Financial Management Approach

LO 1

P1. Applying different informal and formal approach in order to support decision making.

Formal approach mainly comprises of system, structure and processes which in turn helps in strategic decision making. Formal organizational structure in turn helps in formalizing the relationship between members and process of the Barratt development. This in turn helps in creating better business environment which helps in better decision-making process. Formal consensus tends to support various layers of top executives which helps in better decision-making process. Organization system is considered to be as the defined structure which helps in dividing organization into various hierarchical structure. This helps in reducing chaos and better transmission of decision across departments which eventually leads to better decision making.

Organization process is mainly linked with planning, assigning tasks, accomplishing goals, etc. which in turn helps in better decision making. On the contrary, informal approach mainly comprise of relationship, unwritten rules and networks which in turn helps in supporting decision making. Relationship between the managers and employees of the organization in turn helps in making strategic decision within the management of the Barratt development. Unwritten rules mainly comprise of the unconscious accumulation of the history, customs, beliefs, vested interest, deep feelings, etc. which in turn largely support decision making. Social networks and connects within and outside the organization aids to better decision making.

M1. Addressing advantages and disadvantage of informal and formal approach.

The advantage of the formal approach in the organization helps in collaborating the activities within each organization. It helps in setting clear idea and coordinate activities of various functional and hierarchical departments of the Lloyd banks. On the contrary, the major disadvantage of the formal approach is that, it is associated with high degree of specialization. The key advantage of the informal approach is that, it helps in complying with rapidly changing the market and is more adaptable to the changing environment. This in turn results in better decision making. On the contrary, the major disadvantage of the informal approach is that, there is no systematic procedure and results in delay in the decision making process. It also results in more emphasize on the individual interest while making strategic financial decision. Order assignment help from our experts!

D1. Examining use of different informal and formal approach in order to support decision making.

The network helps in considering the most critical resources of the organization. This in turn helps in satisfying the needs and objective of the company and helps in speedy business transaction of Barratt development. Relationship within the organization is useful because it aids in collectively taking decision and attain common organizational goal. Formal consensus is considered to be useful because it helps to collaborate various layers of the executives who in turn focuses on layering various executive layer in the organization.

LO 2

P2. Determining key financial management principles which in turn is required to achieve long term financial sustainability.

Setting objectives in order to achieve long term financial goals: The company set long term medium term and short term goals of the company. This helps management in making strategic decision related with the investment and in turn leads to long term growth of the Barratt development.

Organizing the finances of company: The key principle is to effectively manage and organize the finances of the company in order to create more wealth.

Maximizing the wealth of the shareholders: Every shareholder of the organization expects a strategic return on investment.

Limiting debt and investing in income producing assets: The management of the company should in turn focus on limiting the various debt and expenses of the company and in turn focus on investing in financial products or assets which in turn gives valuable return.

M2. Critically examining the key financial management principles and its importance to achieve long term financial sustainability

Cornwall, Vang and Hartman, (2019) said that, maximizing the wealth of the shareholders in turn helps in meeting the expected value of the shareholders. It is very useful in creating profit for the organization ad value for shareholders. Shapiro and Hanouna, (2019) argued that, organizing finances and reducing debt and expenses of the company in turn helps in making strategic decision and aids at achieving long term goal of Barratt Developments plc.

D2. Critically evaluating the importance of key financial management principles

Burtonshaw-Gunn, (2017) said that, the importance of key financial management principles in the organization is that, it tends to ensure slow of financial information across the organizational structure. This in turn leads to strategic decision making. Zabolotnyy, (2016) argued that, the key relevance of the financial management principles is that, it is very useful in managing the finances of the company. It also helps in maximizing the profits and productivity of the company which helps in higher attainment of the goals and objectives. It also helps in ascertaining the risks and in turn helps in finding the right measure to reduce such conflicts of interest.

LO 3

P3. Evaluating role of management accountants

Costing is the one of the factor to which firms give due importance. This is because if cost will not be in control then in that case profit in the business decline. Management accountants play a very important role in assisting firm in controlling cost in the business. Role of management accountants is given below.

• Cost analysis: Management accountants do cost analysis on regular basis and on that basis, they identify whether firm is making cost within range or extravagance is made in the business (Kaplan and Atkinson, 2015). In case extravagance is identified corrective actions are taken to improve performance.
• Make or buy evaluation: Management accountants help firm in making buy and sell evaluations. Management accountant while firm decide to acquire any firm evaluate that company production assets and on basis of facts identify their values and costing that can be seen if machines purchased. Thus, it can be said that management accounts play an important role in helping firm in identifying whether another firm must be purchased.
• Define budgets: Management accountant prepare budgets by considering or not taking into account previous year budgets. After preparing budget all expenses are made within certain limit and it is ensured that it is made within limit. In this way, management accountant assist firm in cost control in the business (Otley., 2016).
• Controlling: Management account compare actual expenses with the benchmark level and take appropriate actions to control cost.

P3. Use of accounting control system

Accounting control system refers to the standards, rules and regulations as well as policies and procedures that are followed while preparing financial statements like income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. Accounting control system main use is that it ensures that management will have limited or no participation in preparation of company financial statements and firm performance will be measured accurately which will assist investors in making prudent decisions (Maas, Schaltegger. and Crutzen., 2016). It has very high value as part of the integrated system because if corruption is done in the business then by evaluating accounting records auditor can easily identify area or department where figures are manipulated or corruption is done. In this way accounting control system add a value to the integrated system. Lloyd bank time to time conduct programs under which accounts are checked and at end of the financial year CA do audit of the company books of accounts. By doing so it ensured that all operations are recorded in books of accounts as per rules and regulations. eed Assignment Samples?Talk to our Experts!

M3. Critical evaluation of role management accountant and accounting control system.

Ethical financial management refers to the situation where balance is maintained between stakeholder interests and efforts are made to protect and preserve their interests. Management accountant ensure that cost is control and firm is earning maximum profit and better returns are obtained by the shareholders (Lowe, 2019). Accounting control system ensured that financial statements are correctly prepared which assist stakeholders to take prudent investment decisions. Thus, in this way management accountants and accounting control system play crucial role in supporting culture of ethical financial management.

LO 4 

Use of data in making company operational and strategic decisions

Data speaks a lot about the company operations and due to this reason, it has due importance for the firms because by using it areas where company performance is good or bad can be easily identified and work can be done on it. In management accounting lots of data related to cost is generated in the business and by analysing it, it is identified whether firm make extravagance in its business or there is lack of control on expenses in the business. On basis of results of analysis of facts manager identify operational and strategic decisions that need to be taken. Like for controlling expenses transportation model can be changed which lead to decline in cost of business (Karadag, 2015). Process reengineering approach can be used and by doing so entire production process can be revaluated in proper manner and areas where cost is high can be identified and steps can have taken to do cost cutting. In this way, by taking using cost data firm can take operational and strategic decisions. Data that is provided by the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement can also be used to measure ROI, ROA, GP, NP etc. By analysing facts reasons behind low profitability can be identified and steps can be taken to handle situation (Stephens, Palchak. and Reese, 2017. Thus, it can be said that data provide inputs to make operational and financial decisions.

Comparing and contrasting investment appraisal techniques and their effectiveness in helping in increasing ROI

Investment appraisal is very tough task and to make it easy multiple approaches are used to evaluate a project so that better decisions can be made. These approaches are payback period, NPV, IRR and ARR. Positive and negative sides of these techniques is explained below.

Payback period

Merits

• One of the main merit of the payback period is that it reflects the duration after which project will generate profit for the business firm. It is simple to use and anyone even it does not belong to accounting and finance background can easily make use of this tool.

Demerits

• Demerit of the payback period is that it does not use present value factor like NPV and IRR. Hence, it can not indicate time period within which project cost will be covered by considering present value of the cash flows (Harris, 2017).

ARR

Merits

• Main merit of the ARR method is that it reflects average return that can be earned on the project. Thus, it assists managers in taking decisions in better way.
• Payback period only indicate time period of cost recovery but not indicate percentage return that can be earned. For manager it is very important to know percentage return gained on the project. Hence, ARR is more informative then payback period.

Demerits

• Demerit of the ARR is that it not takes into account PV factor. Hence, can not reflect return percentage by considering value of cash flow in current time period.

NPV

Merits

• NPV give more accurate picture then payback period and ARR because it indicates value that can be earned after deducting all sort of expenses from the revenue amount.
• PV factor is also taken into account to evaluate project.

Demerit

• Main demerit of the NPV is that its calculation process is complex and only technical person can use this approach to evaluate project (Throsby, 2016).

IRR

Merit

• It reflects real return that can be earned on the project. On other hand, ARR indicate average return. Thus, it can be said that IRR give clearer picture of project viability then ARR.
• IRR method use discount factor and it its major positive point.

Demerit

• Major demerit of IRR method is that calculation process is complex.

Value of techniques in assisting firm to make financial decisions

Some of the techniques that assist firm in making financial decisions are given below.

• Income statement: It is the statement which reflect overall profitability of the business. By evaluating income statement, one can easily find out expenses that are made on large amount and heavily influence the profit of the firm to great extent. By working on such kind of expenses profit in the business can be increased substantially. Thus, it can be said that income statement provides an input to the managers for making financial decisions.
• Balance sheet: Balance sheet is also known as statement of financial position and it help manager in evaluating firm performance in multiple ways (Hsu, 2016). By using ratio analysis method in effective way company performance can be evaluate in the multiple ways. Areas where performance is not good can be identified and steps can be taken immediately to solve that problem. Thus, in this way balance sheet help firm in making financial decisions.
• Cash flow statement: It is the statement which reflect cash flow from operating, investing and financing activity. Sources and areas from where cash received and invested can be identified through cash flows. By using this statement shift that is observed in the cash flow in current year with previous one is identified and areas where less investment made is identified. By picking relevant information and considering with other facts and figures in better way business performance can be improved by taking appropriate financial decision.
• Break even analysis: It is the technique which reflect minimum customers that must be created in the business so that fixed and variable cost can be covered in the business (Li and et.al., 2015). If firm is not able to create inevitable number of customers then it has to cut its product and service cost so that target of customer creation can be reduced.

Financial decision making and long term sustainability

Ratio Analysis is used by experts and analysts to assess the financial position and performance of company. Internal information related to performance of company cannot be analysed alone by the financial figures. Company can use the ratio analysis for assessing whether the investment in a particular company should be made or not.

The financial position and performance of the company is assessed using various accounting ratios.

Liquidity ratios shows the ability of company to meet its short tern obligations. Company should have strong liquidity position. Numbers of stakeholders are concerned with the liquidity position of company (Meena and Dhar, 2016). Ratios used for measuring the liquidity position are current ratio and quick ratio. Above analysis shows that the current ratio of company is 3.70 that has further increased from last year. Company is sound in its liquid positioning considering the inventory. Quick ratio identifies liquidity position excluding inventory as it is not considered as current assets. Quick ratio of company is very low as against the current ration major part of current assets is inventory (Bunker, Cagle and Harris, 2019). Company has to strengthen its liquidity position by reducing its short term liabilities.

Activity ratio shows the efficiency of management in managing its operations. It is concerned with the ability of company to have adequate cash operating cycle. Company should be performing well for raising the sales level against the resources. Accounts receivable turnover ratio of company is low this shows that company generates the cash from its debtors within sort periods. The ratio has increased from previous years as company has generated more revenues by allowing credit sales to customers. Companies sometimes for promoting its products has to provide its customers with credit sales.

Profitability Ratios are used for the ratios used for analysing the profitability of company. Every investors makes investments with the motive of earning profits in the company. Company is considered profitable when it is earning sufficient returns over its investments.

Return on capital employed of company is 15.53% and it has not shown significant increase in the return. The return of the company is adequate over the capital investments. Return over capital employed shows that company is making effective utilisation of the available resources of the company. Higher the return effective is the utilisation of resources. Return over capital employed can be further improved by removing the assets that are of no use to the company. Strategies should be adopted by the company for improving the returns over capital.

Return on equity is another profitability of great concern to the outside investors. If company do not earn adequate return over its equity investors investors start withdrawing their funds from the company (Laitinen and Laitinen, 2018). The return of company on its equity is 18.17% and it has increased from previous year. The increase is seen due to rise in profits. Company is earning good return over its equity as it is above the industry average. Investors feel satisfied when they earn sufficient returns on their investments. Funds are invested for earning sufficient returns. High returns also attract new investments to company. Returns increase the demands for particular shares increasing its market price that adds to the wealth of the shareholders.

Gross profits margin represents the profits left with company after covering all the direct costs of the business. Company is having gross profit margin of 20.70% maintaining the previous year's trend. Being a manufacturing concern gross profit margin should be high but the product has majority part of direct costs. The profit margin shows that company is effectively managing its production activities and processes. It is also having good control over its costs by close monitoring of the processes.

Operating profit margin is the ratio used to assess the profits generated by carrying on the business. It is essential for the business enterprise to earn profits over the business as main objective of every business is to earn profit. Profits are important to motivate the workforce to work for better (Podile, Rao and Sree, 2019). Company is earning profit margin of 17.14%. The profit percentage shows that company is using strong strategies to earn the profits. The rate of profits should be increased further by reducing the expenditures that are unnecessary and are unproductive.

Debt equity ratio is calculated for measuring the financial risks associated with the company. There should be a adequate debt equity ratio so that the risks are within control. Company is having debt equity of 4.16% which is very low. Company uses very low debt for its expansion projects and investments in comparison to the equity source of raising funds. Company should go for debt financing for expansion as company can avail tax benefits on the debt capital (Lewis and Tan, 2016).

Interest coverage ratio of company is 7.37 %. Company pays major of the interest for the short term loans. Company should reduce its short term loans as they along with the interest charges also decrease the liquidity ratios of company affecting its liquidity position. High interest reduces the profits of company.

Market ratio represents the position of the company is becoming strong every year. It is showing a increasing trend with the increase in earnings per share of the company. EPS is the earnings generated over each share. Higher earnings shows the performance of company in a given year. Company is performing well in the industry and have positive points for expanding its business.

Management accounting use to improve financial sustainability

Management accounting is the process involving analysis of costs of business and operations for preparing the internal financial reports, records and the accounts for helping the management of company in decision making for achieving the business objectives more efficiently. It is also known as managerial accounting in the business environment. It is helping the business to achieve its goals and objectives using various techniques (Granlund and Lukka, 2017). It is important for every business to maintain sustainability for having constant growth and success. Management accounting techniques are helping organisations to maintain the sustainability in business. Some of the techniques used in management accounting are

Activity Based Costing

It is method used in costing which identifies the activities of organisation & effectively assigns the cost of every activity to the products & services on the basis of actual consumption. The ABC model assigns indirect costs to the direct cost compared with the conventional costing. The method is helping managers to estimate the cost of product more accurately. When the costs are allocated properly to the products its helps in having adequate profit margins which is essential for having sustainability in the business.

Budgeting

Budgeting is the method of management accounting that is used in all the organisations. It is concerned with creating plans relating to the spending of company. Spending plans of company are known as budgets. Budgeting helps organisations to keep the expenditures within control. It is used for assessing in advance whether company will be available with adequate funds for carrying out its operations. Budgeting helps company to balance its expenditures against the revenues (Messner, 2016). Budgeting helps the business in maintaining a structured path that prevents the business from overspending and variances. Variances are identified in advance and corrected before they grow big. This helps the business to have sustainable business. Don't worry get assignment help london from UK's leading assignment helpers.

Investment Appraisals

Investment appraisal in management accounting refers to the collection of techniques which are used for identifying the attractiveness of investments. It is used by the business for assessing the feasibility of project, portfolio or programme. This enables the company to identify in advance about the profitability of projects (Ax and Greve, 2017). This saves company from investing huge funds over investments that are unable to generate adequate returns. This helps the business to save its funds and invest over projects that are productive. When the investments are effective and productive it will help company to maintain sustainable growth.

CONCLUSION

The above study show that the financial management is very essential for the companies. Companies cannot survive in market without the without managing its financial resources. Barratt Developments plc is effectively making using of different tools and techniques for enhancing the performance of company. The performance of the company is strong and effective. Sustainability can be maintained by the business using the management accounting.

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