Essay on Financial Management

essay about financial management

After reading this essay you will learn about:- 1. Introduction to Financial Management 2. Definition of Financial Management 3. Scope 4. Role in a Business 5. Financial Goals and Objectives 6. Functions.

Essay Contents:

  • Essay on the Functions of Financial Management

Essay # 1. Introduction to Financial Management:

A business organisation seek to achieve their objectives by obtaining funds from various sources and then investing them in different types of assets, such as plant, buildings, machin­ery, vehicles etc. Financial management is managing the finances through scientific decision­-making.

For making right decisions, financial management needs to understand financial envi­ronment within which these decisions operate. Financial management will then be able to analyse these financial information’s to predict likely future results and to plan more carefully their proposed course of action.

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Financial management is concerned with the acquisition (investment), financing (arranging funds), and management of assets with some overall goal in mind. Invest­ment decisions begin with a determination of the total amount of assets required by the firm and to determine the money value of the same. Assets that cannot be economically justified, may be reduced, eliminated or replaced.

Financing decisions include decisions regarding mix of financing, type of financing em­ployed, dividend policy and method of acquiring funds i.e., getting a short term loan, or a long term lease arrangement, sale of bonds or stock.

Asset management decisions means managing the assets efficiently after their acquisition.

Success of a firm depends on the ability to raise funds, invest in assets and manage wisely.

Essay # 2. Definition of Financial Management:

Financial management is an internal part of overall management and not a staff function of the organization. It is not only restricted to fund raising process but also covers utilization of funds and monitoring its uses. The finance function is concerned with the process of acquiring an efficient utilization of funds of a business system, in order to maximize the value of the enterprise.

Financial management involves the application of principles of general management to the finance function. These functions influence the operations of other crucial functional areas of the enterprise or firm such as marketing production and personnel. Thus the overall survival of the firm is effected by it financial operations.

“The financial management deals with how the corporation obtains the funds and how it uses them.” —Hoagland

“The financial management refers to the application of skills in the manipulation, use and control of funds.” —Mock, Schultz and Schuckectat

Financial management can also be defined as that part of management, which is related mainly with raising or acquiring the funds for the enterprise or firm in the most economical way, utilizing those funds as profitably as possible, for a given risk level, planning the future investment of those funds and controlling the current performance plus future development by adopting budgeting, cost accounting and financial accounting.

Essay # 3. Scope and Functions of Financial Management :

The main objectives of financial management are to arrange the sufficient funds for meeting short term long term requirements of the enterprise. These finances are procured at minimum cost in order to maximize the profitability.

In view of these factors the financial management scope concentrates on the following areas of finance function.

(i) Estimating the Financial Requirements :

The first job of the finance manager of an enterprise is to estimate short term and long term financial requirements of his business. He will prepare a financial plan for present as well as future for this purpose.

The finance required for procuring fixed assets as well as the working capital needs will have to be ascertained. The estimations should be based on sound financial principles so that funds available with the firm are neither inadequate nor excess.

(ii) Determining the Capital Structure :

After estimating the financial requirements, the finance executives have to decide about the composition of capital. The capital structure refers to the type and proportion of different securities for raising funds. After deciding the quantum of funds needed it should be decided which type of securities should be raised.

The finance executives have to determine the relative proportions of owner’s risk capital and borrowed capital along with short term and long term debt equity ratio.

A decision regarding various sources of funds should be linked with the cost of raising funds. A decision about the kind of securities to be employed and the proportion in which these should be utilized is an important decision which affects the short term and long term financial planning of an enterprise.

(iii) Choice of Sources of Finance :

After preparing a capital structure an appropriate source of finance is chosen. Various sources from which finance may be raised include: shareholders’ debenture holders, banks and other financial institutions and public deposits etc. Finance executive has to evaluate each source or method of finance and select the best source keeping in view the various factors.

The need, purpose, objective, cost involved may be the factors affecting the selection of a suitable source of financing, for instance, if the finances are required for short periods then banks, public deposits and financial institutions may be appropriate, and for long term financial requirements, the share capital and debentures may be useful.

(iv) Investment Decisions :

When the funds have been poured then a decision regarding pattern of investment has to be taken. The funds raised are to be intelligently invested in various assets so as to optimize the returns on investment. The funds will have to be used first for the purchase of fixed assets and then an appropriate part will be retained as working capital.

The utilisation of long term funds requires a proper assessment of different alternatives through capital budgeting and opportunity cost analysis. While spending on various assets, management should be guided by three important principles of safety, liquidity and profitability. A balance should be struck even in these principles for the purpose of optimum returns on investment.

(v) Management of Profits :

The utilisation of surpluses or earnings is also an important factor in financial management. A judicious utilisation of earnings is essential for expansion and diversification plans of the enterprise.

A certain amount out of the total profit may be kept as reserve voluntarily, a portion of surplus may be distributed among the ordinary and preference shareholders, yet another portion may be reinvested. The finance executive must take into consideration the merits and demerits of the alternative scheme of utilizing the funds generated from the enterprise’s own earnings.

(vi) Management of Cash Flow :

Cash flow management is also an important task of finance executive. He has to assess the various cash requirements at different times and then make arrangements for cash needed. Cash may be required to (i) make payments to creditors (ii) for purchase of materials (iii) to meet wage bill (iv) to meet everyday expenses.

The cash management should be such that neither there is shortage of it and nor it is idle. Any shortage of cash will damage the credit worthiness of the firm. The idle cash with the enterprise will mean that it is not properly utilized. In order to know the cash requirements during different periods, the management should arrange for the preparation of cash flow statement in advance.

(vii) Implementation of Financial Controls :

An efficient system of financial management needs the use of various control of devices. Financial control devices generally adopted are (i) Return on Investment (ii) Budgetrary Control (iii) Cost control (iv) Break Even analysis (v) Ratio analysis. The use of various control techniques by the Finance Manager will help him in evaluating the performance in different areas and take corrective action whenever needed.

Essay # 4. Role of Financial Management in a Business:

An effective financial management plays a dynamic role in a modern company’s develop­ment.

In earlier days, financial managers were primarily engaged in:

(a) Raising funds, and

(b) Managing the firms cash flow.

But now-a-days with the developments and increasing complexi­ties in the business, responsibility of the financial managers have increased and they are now concerned with the decision-making process involving finance, i.e., capital investment.

Today external factors, like competition, technological change, economic uncertainty, infla­tion problem etc., create financial managers problem more complicated. He must have flexibil­ity to adopt to the changing external environment for the survival of his firm.

Role of Financial Management in a Business

Thus in addition to the job of acquisition, financing and managing the assets, the financial manager is supposed to contribute to the fortunes of the firm and to the optimal growth of the economy as a whole.

He is required to take decisions on:

(i) Investing funds in assets, and

(ii) Obtaining best mix of financing and dividends.

In order to understand the environment in which a finance manager is required to take decision, a sketch indicating business system is given hereunder:

The Financial Management’s main role is therefore to create profit on the capital invested (fixed as well as working capital). Each and every decision related to finance/economy must be optimal. Every business enterprise is set up to earn profit, and no one is interested in taking risk unless he is assured of fair return on the investment. However government organisations have no profit motive but are created to serve the public.

The profit earned by a firm is used for:

(a) Future expansion.

(b) Distributing profit as rewards to owners/shareholders.

Profit earned also serves as an indicator of efficiency and performance of the firm. So as to enable to perform the role of financial management, financial managers must be given proper authority, autonomy, freedom of actions, supporting staff, system for providing necessary information. He should be accountable also for his role.

Essay # 5. Financial Goals and Objectives :

There may be various objectives of a firm, but the goal of a firm is to maximise the wealth of the firm’s owners. Thus we can say that, “the improvement of shareholders value is the one mission that continually guides all corporate decisions and actions” or “the goal of a firm is maximizing the shareholders’ value”. This maximisation of value should be achieved from long term point of view.

The financial goal can be expressed as:

(a) Required profit levels,

(b) Earnings per shares, and

(c) Required rate of return on investment.

For a large firm, where shareholders do not have direct say and the firm is managed by the management, an ordinary shareholder can judge the performance by the market price of the firm’s share. Market price serves as a gauge for business performance, it indicates how well management is doing on behalf of its shareholders.

Management is the agents of the owners or shareholders, and financial management acts for achieving the goal of profit maximization in the shareholders’ best interests.

Social Goals :

While profit maximisation is the primary goal for any business organisation, social respon­sibility is also important for them. In case of Government organisations and public sector organisations, social responsibility is the primary goal and profit is secondary.

Social responsi­bility includes service to the people, protecting the consumer, paying fare wages to the employ­ees, upliftment of the weaker sections, welfare facilities like medical education, environment improvement programmes etc.

Financial Objectives :

In making financial decisions, it is important to set out clear objectives.

Following are the basic financial objectives:

(a) Profit maximisation.

(b) Maximisation of shareholders’ owners’ wealth.

(c) Reduction in cost.

(d) Minimising risks.

(e) Sustained increase in the value of firm

(f) Wealth maximisation.

Essay # 6. Functions of Financial Management :

Financial manager is concerned with the following aspects:

1. Identifying the present strengths and weaknesses of the organisation, and the scope for improvement, by conducting the financial analysis.

2. Planning the financial strategies. This involves the consideration of methods and levels of funds raising, profitability and the financing of expansion plan of the organisation.

3. Arranging the funds when required, in the form needed in the most economical way.

4. Conducting financial appraisal of the possible courses of action. The appraisals are needed in respect of possible take overs and mergers, analysis of capital projects, or alternative methods of funding.

5. Advising about capital structure.

6. Consideration of an appropriate level for drawings by dividends to the owners/ share­holders.

7. Ensuring that assets are controlled and used in an efficient manner.

8. Cash management. Preparation of detailed cash budgets and/or forecast funds flow statement so that future problems can be foreseen and remedial measures taken in advance. These take care of both shortage and excess of cash. Finance managers must find ways of raising more funds needed, or investing excess funds for an appropriate length of time.

9. Finance managers are likely to draw attention on other disciplines also, like account­ing and budgeting.

In order to enable financial managers to perform above functions satisfactorily, he must have good knowledge of accounting, economics, mathematics, statistics, law especially taxa­tion, financial market etc.

The functions of finance thus involve three major decisions the firm must make:

(a) The investment decisions,

(b) The financing decisions, and

(c) The dividend decisions.

Each of these decisions are taken in relation to the objective of the firm, an optimal combi­nation of these three will maximise the value of the firm to its shareholders. Since the decisions are interrelated, their joint impact on the market price of the firm’s stock must be considered.

(a) Investment Decisions:

This is the most important decision. Capital investment, i.e., allocation of capital to investment proposals is the most important aspect, whose benefits are to be realised in future. As future benefits are not known with certainty, the investment proposals involve risk.

These should, therefore, be evaluated in relation to expected return and risk. Considerable attention is paid to determine the appropriate required rate of return on the investment.

In addition to taking capital investment decisions, finance managers are concerned with the management of current assets efficiently in order to maximise profitability relative to the amount of funds tied up in asset. Investment decisions also include the decisions about mergers and acquisition of another company.

(b) Financing Decisions:

Finance manager is required to determine the best financing mix or capital structure. An optimal financing mix is one in which market price per share could be maximised. Financing decision are taken in relation to the overall valuation of the firm.

Various methods of obtaining short, intermediate, and long term financing are also explored, examined, analysed and a decision is taken. While taking financing decisions, the influence of inflammation on financial markets and on the cost of funds to the firm is also considered.

(c) Dividend Decision:

The dividend decision includes the percentage of earnings paid to stockholders in cash dividends, stock dividends and splits, and the repurchase of stock.

To Meet Funds Requirement of a Firm :

Funds requirement is assessed for different purposes, namely for feasibility study of a project, detailed planning of a project, and for operation and expansion of the business.

For feasibility study, only broad estimates are sufficient and are generally obtained from the past experience of the similar works by interpolating the present trends and the condition of the proposed project in comparison to the one whose figures are being adopted. While during detailed plan­ning, estimated requirement is comparatively more realistic, and prepared after going into details more thoroughly.

Here we are discussing the funds requirement for a running business including its long term planning for expansion.

The main function of financial management is to ensure that the firm must have sufficient funds to meet financial obligations when they are needed and to take advantage of investment opportunities. To achieve this objective, a thorough study is conducted about ‘flow of funds’ i.e., statement of funds requirement indicating the amount of fund needed and at what time.

This ‘statement of funds’ is a summary of a firm’s changes in financial position from one period to another. This indicates that how the funds will be used and how it will be financed over specific period of time. This includes the cash as well as non-cash transactions.

Forecast, financial statements are prepared for selected future dates, generally for middle term and long term plans of the firm. Budgets are used for one year, and are prepared only to fulfill the firms’ objectives envisaged in the forecast for that particular year.

These forecast financial statements are based on the sales forecast and future strategies for expanding the business, and includes, forecast income statements, forecast assets, liabilities, shareholders, equity etc.

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Financial Management Explained: Scope, Objectives & Importance

financial management

In business, financial management is the practice of handling a company’s finances in a way that allows it to be successful and compliant with regulations. That takes both a high-level plan and boots-on-the-ground execution.

What Is Financial Management?

At its core, financial management is the practice of making a business plan and then ensuring all departments stay on track. Solid financial management enables the CFO or VP of finance to provide data that supports creation of a long-range vision, informs decisions on where to invest, and yields insights on how to fund those investments, liquidity, profitability, cash runway and more.

ERP software can help finance teams achieve these goals: A financial management system combines several financial functions, such as accounting, fixed-asset management, revenue recognition and payment processing. By integrating these key components, a financial management system ensures real-time visibility into the financial state of a company while facilitating day-to-day operations, like period-end close processes.

Video: What Is Financial Management?

Objectives of Financial Management

Building on those pillars, financial managers help their companies in a variety of ways, including but not limited to:

  • Maximizing profits: Provide insights on, for example, rising costs of raw materials that might trigger an increase in the cost of goods sold.
  • Tracking liquidity and cash flow: Ensure the company has enough money on hand to meet its obligations.
  • Ensuring compliance: Keep up with state, federal and industry-specific regulations.
  • Developing financial scenarios: These are based on the business’ current state and forecasts that assume a wide range of outcomes based on possible market conditions.
  • Manage relationships: Dealing effectively with investors and the boards of directors .

Ultimately, it’s about applying effective management principles to the company’s financial structure.

Scope of Financial Management

Financial management encompasses four major areas:

The financial manager projects how much money the company will need in order to maintain positive cash flow, allocate funds to grow or add new products or services and cope with unexpected events, and shares that information with business colleagues.

Planning may be broken down into categories including capital expenses, T&E and workforce and indirect and operational expenses.

The financial manager allocates the company’s available funds to meet costs, such as mortgages or rents, salaries, raw materials, employee T&E and other obligations. Ideally there will be some left to put aside for emergencies and to fund new business opportunities.

Companies generally have a master budget and may have separate sub documents covering, for example, cash flow and operations; budgets may be static or flexible .

Static vs. Flexible Budgeting

Managing and assessing risk.

Line-of-business executives look to their financial managers to assess and provide compensating controls for a variety of risks, including:

Affects the business’ investments as well as, for public companies, reporting and stock performance. May also reflect financial risk particular to the industry, such as a pandemic affecting restaurants or the shift of retail to a direct-to-consumer model .

The effects of, for example, customers not paying their invoices on time and thus the business not having funds to meet obligations, which may adversely affect creditworthiness and valuation, which dictates ability to borrow at favorable rates .

Finance teams must track current cash flow, estimate future cash needs and be prepared to free up working capital as needed.

This is a catch-all category, and one new to some finance teams. It may include, for example, the risk of a cyber-attack and whether to purchase cybersecurity insurance , what disaster recovery and business continuity plans are in place and what crisis management practices are triggered if a senior executive is accused of fraud or misconduct.

The financial manager sets procedures regarding how the finance team will process and distribute financial data, like invoices, payments and reports, with security and accuracy. These written procedures also outline who is responsible for making financial decisions at the company — and who signs off on those decisions.

Companies don’t need to start from scratch; there are policy and procedure templates available for a variety of organization types, such as this one for nonprofits.

Functions of Financial Management

More practically, a financial manager’s activities in the above areas revolve around planning and forecasting and controlling expenditures.

The FP&A function includes issuing P&L statements, analyzing which product lines or services have the highest profit margin or contribute the most to net profitability, maintaining the budget and forecasting the company’s future financial performance and scenario planning.

Managing cash flow is also key. The financial manager must make sure there’s enough cash on hand for day-to-day operations, like paying workers and purchasing raw materials for production. This involves overseeing cash as it flows both in and out of the business, a practice called cash management.

Along with cash management, financial management includes revenue recognition, or reporting the company’s revenue according to standard accounting principles. Balancing accounts receivable turnover ratios is a key part of strategic cash conservation and management. This may sound simple, but it isn’t always: At some companies, customers might pay months after receiving your service. At what point do you consider that money “yours” — and report the good news to investors?

Finally, managing financial controls involves analyzing how the company is performing financially compared with its plans and budgets. Methods for doing this include financial ratio analysis, in which the financial manager compares line items on the company’s financial statements.

Strategic vs. Tactical Financial Management

On a tactical level, financial management procedures govern how you process daily transactions, perform the monthly financial close, compare actual spending to what’s budgeted and ensure you meet auditor and tax requirements.

On a more strategic level, financial management feeds into vital FP&A (financial planning and analysis) and visioning activities, where finance leaders use data to help line-of-business colleagues plan future investments, spot opportunities and build resilient companies.

Importance of Financial Management

Solid financial management provides the foundation for three pillars of sound fiscal governance:

Strategizing

Identifying what needs to happen financially for the company to achieve its short- and long-term goals. Leaders need insights into current performance for scenario planning , for example.

Decision-making

Helping business leaders decide the best way to execute on plans by providing up-to-date financial reports and data on relevant KPIs.

Controlling

Ensuring each department is contributing to the vision and operating within budget and in alignment with strategy.

With effective financial management, all employees know where the company is headed, and they have visibility into progress.

What Are the Three Types of Financial Management?

The functions above can be grouped into three broader types of financial management:

Capital budgeting

Relates to identifying what needs to happen financially for the company to achieve its short- and long-term goals. Where should capital funds be expended to support growth ?

Capital structure

Determine how to pay for operations and/or growth. If interest rates are low, taking on debt might be the best answer. A company might also seek funding from a private equity firm , consider selling assets like real estate or, where applicable, selling equity.

Working capital management

As discussed above, is making sure there’s enough cash on hand for day-to-day operations, like paying workers and purchasing raw materials for production.

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What Is an Example of Financial Management?

We’ve covered some examples of financial management in the “functions” section above. Now, let’s cover how they all work together:

Say the CEO of a toothpaste company wants to introduce a new product: toothbrushes. She’ll call on her team to estimate the cost of producing the toothbrushes and the financial manager to determine where those funds should come from — for example, a bank loan.

The financial manager will acquire those funds and ensure they’re allocated to manufacture toothbrushes in the most cost-effective way possible. Assuming the toothbrushes sell well, the financial manager will gather data to help the management team decide whether to put the profits toward producing more toothbrushes, start a line of mouthwashes, pay a dividend to shareholders or take some other action.

Throughout the process, the financial manager will ensure the company has enough cash on hand to pay the new workers producing the toothbrushes. She’ll also analyze whether the company is spending and generating as much money as she estimated when she budgeted for the project.

NetSuite: Financial Management for Startups and Beyond

At the outset, financial management responsibilities within a startup include making and sticking to a budget that aligns with the business plan, evaluating what to do with profits and making sure your bills get paid and that customers pay you.

Financial management gets more complicated as the company grows and adds finance and accounting contractors or staffers. You must ensure your employees get paid with accurate deductions, properly file taxes and financial statements, and watch for errors and fraud.

This all circles back to our opening discussion of balancing strategic and tactical. By building a plan, you can answer the big questions: Are our goods and services profitable? Can we afford to launch a new product or make that hire? What might the coming 12 to 18 months bring for the business? Solid financial management provides the systems and processes to answer those questions.

Financial management challenges can be daunting for both startups and growing businesses. This is where NetSuite's financial management software comes into play. With its comprehensive, cloud-based solutions, NetSuite ensures that your financial data is accurate, up-to-date, and accessible anytime, anywhere.

From automating complex financial processes to offering real-time visibility into performance, NetSuite is the go-to solution for businesses aiming for seamless integration and efficient financial operations. As your company expands, NetSuite scales with you, ensuring you have the right tools to make informed strategic decisions at every stage. Make the smart choice for your business's financial future with NetSuite.

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116 Financial Management Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on financial management, ✍️ financial management essay topics for college, 👍 good financial management research topics & essay examples, 🎓 most interesting financial management research titles, 💡 simple financial management essay ideas.

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What is financial management?

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Checked : Mark A. , Priscilla M.

Latest Update 20 Jan, 2024

Table of content

Introduction

Financial accounting, accounts receivable, investment account, cash account, the importance of good financial management:, what is the corporate financial management, what is corporate financial management, three types of planning, 1. strategic planning:, 2. budget planning:, 3. treasury planning:.

  • What is a company's financial management?

But what is meant by financial management?

Receipts must exceed expenses and revenues must exceed expenses. Until then, it's very simple. On the other hand, it is not so simple for management to guarantee the liquidity necessary for its activity. Financial management instruments are invaluable in this regard. We present here the most important instruments. The following tools are the essential bases of financial management and controlling:

Accounting provides management with useful bases for decision-making and helps them control finances. It makes it possible to enter and monitor cash flows and services systematically. The resulting data are used for financial management, planning, and management of the company. Accounting also provides information to external target groups such as donors or the auditors.

It is an integral part of the operating accounts and documents all the processes in concrete figures. It calculates the overall result of the company from the income statement. In addition, it informs managers of the current financial situation in the balance sheet and the company's development in the income statement.

Accounts receivable are part of financial accounting. It records all the commercial operations associated with customers, in particular receivables and credits, deliveries, and other services.

The investment account provides the main decision bases for investments. It takes into account all the data that can be calculated and thus helps to assess   the risks associated   with the planned investments, their profitability, and their amortization.

The cash account compares revenue and expenses. Companies can thus ensure that they always have sufficient financial means to pay their invoices on time.

For businesses, sound financial planning is the key to success. It allows an organization to start its commercial activities and to continue. The content of financial management is particularly important for SMEs and start-ups. Their objective must be to use the available resources effectively and efficiently. It is up to management to know the tools that help it in financial management. The management of a company must control the company's financial flows and the company's associated processes to guarantee liquidity.

But financial management is not limited to tedious obligations and controlling activities. Ideally, it allows management to steer its strategy with precision, to make the necessary changes in due time, and to mobilize employees for the common cause.

Money is the lifeblood of any business. Only by having capital is it possible to buy everything you need to start a company and make the right investments for its growth. For this reason, it is necessary to plan and manage the incoming and outgoing cash flows better. Let's see what corporate financial management is and why it is important.

Planning the resources available and any future investments is the first step in getting a company off the ground. To achieve your business objectives, you need to put all the strategic tools necessary to face   the market , and, among these, there is financial management. A company does not operate isolated from the context in which it finds itself: to each of its actions correspond market reactions, which are not always positive. For this reason, money management must be carefully planned to be able to face any moments of crisis and support long-term business development.

Financial management is responsible for making decisions on income and expenses and collecting and payment methods. Machinery, patents, plants, raw materials, human resources: everything has a cost. It is not necessary to be a high finance expert to understand that money is the basis for every company's survival. To keep a business going, you need to know exactly what the available money is used for and constantly monitor the flows.

Whether it's production, human resource management, or marketing, every business function consumes or produces money. Therefore, financial management is not an isolated discipline in its own right, but concerns all company activities and allows the entrepreneur to understand what has the greatest impact on liquidity movements.

Proper corporate financial management should include at least four stages:

  • forecast of financial needs;
  • finding the necessary resources;
  • achieving the balance between collected and employed means and their coordination;
  • Control phase.

Depending on the time frame in which you want to operate, corporate financial management can have different objectives and methods. We can identify three different types of planning:

Operates in the medium to long term, over a time ranging from three to five years on average. Strategic corporate financial planning has to do with particular projects or events in corporate life and often takes the form of a "business plan," which outlines and evaluates commercial choices, investments, and sources of financing, as well as financial sustainability and convenience of the "Business plan" itself.

Operates in the short term, generally within one year. With financial budget planning, the company's economic budget is transformed into a plan that quantifies its income and expenses, checking that the net flow remains active and sustainable with respect to the company's needs and banking positions. In this context, the determining factor is time: the company must demonstrate its profitability over the year, while the financial budget must be drawn up every month.

Here we work in the very short term, or in a period of three or four months. The treasury's financial planning analyzes the reality taking into account the firm's fixed costs, the due dates towards customers, and the due dates towards suppliers. Subsequently, it tries to predict the company's liquidity in the very short term, which can vary from a few days to a few months, and it is a programming that must be constantly revised.

The cash flows (inflows and outflows) may depend on operational decisions (such as the purchase of raw materials) or strategic (such as the decision to change obsolete machinery). But it is essential to have the tools to understand how and how any decision impacts the company's financial situation.

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What is a company's financial management?

The concept of finance is so broad that a post like today is certainly not enough to be able to summarize it. In fact, when we talk about finance, we can refer to private finance, which includes the finance of a natural person, companies, and others in search of the necessary financial activities to meet their own sustainability and development requirements. Or, we can refer to the concept of public finance, which instead concerns the revenue and disbursements of the state, such as central, regional government, and semi-public financial issues.

Financial management is an integral part of global management. As a rule, when it comes to financial management, we speak of a branch of activity that deals with the company's financial managers' numerous aspects and oriented tasks. The term financial management has been defined by authors (Howard and Upton), financial management is an "application of general management," using principles in financial decision-making. For others like Weston Brigham, financial management is an area of financial decision making, which seeks to harmonize individual motivations and business objectives. Still, for others (Joseph Massie), financial management is the operational activity of a company. It aims to obtain and effectively use the funds necessary for efficient management of financial resources, with consequent explanation in operations of various natures.

Beyond the definitions provided by the doctrine, and trying to get to the right mix, financial management mainly deals with the management of funds belonging to or attributable to a company. In simple words, the financial management practiced by commercial enterprises is the set of activities that are aimed at managing the financial requirement and its coverage by applying a series of short, medium, and long term.

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