«Pension funds serve to collect and manage an amount of capital, sufficient to make all payments to which participants of the fund are entitled based on the pension plan. The Akzo Nobel Pension Fund
(APF) is responsible for the provision of...» Document abstract
$9.95
86 word format
Language : english
finance
presentation
date published
27/07/2006
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level : Expert
requested 34 times
SummaryPension funds serve to collect and manage an amount of capital, sufficient to make all payments to which participants of the fund are entitled based on the pension plan. The Akzo Nobel Pension Fund
(APF) is responsible for the provision of pensions for all employees of Akzo Nobel in the
Netherlands. It is the task of the Pensions and Insurance Supervisory Authority (PVK) to provide
rules and regulations which guarantee that pension funds are able to fulfill their pension promises. In response to economic and demographic changes in the environment in which pension funds operate,
the PVK drafted a new Financial Assessment Framework (FTK) that is meant to become effective as
of January 1st 2006.
Essential in the new FTK is the fact that the pension liability resulting from a defined benefit pension plan has to be calculated using market value interest yields as discount rates as opposed to the
current practice which uses a fixed rate for discounting pension liabilities. The new FTK increases
the risk exposure of pension funds, since the value of the liabilities will depend on volatile interest rates. As a result, the volatility of the funding ratio of the pension fund will also increase compared
to the current situation in which the liability value is not influenced by changes in market interest rates. This thesis aims to analyze the impact of the new valuation method of liabilities on the asset allocation of the APF.
(APF) is responsible for the provision of pensions for all employees of Akzo Nobel in the
Netherlands. It is the task of the Pensions and Insurance Supervisory Authority (PVK) to provide
rules and regulations which guarantee that pension funds are able to fulfill their pension promises. In response to economic and demographic changes in the environment in which pension funds operate,
the PVK drafted a new Financial Assessment Framework (FTK) that is meant to become effective as
of January 1st 2006.
Essential in the new FTK is the fact that the pension liability resulting from a defined benefit pension plan has to be calculated using market value interest yields as discount rates as opposed to the
current practice which uses a fixed rate for discounting pension liabilities. The new FTK increases
the risk exposure of pension funds, since the value of the liabilities will depend on volatile interest rates. As a result, the volatility of the funding ratio of the pension fund will also increase compared
to the current situation in which the liability value is not influenced by changes in market interest rates. This thesis aims to analyze the impact of the new valuation method of liabilities on the asset allocation of the APF.
Table of Contents- A pension fund in relation with akzo nobel
- Akzo Nobel
- Pension Plans
- Akzo Nobel Pension Fund
- Changing the valuation of pension plans
- The Pensions and Insurance Supervisory Authority
- Driving factors for reform in pension supervision
- New Financial Assessment Framework (FTK)
- Estimating the liabilities of the akzo nobel pension fund
- Considerations in estimating the present value of pension fund liabilities
- Estimating liabilities in practice
- The market value of pension liabilities
- Implications of market valuation on the asset mix
- Development of the funding ratio
- Simulation results
- Fair value compared to actuarial valuation
- Approaches to a stable funding ratio
- Increasing the level of fixed income securities in asset allocation
- Increasing the duration of the fixed income portfolio
- Cash flow matching
- Conditional indexation
- Portfolio composition
Assess the role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in international politics and in influencing development in Latin America
«'The International Monetary Fund is established and shall operate in accordance with the provisions
of this Agreement as originally adopted and subsequently amended' asserts the first clause of the
Articles of Agreement which form the bond member...» Document abstract
$6.95
7 pdf format
Language : english
economics
presentation
date published
24/07/2006
review : not yet assessed
level : General public
requested 9 times
Summary'The International Monetary Fund is established and shall operate in accordance with the provisions
of this Agreement as originally adopted and subsequently amended' asserts the first clause of the
Articles of Agreement which form the bond member states are attached to under the IMF.
The Fund is an international organisation created at the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944.
Originally, the Articles of Agreement were signed by only 29 countries however now the IMF has
184 members. Its general role is to 'foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability,
facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and
reduce poverty.' Naturally its has role changed through time but it stayed in the same sort of ideal:
the Fund now concentrates its ability on helping countries from the Third World instead of
European countries. Latin American countries are therefore one of the IMF's concerns since the
majority are still in the developing phase of their economy and often ask for credit and/or advice.
However Latin America, although one geographical area, has very different countries with very
different backgrounds: Brazil for instance is a regional power and has an immense surface compared
to Chile.
Table of Contents- The role of the IMF in international politics : its activities since its creation and the main critics it receives
- The economic crisis that occurred in Latin America: the world debt crisis in 1980 originating from Mexico, the 1990s crisis in Brazil and Peru and finally, in the 2000s
«Dividend policy is one of the most important financial policies, not only form the viewpoint of the company, but also from that of the shareholders, the consumers, the workers, regulatory bodies and the Government. For a company, it is a pivotal...» Document abstract
$9.95
23 word format
Language : english
finance
presentation
date published
11/07/2006
review : not yet assessed
level : Expert
requested 32 times
SummaryDividend policy is one of the most important financial policies, not only form the viewpoint of the company, but also from that of the shareholders, the consumers, the workers, regulatory bodies and the Government. For a company, it is a pivotal policy around which other financial policies rotate. Value of the corporate securities depends to a great extent on dividend and, therefore, in deciding upon the financial structure of a company, dividend has to be assigned due consideration.
Once a company makes a profit, the board of directors must decide what to do with those profits. They could continue to retain the profits within the company, or they could pay out the profits to the owners of the firm in the form of dividends.
Once a company decides to pay dividends, there should be established a somewhat permanent dividend policy, which would impact on investors and perceptions of the company in the financial markets providing information concerning the firm’s performance. The choice of the appropriate dividend policy depends on the preferences of investors and potential investors as well as on the company’s capital structure and its future plans.
The board of directors holds a fiduciary position both with regard to the company as well as shareholders. The board of directors must combine the three decisions pertaining to investment, financing and dividends simultaneously as these three decisions are interrelated. Dividend policy decision influences the financing decision of the firm through retained earnings. Financing decision would relate to the amount of funds to be raised from external sources as the investment needs of a firm can be fulfilled by a combination of retained earnings and external financing. Therefore, higher the amount of retained earnings, given the investment needs, lower will be the need for external finance and vice-versa.
Once a company makes a profit, the board of directors must decide what to do with those profits. They could continue to retain the profits within the company, or they could pay out the profits to the owners of the firm in the form of dividends.
Once a company decides to pay dividends, there should be established a somewhat permanent dividend policy, which would impact on investors and perceptions of the company in the financial markets providing information concerning the firm’s performance. The choice of the appropriate dividend policy depends on the preferences of investors and potential investors as well as on the company’s capital structure and its future plans.
The board of directors holds a fiduciary position both with regard to the company as well as shareholders. The board of directors must combine the three decisions pertaining to investment, financing and dividends simultaneously as these three decisions are interrelated. Dividend policy decision influences the financing decision of the firm through retained earnings. Financing decision would relate to the amount of funds to be raised from external sources as the investment needs of a firm can be fulfilled by a combination of retained earnings and external financing. Therefore, higher the amount of retained earnings, given the investment needs, lower will be the need for external finance and vice-versa.
Table of Contents- BACKGROUND ON DIVIDENDS & THREE BASIC THEORIES
- Background
- Irrelevance of Dividend Policy
- Tax Preference Theory
- The Bird-in-the-Hand Theory
- DIVIDEND POLICY IN PRACTICE
- Confusion of Empirical Tests & Factors That Influence Dividend Policy
- Setting a Dividend Policy
«The paper deals with the issue of mergers and acquisitions on the western market, viewing the topic from the standpoint of their failure and success. The subject is an extremely important one at present, as, on the one side, there is a trend towards...» Document abstract
$9.95
40 word format
Language : english
finance
theses
date published
11/07/2006
review : not yet assessed
level : Expert
requested 2 times
SummaryThe paper deals with the issue of mergers and acquisitions on the western market, viewing the topic from the standpoint of their failure and success. The subject is an extremely important one at present, as, on the one side, there is a trend towards major international mergers and acquisitions and, on the other side, many researches indicate that more than half of deals fail.
Having done the research on main factors of failure of Mergers and Acquisitions, it was established that companies fail transactions, because they forget about shareholders’ interests and are often driven by their own interests and motivations. While shareholders are interested in financial flows that can generate a particular transaction, managers often overpay for the target, by mistake and sometimes even intentionally, and thus transfer wealth to target’s company. Secondly, managers pay often in stock rather than in cash, communicating in such a way to shareholders about company’s insufficient liquidity. There have been determined some other less frequent factors of failure, but still affecting acquiring company’s shareholders.
The moral of the paper consists in that shareholders have an uncanny knock to react immediately to changes in corporate structure by pushing up or by pulling down the stock prices. Although there exist numerous motivations for mergers and acquisitions, companies must always set in advance the ultimate goal of value creation for their shareholders
Having done the research on main factors of failure of Mergers and Acquisitions, it was established that companies fail transactions, because they forget about shareholders’ interests and are often driven by their own interests and motivations. While shareholders are interested in financial flows that can generate a particular transaction, managers often overpay for the target, by mistake and sometimes even intentionally, and thus transfer wealth to target’s company. Secondly, managers pay often in stock rather than in cash, communicating in such a way to shareholders about company’s insufficient liquidity. There have been determined some other less frequent factors of failure, but still affecting acquiring company’s shareholders.
The moral of the paper consists in that shareholders have an uncanny knock to react immediately to changes in corporate structure by pushing up or by pulling down the stock prices. Although there exist numerous motivations for mergers and acquisitions, companies must always set in advance the ultimate goal of value creation for their shareholders
Table of Contents- Mergers and Acquisitions: The Overview
- Definition of M&A
- Classification of M&A
- Modes of payment for M&A
- Motivations behind M&A
- History of M&A
- Creation and Destruction of Value through Mergers and Acquisitions
- Definition of value creation
- Detailed analysis of M&A performance
- Distribution of value creation in M&A
- Factors of failure
- Valuation of Mergers and Acquisitions
- The price margins
- Valuation methods
- Valuation of Remedy Corporation
«Recently, the global coffee market has fallen into a profound crisis. Prices paid to coffee producers in real dollar terms, have fallen to a hundred year low. Many families have been forced to abandon traditional farming. There is consequently an...» Document abstract
$6.95
7 word format
Language : english
economics
presentation
date published
22/01/2005
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 16 times
Summary Recently, the global coffee market has fallen into a profound crisis. Prices paid to coffee producers in real dollar terms, have fallen to a hundred year low. Many families have been forced to abandon traditional farming. There is consequently an important wave of unemployment in the farming sector which is creating more candidates for emigration to the ‘Norte'.
Meanwhile, a growing percentage of small-scale coffee farmers have found a solution to the crisis. They have become Fair trade certified coffee producers, meaning that they have agreed to follow a set of social and environmental standards in the production of their coffee. For these efforts they receive a guaranteed price for their coffee which is higher than that for conventionally produced coffee. Fair trade has enabled these farmers to survive the crisis and think about the future while their neighbours out of this system have a future that will probably involve crossing the Sonora desert.
The interest in analyzing the current situation is to determine the possibilities that fair trade offer to resolve the crisis, and to see if it can work in the long run to save families who produce it, from hunger and exploitation. We do not really know its full potential as the market for fair trade products appeared only a few years ago. After Europe, North America is the new centre of the phenomena. But is it really due to a profound civic sense of consumers, or is it only a fashionable phenomenon?
This essay will try to give a response to these questions. First, we will analyse more deeply the current situation for the majority of small scale producers in Latin America by looking at the crisis and its consequences on an already weak system. Then, we will underline how Fair trade can benefit those traditionally forgotten populations of the world by empowering them. Finally we will present the weaknesses of Fair trade and how they can be overcome.
...
Meanwhile, a growing percentage of small-scale coffee farmers have found a solution to the crisis. They have become Fair trade certified coffee producers, meaning that they have agreed to follow a set of social and environmental standards in the production of their coffee. For these efforts they receive a guaranteed price for their coffee which is higher than that for conventionally produced coffee. Fair trade has enabled these farmers to survive the crisis and think about the future while their neighbours out of this system have a future that will probably involve crossing the Sonora desert.
The interest in analyzing the current situation is to determine the possibilities that fair trade offer to resolve the crisis, and to see if it can work in the long run to save families who produce it, from hunger and exploitation. We do not really know its full potential as the market for fair trade products appeared only a few years ago. After Europe, North America is the new centre of the phenomena. But is it really due to a profound civic sense of consumers, or is it only a fashionable phenomenon?
This essay will try to give a response to these questions. First, we will analyse more deeply the current situation for the majority of small scale producers in Latin America by looking at the crisis and its consequences on an already weak system. Then, we will underline how Fair trade can benefit those traditionally forgotten populations of the world by empowering them. Finally we will present the weaknesses of Fair trade and how they can be overcome.
...
Table of Contents- A population facing an historical crisis.
- Fair trade and organic production as the main solution to the current situation.
- Fair trade system is facing problems it has to solve.
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