitive, and everyone gets to keep their job.

The ratio of operating cash flows to current maturities utilizes the cash flows a company generates from its operations to determine its ability to pay any debts that are maturing within the next year. This ratio is different from the other liquidity metrics in this section in two important ways: It determines whether a company can pay debts by using the cash flows it generates rather than the assets it has on hand.

Corporate finance jobs aren’t just about crunching numbers all day in a hidden corner of a corporation’s financial department. A variety of employment opportunities are available within the corporate finance function, including the following: Entry-level positions: The entry-level positions in corporate finance are typically the same as the ones you see in accounting: Payroll: The people who make sure you (and the rest of your company) get paid Accounts receivables: The people who process incoming payments and money owed Accounts payables: The people who process outgoing payments and money owed to others Bookkeeping clerks and other forms of paperwork processing: People who work on data entry; think Charles Dickens’ character Bob Cratchit from A Christmas Carol Analysts: These people get to do a whole lot of research and analysis to derive useful information from data or otherwise yet unstudied scenarios.

One of the core calculations used in capital budgeting is net present value (NPV). Net present value is calculated using the following equation, which says that you add up all the present values of all future cash inflows, and then subtract the sum of the present value of all future cash outflows: In other words, you take the present value of all future cash flows, both positive and negative, and then add and subtract as appropriate.

Securities firms provide transaction services related to financial investments, which are quite distinct from the services provided by traditional depository institutions. However, many commercial banks have separate departments that offer the services of securities firms, and others actually merge or partner with securities firms.

Corporate finance plays a very interesting role in all societies. Finance is the study of relationships between people: how they distribute themselves and their resources, place value on things, and exchange that value among each other. Because that’s the case, finance (all finance) is really the science of decision-making.

Insurance companies are a special type of financial institution that deals in the business of managing risk. A corporation periodically gives them money and, in return, they promise to pay for the losses the corporation incurs if some unfortunate event occurs, causing damage to the well-being of the organization.