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CORPORATE FINANCE
BE UNSTOPPABLE CORPORATE
The up-to-date content in this book
helps you to get the knowledge
you need to succeed.
FINANCE THIRD
ASIA-PACIFIC
EDITION
GUNASINGHAM
STUDY HACK
GRAHAM
I always limit myself to 45 minutes of study
ADAM
at a time, then take a 10 minute break
before starting again.
EDITION
ASIA-PACIFIC
THIRD
Sam, student, Brisbane
ISBN 978-0170446075
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
CORPORATE
FINANCE THIRD
ASIA-PACIFIC
EDITION
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
CORPORATE
FINANCE THIRD
ASIA-PACIFIC
EDITION
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Corporate Finance © 2021 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
3rd Asia-Pacific Edition
John Graham Copyright Notice
Chris Adam This Work is copyright. No part of this Work may be reproduced, stored in a
Brindha Gunasingham retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written
permission of the Publisher. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, for
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Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
BRIEF CONTENTS
PART 1
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER 1: THE SCOPE OF CORPORATE FINANCE 4
CHAPTER 2: FINANCIAL STATEMENT AND CASH FLOW ANALYSIS 29
CHAPTER 3: THE TIME VALUE OF MONEY 66
SOUND BITES: ETHICS IN CORPORATE FINANCE – PART 1 114
PART 2
VALUATION, RISK AND RETURN 117
CHAPTER 4: VALUING BONDS 119
CHAPTER 5: VALUING SHARES 153
CHAPTER 6: THE TRADE-OFF BETWEEN RISK AND RETURN 183
CHAPTER 7: RISK, RETURN AND THE CAPITAL ASSET PRICING MODEL 220
CHAPTER 8: OPTIONS 256
SOUND BITES: ETHICS IN CORPORATE FINANCE – PART 2 297
PART 3
CAPITAL BUDGETING 301
CHAPTER 9: CAPITAL BUDGETING PROCESS AND DECISION CRITERIA 302
CHAPTER 10: CASH FLOW AND CAPITAL BUDGETING 348
CHAPTER 11: RISK AND CAPITAL BUDGETING 391
SOUND BITES: ETHICS IN CORPORATE FINANCE – PART 3 423
PART 4
FINANCIAL STRATEGY 427
CHAPTER 12: RAISING LONG-TERM FINANCING 429
CHAPTER 13: CAPITAL STRUCTURE 465
CHAPTER 14: LONG-TERM DEBT AND LEASING 499
CHAPTER 15: PAYOUT POLICY 534
CHAPTER 16: EXCHANGE RATES AND INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT
DECISIONS 564
CHAPTER 17: MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS AND CORPORATE CONTROL 589
SOUND BITES: ETHICS IN CORPORATE FINANCE – PART 4 633
Brief Contents v
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
ONLINE CHAPTERS
PART 5
FINANCIAL LIFECYCLE 637
CHAPTER 18: FINANCIAL PLANNING 639
CHAPTER 19: INTRODUCTION TO FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT 671
CHAPTER 20: ENTREPRENEURIAL FINANCE AND VENTURE CAPITAL 701
CHAPTER 21: CASH CONVERSION, INVENTORY AND RECEIVABLES
MANAGEMENT729
CHAPTER 22: CASH, PAYABLES AND LIQUIDITY MANAGEMENT 762
CHAPTER 23: INSOLVENCY AND FINANCIAL DISTRESS 788
SOUND BITES: ETHICS IN CORPORATE FINANCE – PART 5 812
vi Brief Contents
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
CONTENTS
Guide to the text xxi
Guide to the online resources xxv
Preface xxvii
About the authors xxx
Acknowledgements xxxii
PART 1
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER 1 THE SCOPE OF CORPORATE FINANCE 4
Problems 27
Problems 60
viii Contents
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
3.6d Finding the Present Value of a Perpetuity 90
3.6e Finding the Present Value of a Growing Perpetuity 93
Problems 106
PART 2
VALUATION, RISK AND RETURN 117
CHAPTER 4 VALUING BONDS 119
Problems 150
Contents ix
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
CHAPTER 5 VALUING SHARES 153
5.3 The Free Cash Flow Approach to Ordinary Share Valuation 166
Problems 179
6.2 The History of Returns (Or, How To Get Rich Slowly) 189
6.2a Nominal and Real Returns on Shares, Bonds and Bills 189
6.2b The Risk Dimension 191
Problems 212
x Contents
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
CHAPTER 7 RISK, RETURN AND THE CAPITAL ASSET PRICING MODEL 220
Problems 250
CASE STUDY Risk, Return and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) 255
CHAPTER 8 OPTIONS 256
Problems 292
Contents xi
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
PART 3
CAPITAL BUDGETING 301
CHAPTER 9 CAPITAL BUDGETING PROCESS AND DECISION CRITERIA 302
Problems 339
xii Contents
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
10.2 Incremental Cash Flows 360
10.2a Sunk Costs 361
10.2b Opportunity Costs 361
10.2c Cannibalisation 362
Problems 380
Problems 419
Contents xiii
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Real-World Case Study: Cannibals in the Market! 422
PART 4
FINANCIAL STRATEGY 427
CHAPTER 12 RAISING LONG-TERM FINANCING 429
Problems 462
xiv Contents
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
13.3 The M&M Capital Structure Model with Taxes 476
13.3a The M&M Model With Corporate Taxes 477
13.3b Determining the Present Value of Interest Tax Shields 478
13.3c The M&M Model with Corporate and Personal Taxes 480
Problems 495
Contents xv
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Problems 530
15.2 F
actors Affecting Dividend and Share Repurchase Decisions 543
15.2a CFO Views on Dividends and Repurchases 543
15.2b Further Evidence on Dividend and Share Repurchase Practices 544
Problems 558
Problems 584
Problems 626
ONLINE CHAPTERS
PART 5
FINANCIAL LIFECYCLE 637
CHAPTER 18 FINANCIAL PLANNING 639
Contents xvii
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
18.2 Planning for Growth 643
18.2a Sustainable Growth 643
18.2b Pro Forma Financial Statements 648
Problems 666
Problems 698
xviii Contents
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
20.3 The Organisation and Operations of Venture Capital and
Private Equity Companies 713
20.3a Organisation and Funding of Venture Capital
and Private Equity Limited Partnerships 713
20.3b How Venture Capitalists and Private Equity Managers Structure their
Investments 714
20.3c Why Venture Capitalists and Private Equity Managers Use Convertible
Securities 716
20.3d The Pricing of Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments 717
20.3e The Profitability of Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments 718
20.3f Exit Strategies Employed by Venture Capitalists and Private
Equity Managers 719
Problems 727
Problems 757
Problems 785
Problems 807
xx Contents
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Guide to the text
As you read this text you will find a number of features in every
chapter to enhance your study of corporate finance and help
you understand how the theory is applied in the real world.
Part openers introduce each of the chapters within Understand how key concepts are connected across
the part and give an overview of how they relate to all chapters in the part by viewing the Concept map.
each other.
MARKE
T IN
TER
AC
TIO
N
PART 1
ME UN
TI CE
RT
AI
N
Part 1 Introduction
TY
1 The Scope of Part 2 Valuation, Risk
Corporate Finance and Return
2 Financial Statement 4 Valuing Bonds
and Cash Flow Analysis 5 Valuing Shares
3 The Time Value of 6 The Trade-off Between
Money Risk and Return
MARKE
7 Risk, Return and the Capital
SH
Asset Pricing Model
CA
8 Options
Introduction
ONLINE CHAPTERS
Part 5 Financial Lifecycle
1 The Scope of Corporate Finance 18 Financial Planning Measuring and Part 3 Capital Budgeting
9 Capital Budgeting Process
19 Introduction to
Financial Risk managing value and Decision Criteria
2 Financial Statement and Cash Flow Analysis Management
20 Entrepreneurial
over time and with 10 Cash Flow and Capital
Budgeting
Finance and Venture uncertainty 11 Risk and Capital Budgeting
TI
21 Cash Conversion,
Inventory and
Receivables Management
22 Cash, Payables and Liquidity Part 4 Financial Strategy
Welcome to the study of corporate finance. The first section of Chapter 1, section 1.1, Management 12 Raising Long-term Financing
23 Insolvency and Financial Distress
In this book, you will learn the key concepts, gives an outline of what you may encounter 13 Capital Structure
14 Long-term Debt and Leasing
tools and practices that guide the decisions in that chapter and also in Chapters 2 and 3, 15 Payout Policy
of financial managers. Our goal is not only to which together comprise Part 1 of this 16 Exchange Rates and
corporate finance to apply your knowledge with several CORPORATE FINANCE – PART 1
2
WRITTEN BY BORIS BIELER
Assignments. Part 5 Financial Lifecycle
corporate governance
Boris Bieler has over twenty years of risk
18 Financial Planning
and ethics in banking. He
management experience mainly gained
is currently a member of
in senior audit leadership roles at foreign
Measuring and
19 Introduction the advisory to
Financial
Boris studied at the University of Bayreuth Risk
board at the
corporate and investment banks in Australia.
department of accounting
and corporate governance
managing value
in Germany and at the University of Warwick
over time and with
3
Management
in England. He is a CFA charter holder, a Fellow at Macquarie University.
20 Entrepreneurial
of CPA Australia (FCPA) and a signatory of the He has contributed to
BK-CLA-GRAHAM_3E-200087-Chp01.indd 3
Banking and Finance Oath (BFO) in Australia.
He has been a speaker and chairperson at
8/13/20 8:35 PM
Finance
publications on ethics and the banking royal
and
commission Venture
in Australia released on the uncertainty
conferences held by the Institute of Internal CFA Institute’s online portals and the BFO
Auditors Australia and CPA Australia and has
Capitalnewsletter.
21withCash
supported the CFA Institute globally their Conversion,
Boris has been working on youth education
programs and curriculum. Boris has also been and mentoring initiatives and is passionate
a guest lecturer and panellist at Macquarie Inventory and his knowledge to students and
about sharing
University and University of Technology Sydney assisting them with their first steps into the
on topics around auditing, risk management,
Receivables Management
corporate world.
22 Cash, Payables and Liquidity Part 4 Financial
WEEK 1 INTO JANE WONG’S M&A
Management ANALYST ROLE
12 Raising Long
23positionInsolvency and Financial
an integral partDistress
Jane Wong has just secured a full-time
as a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) analyst in
framework and are of
everyone’s day-to-day activity. Jane was willing
13 Capital Struc
an Asia-Pacific-wide operating corporate and to embrace them as she could relate to them. 14 Long-term D
investment bank. Taking her technical expertise The module ‘Sound bites – Ethics in Corporate
for granted, Jane Wong’s job interviews focused Finance’ follows Jane Wong’s on-boarding process
15 Payout Polic
on the company’s values, and how those values
were formalised in the company’s governance
and consists of five case studies that can be 16 Exchange Ra
found at the end of each part of this text:
framework. After the introductory training Guide to the TextInternationa
xxi
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or
andduplicated, inexpected
group discussions on whole or in part.Part
employee 1 – The02-200-202
WCN Framework: Codifying the
behaviour, all new hires were asked to attest to Employer’s Expectation on Staff Behaviour Decisions
the company’s code of ethics and conduct. At the
end of a busy first week, Jane and her manager
Par t 2 – The Histor y: Past Examples of 17 Mergers, Ac
Unethical Decision-Making
then formalised her performance indicators,
CHAPTER OPENING FEATURES
Gain an insight into how corporate finance theories relate Identify the key concepts you will engage with through the
to the real world through the What companies do at the Learning objectives at the start of each chapter.
beginning of each chapter.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
3
LO3.1 understand how a dollar today is not the LO3.4 describe how different patterns of future
MONEY
same value as a dollar tomorrow cash flows (lump sums, payments each
explain that a delay in receiving cash over period for finite intervals (annuities),
LO3.2
time means its value must increase to and payments each period forever
compensate the cash receiver who cannot (perpetuities)) can allow us to simplify the
engage in other investment projects while present value formulae
waiting – hence values of cash today are LO3.5 understand how to calculate a cumulative
compounded into the future value of cash flows at a future date
LO3.3 understand that the converse of LO3.6 understand how to calculate a cumulative
compounding – paying more for future value of cash flows at the present date
cash than having its value today – is describe how combinations of cash flow
LO3.7
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
discounting, that is, reducing the value of patterns can be calculated with some
future cash if it is to be received today simplifications of the relevant formulae.
WHAT COMPANIES DO
3.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE TIME VALUE OF MONEY
LO3.1
After studying this chapter, yo
TRANSPORTS OF DELIGHT?
Find the main heading covering
In business, most decisions that financial managers face involve trading off costs and benefits that are spread
understand how a do
In March 2008, Meyrick and Associates, a 5 calculating the difference between the base
consulting group, together with EconSearch
and Steer Davies Gleave, presented a report
case and each other option.
The project received considerable public
each learning outcome quickly with
out over time. Companies have to decide whether the initial cost of building a new factory or launching a new
advertising campaign is justified by the long-term benefits that result from the investment. In the East–West LO3.1
on a range of transport options for the East–
West Link to the Victorian State Government.
attention, especially when, following a 2014
election and change of government, it was LO icons.
Link example outlined in this chapter’s ‘What Companies Do’ box, the investment by Australia’s Victorian
State Government was to be for a multimillion-dollar commitment over a period of several years, with the same value as a dolla
The East–West Link was a planned major revealed that the initial business case for impacts lasting decades. Because of the long time horizon involved, there was a great deal of uncertainty
infrastructure project that would affect
transport and traffic patterns for millions
the project predicted a loss of 45 cents for
every dollar invested. Further analyses were
about the likelihood of the project being a success. In general, financial managers for major projects need a
quantitative framework for evaluating cash inflows and outflows that occur at different times over many LO3.2 explain that a delay in
years. It turns out that this framework is just as useful to typical consumers in their everyday lives as it is to
time means its valu
of people who live and work in the city of conducted to incorporate wider economic
Melbourne over many decades. The report benefits stemming from the project, including executives in huge, multinational corporations.
summarised extensive analyses undertaken reduced travel and commercial times; but the The most important idea in Chapter 3 is that money has time value. This simply means that it is better to
to evaluate the benefits and costs of the
base case and the various other options
return from the project increased only to
84 cents for each dollar invested.
have $1 today than to receive $1 in the future. The logic of this claim is straightforward – if you have $1 in
hand today, you can invest it and earn interest, which means that you will have more than $1 in the future.
compensate the cash
engage in other inves
for developing this new piece of transport The use of present value analysis is central Thus, the time value of money is a financial concept recognising that the value of a cash receipt (or payment) time value of money
infrastructure, and described a series of to any project in which a decision must be depends not only on how much money you receive, but also on when you receive it. Financial concept that
explicitly recognises that
present values that had been determined. made on whether or not to commit scarce A simple example illustrates the essence of the time value of money. Suppose you have $100 today, and
waiting – hence valu
$1 received today is worth
For example, one piece of analysis was of the financial resources to an investment that will you can put that sum into an investment that pays 5% interest per year. If you invest $100 now, by the end of more than $1 received in
present value of public transport revenue produce a long stream of cash payments in the future
one year you will earn $5 in interest (0.05 × $100 = $5). Your $100 initial investment will have grown to $105 in
Analyse practical applications of concepts through the Check your understanding of the content by answering
future cash if it is to b
Finance in the real world examples.
BK-CLA-GRAHAM_3E-200087-Chp03.indd 66
the Concept review questions as you progress through
8/14/20 BK-CLA-GRAHAM_3E-200087-Chp03.indd
10:58 PM 67 8/14/20 10:58 PM
the chapter.
Surveys of corporate financial managers around the world reveal both major similarities and
significant differences in the use of various capital budgeting techniques. The graph below
10 You are given a mixed cash flow stream and an interest rate, and you are asked to calculate both
the present and future values of the stream. Explain how the two numbers you calculate are
related.
LO3.1 3.1 INTRODUCT
documents how frequently managers in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, 11 How is the present value of an annuity due related to the present value of an identical ordinary
annuity?
In business, most decisions tha
Germany, France and Brazil use internal rate of return, net present value, payback period, real
option analysis and accounting rate of return. IRR and NPV are used by over 70% of managers
12 Does a perpetuity pay an infinite amount of cash? Why is the present value of a perpetuity not
Australia maintained so far that interest compounds once per year, and we examine several additional applications of
Brazil
How did Google’s equity achieve such spectacular performance? At least in theory, a company’s share
FEATURES WITHIN CHAPTERS price ought to reflect the underlying performance of the company (as well as investors’ expectations about
future performance). The next example shows how to use Equation 3.1 to develop a simple measure of how
Google performed as a company from 2004 to 2018.
EXAMPLE
More Google Calculations
In 2004, the year of its IPO, Google generated total Notice here that we are still solving for r, just
revenue of about $3.2 billion. Fourteen years later, the as we did in the previous example. In this case,
company reported 2018 revenues of about the interpretation of r is a little different. It is not
$137 billion. What was the annual growth rate in the rate of return (or the rate of interest) on some
Google’s revenues during this period? Again, we apply investment, but rather the compound annual growth
Examine how theoretical concepts have been used in Equation 3.1, substituting the values that we know as rate between Google’s 2004 and 2018 revenues. It
practice through the Example boxes. follows: is a simple measure of how fast the company was
growing during this period. Repeating the algebraic
FV = PV(1 + r) n
manipulations (spreadsheet keystrokes) from the
$137 = $3.2(1 + r) 7 prior example, we can determine that Google’s
($137 ÷ $3.2) (1 ÷ 7) = (1 + r) revenues increased at an annual rate of 71% from
1.71 = 1 + r 2004 to 2018.
r = 0.71 = 71%
Sources: Google, https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/2018Q4_alphabet_earnings_release.pdf. Accessed 25 June 2019.
A final example illustrates how you might use Equation 3.1 to make a wise decision when confronted with
different options for borrowing money to purchase a consumer durable good.
EXAMPLE
END-OF-CHAPTER FEATURES T i m e Va l u e o f B o r r o w i n g s
You observe a new piece of equipment available $5,200 at the end of the year. You save $160 by
from a manufacturer for a price of $5,200 for using your credit card and repaying the credit
immediate delivery, but payment due in one year; card company $5,040 next year rather than
At the end of each chapter you will find several tools to help you to review, practise and extend your knowledge of or the equipment could be collected immediately, paying the retailer $5,200. Another way to frame
the key learning objectives. but payment now would be $4,500. You can
charge your credit card with the amount of
this problem is to determine the implicit interest
rate that the retailer is charging if you accept the
$4,500 to obtain the discount, but you need to offer to pay $5,200 in one year. The retailer is
Review your understanding of the key chapter topics with Test your knowledge and consolidate your learning
pay 12% interest in one year for using the card. Is essentially lending you $4,500 today (the amount
it cheaper for you to pay $4,500 now with credit that you would be charged if you paid up-front),
the Summary. through the Important equations, Self-test problems,
card interest of 12%, or to pay nothing now and but you have to pay the full price at the end of one
pay $5,200 in one year? year. In this case, Equation 3.1 looks like this:
Questions and Problems.
Once again, let’s write down Equation 3.1 $5,200 = $4,500(1 + r) 1
and plug in values that we know. You can spend ($5,200 ÷ $4,500) – 1 = r
$4,500 today and pay 12% interest for a year. In
0.1556 = 15.56% = r
IMPORTANT
this case, we could EQUATIONS
write Equation 3.1 as follows:
IMPORTANT EQUATIONS
STUDY TOOLS FV = $4,500(1 + 0.12) 1EQUATIONS
TABLE OF IMPORTANT = $5,040
TABLE OF IMPORTANT EQUATIONS
Solving for r, the implicit interest rate charged
by the retailer, we obtain a rate of 15.56%. If you
Borrowing $4,500 today on CF1your CFcredit card
CF3 CFn borrow at a rate of 12% using your credit card,
can
9.1 NPV = CF0 + CF 1 + CF 2 + CF 3 + .... + CF n
2
LO9.1 ■■ The capital budgeting process involves generating, reviewing, analysing, selecting and implementing
option is to pay nothing
ST9-2 today1+ and
r ispay
Nader International
( ) ( ) ( )
+ r the 1retailer
1considering+investing
r in loan,
1two which
+ r assets: ( )
carries
A and a rate
B. The initial of annual
outlay, 15.56%.
cash flows and annual depreciation for each asset appears in the following table for the assets’
long-term investment proposals that are consistent with the company’s strategic goals. CF1 CF CF3 CFn
assumed
9.2 IRR five-year
= r, where NPV =lives.
$0 =Nader
CF0 +willCF
use straight-line
+ CF2 2 + depreciation + over eachrasset’s
= IRR five-year life.
CF3 3 + ... CFn n ; Nader’s
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 3: The Time Value of Mon
1
The company requires
= $0a=10%
CF0 return
+ 1+ r1on1 +
each of2 those
■■ Other things being equal, managers would prefer an easily applied capital budgeting technique that 9.2 IRR = r, where NPV 1+ r 2 + 1equally risky
+ r 3 + ... + 1assets.
+ r ; r = IRR maximum
considers cash flow, recognises the time value of money, fully accounts for expected risk and return
Q9-6
What
payback period is 2.5 years, its
1+ r ( ) ( ) ( )
maximum discounted
minimum accounting rate of return is 30%.
1+ r
payback
1+ r 1+ r ( )
period is n3.25 years and its
and, when applied, leads to higher share prices. CF1are the CFpotential CF3faults in using
CFn the IRR as a capital budgeting technique? Given these faults,
whyCF + technique
is this CF2 2 + CF
2
+A ... + CF
so 3popular
ASSET among corporate managers?ASSET B
■■ Though simplicity is a virtue, the simplest approaches to capital budgeting do not always lead
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
1 n
+ 1FLOW
1+ r1 1CASH
YEAR + ... + 1+ rn n
+ r 2 + 1+ r3 3DEPRECIATION CASH FLOW DEPRECIATION
companies to make the best investment decisions.
BK-CLA-GRAHAM_3E-200087-Chp03.indd 77
Q9-7
9.3 PI Why
=
0 1+ r
is
Reconcile
9.3 PI =
the NPV
1+ r( ) ( ) ( )
considered
–$200,000
this
1+ r
CF
result with the
to be r
prevalence
( )
1–+theoretically
of the
superior to all other capital budgeting techniques?
–$180,000
use of IRR
–
in practice. How would you respond to
8/14
LO9.2 ■■ Sophisticated techniques include net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and profitability 1 $70,000 CF
0
$40,000 $80,000 $36,000
index (PI). These methods often give the same accept–reject decisions, but do not necessarily your CFO if she instructed
0
you to use the IRR technique to make capital budgeting decisions on
rank projects the same. They all focus on cash flows, rather than accounting earnings, and make projects
2 with 80,000
cash flow streams40,000 that alternate between
90,000 inflows and outflows?
36,000
Analyse Case studies and Real-world case studies that present issues in context, encouraging you to integrate the v
CASE S T UDY
CAPITAL BUDGETING PROCESS AND TECHNIQUES
REAL-WORLD CASE STUDY
Contact Manufacturing Ltd is considering two alternative 2 Calculate the net present value (NPV) of each project, and ALL IN THE FAMILY
investment proposals. The first proposal calls for a major based on this criterion, indicate which project you would
renovation of the company’s manufacturing facility. The second recommend for acceptance.
The Egibi family operated a series of businesses officials responsible for maintaining the canals
involves replacing just a few obsolete pieces of equipment in
3 Calculate the internal rate of return (IRR) of each project, of quite diverse natures over five generations, and collecting fees from their users in which the
the facility. The company will choose one project or the other
and based on this criterion, indicate which project you and left a reasonable record of its activities family paid the officials to pay the government,
this year, but it will not do both. The cash flows associated with
would recommend for acceptance. for us to analyse. The start of the business is in return for the right to extract the fees
each project appear below and the company discounts project
4 Calculate the profitability index (PI) of each project, and not particularly clear, although it seems that it in kind. In effect, the Egibis set up a strong
cash flows at 15%.
based on this criterion, indicate which project you would came from a marriage link when a man of some shipping, storage and food-processing network,
recommend for acceptance. means married a less wealthy woman and took with tax-farming as a sideline operation. This
YEAR RENOVATE REPLACE up business with his brother-in-law. The Egibi work built enough financial support from the
5 Overall, you should find conflicting recommendations brother-in-law claims to have taught his sororal external market that, in two generations, the
0 –$9,000,000 –$2,400,000 based on the various criteria. Why is this occurring? nephew to read and write, and later adopted family was considered one of the wealthiest
1 3,000,000 2,000,000 6 Chart the NPV profiles of these projects. Label the him, but without granting him an inheritance in the country adjacent to the capital city. The
2 3,000,000 800,000 intersection points on the x- and y-axes and the share beside his three natural sons. In the primary organisational structure used by the
crossover point. following generations, the eldest sons married Egibis was the partnership arrangement, with
3 3,000,000 200,000
upward, to women ‘of good families’ who had local entrepreneurs who specialised in related
4 3,000,000 200,000 7 Based on this NPV profile analysis, and assuming the
good connections and provided rich dowries. production, such as beer-brewing or buying
WACC is 15%, which project would you recommend for
5 3,000,000 200,000 By contrast, their daughters were married off local crops, and selling them in the capital. The
acceptance? Why?
to business partners with dowries that typically businesses maintain working capital at steady
8 Based on this NPV profile analysis, and assuming the cost only a fraction of what their eldest sons levels and distribute profits to the individual
ASSIGNMENT WACC is 25%, which project would you recommend for received. partners, to allow them to invest on their own
1 Calculate the payback period of each project and, based acceptance? Why? in other businesses.
The Egibis invested their profits in farmland,
on this criterion, indicate which project you would 9 Discuss the important elements to consider when which they rented out on a sharecropping To extend their own investments, the Egibis
recommend for acceptance. deciding between these two projects. basis. The leasing arrangements focused on moved into real estate. They developed a
the long term, and encouraged tenants on special relationship with the household of
their lands to invest in cultivating more capital- the local crown prince, and acquired a house
intensive crops, shifting from grain to dates. adjacent to the crown prince’s palace. They
The Egibis effected this substitution of planting arranged a loan-rental mortgage transaction by
by allowing the tenants to pay little rent in the borrowing the funds from the man who rented
early years of a contract, substituting short- the house, with the rent corresponding to the
term grain rents for higher, long-term returns usual interest charge of 20%, which covered
Financial Statement and Cash Adding Value with Capital and to Structure........ Ch 13, p. 498
farmers – that is, they were allowed to collect
taxes on behalf of the government
funds until the debt was eventually repaid. The
contract was occasionally renewed, and ran for
remit a (large) fraction to the government many decades.
Flow Analysis................................................ Ch 2, p. 65 Long-Term Debt andbusiness
Leasing.
while keeping the remainder. The Egibi family
concentrated its tax-farming in .................. Chsons,14,
among the fourth-generation p. 533
When the Egibi family wealth was divided
the family
rural areas along the canals of the country, owned 16 houses in the capital city and a
Present Value.............................................. Ch 3, p. 111 Dividendhiring
Policy. .........................................
boats and boatmen to transport goods.
Landowners had to pay specific rates to Chover15, p. 563
major rural town, along with other agricultural
land, as well as having control more than
maintain canals and the local irrigation system. 100 employees. In some ways, this story is
Bond Purchase Decision............................ Ch 4, p. 152 International Financial Management....... Ch 16, p. 585
The Egibis set up contracts with the local certainly not a unique one of a rise to wealth
Risk, Return and the Capital Asset Risk Management.....................................Ch 19, P. 700
Pricing Model (CAPM)................................. Ch 7, p. 255
Entrepreneurial Finance and
Options........................................................ Ch 8, p. 294 Venture Capital ........................................ Ch 20, p. 728
Capital Budgeting Process and Cash Conversion, Inventory and
Techniques.................................................. Ch 9, p. 347 Receivables Management........................ Ch 21, p. 761
Cash Flow and Capital Liquidity Management.............................. Ch 22, p. 787
Budgeting........................................ Ch 10, pp. 389–390
Insolvency and Financial
Cost of Capital and Project Risk............... Ch 11, p. 421 Distress........................................... Ch 23, pp. 810–811
MINDTAP
Premium online teaching and learning tools are available on the MindTap platform - the personalised eLearning
solution.
MindTap is a flexible and easy-to-use platform that helps build student confidence and gives you a clear picture of their
progress. We partner with you to ease the transition to digital – we’re with you every step of the way.
The Cengage Mobile App puts your course directly into students’ hands with course materials available on their
smartphone or tablet. Students can read on the go, complete practice quizzes or participate in interactive real-time
activities.
MindTap for Corporate Finance is full of innovative resources to support critical thinking, and help your students move
from memorisation to mastery! Includes:
• Polling questions
• Smart videos
• Concept review questions
• Revision quizzes
• Problem sets (in Aplia)
Now the simplicity and reliability of Aplia is available in the premier eLearning platform, MindTap.
Engage your students at every stage of the course with study exercises and assignments that connect concepts to the
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Assessments offer automatic grading of every question with immediate explanations that link back to the online text so
that students can review concepts.
MindTap is a premium purchasable eLearning tool. Contact your
Cengage learning consultant to find out how MindTap can transform
your course.
INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL
The Instructor’s manual includes:
• Learning objectives • Suggested class discussions and projects
• Chapter outlines • Videos
• Key questions • Websites and readings
• Case question solutions
SMART VIDEOS
Industry expert talking-head videos.
POWERPOINT™ PRESENTATIONS
Use the chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides to enhance your lecture presentations and handouts by reinforcing the
key principles of your subject.
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If your instructor has chosen MindTap for your subject this semester, log in to MindTap to:
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Preface xxvii
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Included in this technology package are many video clips of finance professionals and
scholars, each of whom contributes to the picture of just how often financial issues affect
today’s world.
●● Pique your interest, as students of finance, and demonstrate the relevance of important
concepts and techniques. We feel that it’s important to begin each chapter with a recent
practical illustration that stimulates your interest in the chapter. The chapters of
this book each begin with a story pulled from recent headlines that illustrates a key
chapter concept in an applied setting.
In order to make it clear that the concepts and techniques presented in this text
are not merely academic abstractions, but rather are used by industry practitioners,
we have included in most chapters a feature called ‘Finance in the Real World’. It adds
reality to your learning experience by providing insight into how senior financial
executives apply many of the concepts and techniques that are presented throughout
the book.
We also strive to provide you with a smooth bridge between concepts and practice
by including demonstrations that are labelled ‘Example’. These illustrations, many of
which use real data from well-known companies, take concepts and make them easy
to understand within interesting and relevant contexts.
The third edition of the Asia-Pacific version of the text also includes a new set
of cases which encourage the reader to think about ethical issues involved with
financial decisions. These have been created by Boris Bieler, a new contributor to
the book. Called ‘Sound Bites: Ethics in Corporate Finance’, the cases are located at the end
of each of the five Parts of the book (Part V being online – see the Resources Guide for further
details), Each financial ethics case links back to the initial set-up at the end of Part I, and
provides a new decision situation for Jane Wong, the central actor in the cases. Following
each case, we give a set of Assignments for student activity, and, in the accompanying
technology package (see the Resources Guide for further details) a collection of Polling
Questions which may be used to spark discussion in a tutorial or seminar.
xxviii Preface
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To meet this principle, please refer to the Resources Guide on p. xxi to see a sample
of the rich content that you can access.
●● Provide a truly global perspective, viewed through an Asia-Pacific lens. The economic
world is shrinking – particularly with respect to financial transactions. Formerly
centrally planned economies are moving towards becoming market economies. Many
developing nations are making rapid economic progress using markets-based methods.
Financial markets play an increasingly important role in the ongoing globalisation of
business and finance. Against this backdrop of change, some aspects of business still
vary significantly in different markets; for example, the Australian or New Zealand
company stock exchange listing rules and aspects of the new issues markets are
very different from those in the US markets. As future practitioners in this region,
we feel it is important for you to understand these distinctions. Rather than grouping
international issues into a chapter or two, we have integrated a global perspective,
while providing an Asia-Pacific focus, throughout the book.
●● Consider students’ prerequisites and connect with the courses you have taken to finance.
Experienced financial managers consistently tell us that they need people who can
see the big picture and who can recognise connections across functional disciplines.
To help you develop a larger sense of what finance is about, why it is relevant to your
business studies, and to ease your transition into your own chosen fields, we highlight
concepts that most students will have learned in their introductory economics,
statistics and accounting courses. We then connect these concepts to finance.
●● Inspire students to think beyond the book and explore some of these concepts in more
depth. To help you do this, throughout the text we have included ‘stretch’ questions in
the margin near the related discussion. These questions, which are labelled ‘Thinking
cap questions’, are intended to encourage you to think beyond the direct explanation
of the text about applied issues in finance. These insights may also be relevant for job
interviews that you may be undertaking; you can use these to prepare for interviews
or can ask these questions about the organisation during an interview.
For additional learning enhancements, see the Guide to the Text and Guide to the
Online Resources on p. xxi and p. xxv respectively.
Preface xxix
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
J o h n R . G r a h a m is the D. Richard Mead Professor of Finance at Duke University where he
also serves as the Director of the CFO Global Business Outlook survey. He is co-editor of the
Journal of Finance and has published more than four dozen scholarly articles in journals
such as the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of
Finance, the Journal of Accounting and Economics, and many others. His papers have won
multiple research awards, including the Jensen Prize for the best corporate finance paper
published in the Journal of Financial Economics and the Brattle prize for the best corporate
finance paper in the Journal of Finance. Professor Graham is also a Research Associate
with the National Bureau of Economic Research, Vice President of the Western Finance
Association, and has been recognised for outstanding teaching and faculty contributions
at Duke and the University of Utah.
The original US editions and the first two Asia-Pacific editions of this text (called
Introduction to Corporate Finance) had a further author, Scott B. Smart. He is the Whirlpool
Finance Faculty Fellow at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Scott has
published many articles in leading accounting and finance journals, and his work has been
cited internationally. He has also won more than a dozen teaching awards. Scott’s consulting
clients include Intel and Unext. He holds a PhD from Stanford University.
B o r i s B i e l e r who has authored the "Sound Bites: Ethics in Corporate Finance" cases at the
end of each Part has over 20 years of risk management experience, mainly gained in senior
audit leadership roles at foreign corporate and investment banks in Australia.
Boris studied at the University of Bayreuth in Germany and at the University of
Warwick in England. He is a CFA charter holder, a Fellow of CPA Australia (FCPA) and a
signatory of the Banking and Finance Oath (BFO) in Australia.
He has been a speaker and chairperson at conferences held by the Institute of Internal
Auditors Australia and CPA Australia, and has supported the CFA Institute globally
with their programs and curriculum. Boris has also been a guest lecturer and panellist at
Macquarie University and University of Technology Sydney on topics around auditing,
risk management, corporate governance and ethics in banking. He is currently a member
of the advisory board at the department of accounting and corporate governance at
Macquarie University.
He has contributed to publications on ethics and the banking royal commission in
Australia released on the CFA Institute’s online portals and the BFO newsletter.
Boris has been working on youth education and mentoring initiatives, and is passionate
about sharing his knowledge with students and assisting them with their first steps into
the corporate world.
Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge copyright. However, if any
infringement has occurred, the publishers tender their apologies and invite the copyright
holders to contact them.
xxxii Acknowledgements
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
MARKE
T IN
TER
AC
TIO
N
ME UN
TI CE
RT
AI
N
Part 1 Introduction
TY
1 The Scope of Part 2 Valuation, Risk
Corporate Finance and Return
2 Financial Statement 4 Valuing Bonds
and Cash Flow Analysis 5 Valuing Shares
3 The Time Value of 6 The Trade-off Between
Money Risk and Return
7 Risk, Return and the Capital
SH
8 Options
ONLINE CHAPTERS
Part 5 Financial Lifecycle
Part 3 Capital Budgeting
18 Financial Planning Measuring and 9 Capital Budgeting Process
19 Introduction to
Financial Risk managing value and Decision Criteria
10 Cash Flow and Capital
Management over time and with Budgeting
20 Entrepreneurial
Finance and Venture uncertainty 11 Risk and Capital Budgeting
Capital
21 Cash Conversion,
Inventory and
Receivables Management
22 Cash, Payables and Liquidity Part 4 Financial Strategy
Management 12 Raising Long-term Financing
23 Insolvency and Financial Distress
13 Capital Structure
14 Long-term Debt and Leasing
15 Payout Policy
16 Exchange Rates and
International Investment
Decisions
17 Mergers, Acquisitions and
Corporate Control
MA
RK
ET
INT
ERA
CTIO
N
2
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PART 1
Introduction
1 The Scope of Corporate Finance
Welcome to the study of corporate finance. The first section of Chapter 1, section 1.1,
In this book, you will learn the key concepts, gives an outline of what you may encounter
tools and practices that guide the decisions in that chapter and also in Chapters 2 and 3,
of financial managers. Our goal is not only to which together comprise Part 1 of this
introduce you to corporate finance, but also learning adventure.
to help you explore career opportunities in
this exciting field.
3
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THE SCOPE OF
1 CORPORATE FINANCE
WHAT COMPANIES DO
A P P L E I N C . : A P P L E E P S R E A C H E S A L L-T I M E H I G H AT $ 4 .1 8
January 2019 – Apple today announced of our geographic segments. That’s a great
financial results for its fiscal 2019 first quarter, testament to the satisfaction and loyalty of
ended 29 December 2018. The company our customers, and it’s driving our Services
posted quarterly revenue of US$84.3 billion, business to new records thanks to our large
a decline of 5% from the year-ago quarter, and fast-growing ecosystem.’
and quarterly earnings per diluted share of ‘We generated very strong operating cash
US$4.18, up 7.5%. International sales accounted flow of US$26.7 billion during the December
for 62% of the quarter’s revenue. quarter and set an all-time EPS [earnings per
Revenue from iPhone® declined 15% share] record of US$4.18’, said Luca Maestri,
from the prior year, while total revenue from Apple’s CFO. ‘We returned over US$13 billion
all other products and services grew 19%. to our investors during the quarter through
Services revenue reached an all-time high of dividends and share repurchases. Our net cash
US$10.9 billion, up 19% over the prior year. balance was US$130 billion at the end of the
Revenue from Mac® and Wearables, Home and quarter, and we continue to target a net cash
Accessories also reached all-time highs, growing neutral position over time.’
9% and 33%, respectively, and revenue from Source: ‘Apple Reports First Quarter Results.’ Press release. 29 January 2019.
iPad® grew 17%. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/01/apple-reports-
first-quarter-resaults/. Accessed 9 June 2019.
‘While it was disappointing to miss our
This sort of analysis of corporate
revenue guidance, we manage Apple for
performance contains a great deal of
the long term, and this quarter’s results
information, although the particular meaning
demonstrate that the underlying strength
of these details may be lost in the wave of
of our business runs deep and wide’, said
terminology. This press release contained
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. ‘Our active installed
accounting data, financial data, product data
base of devices reached an all-time high of
and customer satisfaction data. How do we
1.4 billion in the first quarter, growing in each
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
decode these sets of information? This text wish to know what the given corporation is
focuses on corporate financial performance, doing with its shares (buying them back or
but necessarily draws on the other sets of selling more of them) and such other aspects
information given out by corporations. We as whether the corporation is working in
shall examine in this book how important a domestic market or has international
it is to consider cash flows (particularly exposure, as Apple clearly does (62% of its
distinctly from net income or profit measures sales revenue in this quarter came from
as supplied in accounting data), why we may international sales).
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
LO1.1 describe how companies obtain funding assess the costs and benefits of the
from financial intermediaries and markets, principal forms of business organisation
and discuss the five basic functions that and explain why limited liability companies,
financial managers perform with publicly traded shares, dominate
define agency costs and explain how economic life in most countries
LO1.2
shareholders monitor and encourage LO1.4 see the diverse career opportunities
corporate managers to maximise available to finance majors.
shareholder wealth
LO1.3 appreciate how finance interacts with
other functional areas of any business,
6 PART 1: INTRODUCTION
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corporate lifecycle, with growing businesses that have moved past their foundation; and we go on to consider
what financial activities are involved with organisations that are in financial distress or, further, are sliding
into insolvency and are liable for liquidation, ending their lives.
As corporate finance has evolved over recent years, there has emerged a growing concern that its
practitioners may need to take a wider, societal view of the impacts of their activities in capital markets. A
way to explain such a view in this text has been to include case studies of ethics in each of the five parts of the
text. These ethics case studies have been created by a colleague of the main authors, Mr Boris Bieler. What is
the key message of these studies? They represent an intensified focus on integrating ethics into management
decisions and employee behaviour across the financial services industry, including the corporate finance
sector. By their inclusion in the text, they aim to discourage repetition of past events of unethical activities,
and to make current and future practitioners conscious of the ethical implications of their work. The finance
sector has increasingly revisited expected norms and values for guiding employees’ behaviour which is
monitored, rewarded and disciplined. Through the cases, we hope to help meet the increasing community
expectations of the finance industry, which is further evidenced in regulators’ enforcement actions and more
prescriptive standards.
The cases presented at the end of each part follow a logical pattern for learning. At the end of Part 1, we
have a case that introduces a framework for dealing with ethical issues in finance; at the end of Part 2, once
you have gained more knowledge about the key ideas of corporate finance, the case reviews some history on
ethical issues; and Part 3’s case expands on a series of activities in corporate management that encounter
ethical questions, using your knowledge of capital budgeting from the chapters in Part 3. Part 4’s case
addresses expectations about ethical behaviour that have emerged from a number of reviews of behaviour in
corporate finance in several countries; and the case for Part 5 gives a good summary of what may be expected
to emerge in the interaction between ethics and finance in coming years.
Financing
The financing function involves raising capital to support a company’s operations and investment programs. financing function
A key aspect of this activity, known as the capital structure decision, involves determining and maintaining Raising capital to support a
company’s operations and
the mix of debt and equity securities that maximises the company’s overall market value. Businesses raise investment programs
money either externally, from creditors or shareholders, or internally, by retaining and reinvesting profits. venture capitalists
Companies in Australia and other developed economies raise about two-thirds of their required financing Professional investors who
specialise in making high-
internally, but the financing function focuses primarily on external financing. Large companies enjoy varied risk, high-return investments
opportunities to raise money externally, either by selling equity (ordinary or preferred shares) or by issuing in rapidly growing
entrepreneurial businesses
debt, which involves borrowing money from creditors. When companies are young and small, they usually
must raise equity capital privately, from friends and family, or from professional investors such as venture initial public offering (IPO)
Companies offering shares
capitalists. Venture capitalists specialise in making high-risk, high-return investments in rapidly growing for sale to the public for the
entrepreneurial businesses. After companies reach a certain size, they may ‘go public’ by conducting an first time by selling shares
to outside investors and
initial public offering (IPO) of shares – selling shares to outside investors and listing them for trade on a stock listing them for trade on a
exchange. After going public, companies can raise funds by selling additional shares. stock exchange
Capital Budgeting
capital budgeting The capital budgeting function, often called the investment function, involves selecting the best projects
function
in which to invest the company’s funds based on expected risk and return. It is a critical function for two
The activities involved in
selecting the best projects reasons. First, the scale of capital investment projects is often quite large. Second, companies can prosper in a
in which to invest the
competitive economy only by seeking out the most promising new products, processes and services to deliver
company’s funds based
on their expected risk and to customers. Companies such as Telstra, BHP Billiton, Woolworths and Hills Industries regularly make large
return. Also called the capital investments, the outcomes of which drive the value of their companies and the wealth of their owners.
investment function
For these and other companies, the annual capital investment budget can total several billion dollars.
The capital budgeting process breaks down into three steps:
2 Analysing the set of investment opportunities and selecting those that create the most shareholder value.
8 PART 1: INTRODUCTION
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Corporate Governance
The corporate governance function involves developing company-wide structures and incentives that corporate governance
function
influence managers to behave ethically and make decisions that benefit shareholders. The existence of a
The activities involved in
well-functioning corporate governance system is extremely important. Good management does not occur in developing company-wide
a vacuum. Instead, it results from a corporate governance system that hires and promotes qualified, honest structures and incentives
that influence managers
people and structures employees’ financial incentives to motivate them to maximise company value. to behave ethically and
An optimal corporate governance system is difficult to develop in practice, not least because the make decisions that benefit
shareholders
incentives of shareholders, managers and other stakeholders often conflict. A company’s shareholders
want managers to work hard and protect shareholders’ interests, but it is rarely profitable for any individual
shareholder to expend time and resources monitoring managers to see if they are acting appropriately. An
individual shareholder would personally bear all the costs of monitoring management, but the benefit of such
monitoring would accrue to all shareholders. This is a classic example of the collective action problem that collective action
problem
arises in most relationships between shareholders and managers. Likewise, managers may feel the need to
When individual
increase the wealth of owners, but they also want to protect their own jobs. Managers, rationally, do not want shareholders bear all
to work harder than necessary if others will reap most of the benefits. Finally, managers and shareholders the costs of monitoring
management, but the
may effectively run a company to benefit themselves at the expense of creditors or other stakeholders who do benefit of such monitoring
not have a direct say in corporate governance. accrues to all shareholders
As you might expect, several mechanisms have been designed to mitigate these problems. A strong board
of directors is an essential element in any well-functioning governance system because it is the board’s
duty to hire, fire, pay and promote senior managers. The board develops fixed (salary) and incentive (bonus-
and share-based) compensation packages to align managers’ and shareholders’ incentives. Auditors play a
governance role by certifying the validity of companies’ financial statements.
For example, in Australia, the independent national governmental body charged with oversight of
corporate activities is the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). ASIC’s role is Australian Securities
and Investments
to enforce and regulate company and financial services laws to protect Australian consumers, investors
Commission (ASIC)
and creditors; to be the corporate, markets and financial services regulator. It was created in 1998 from an The Australian government
earlier national regulator, and had further functions added to its portfolio in 2002 for credit protection, entity charged with
enforcing and regulating
oversight of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in 2009 and of the newest stock exchange, Chi-X, company and financial
in 2011. The ASX was created by the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures services laws to protect
Australian consumers,
Exchange in July 2006, and is today one of the world’s top 10 listed exchange groups measured by market investors and creditors,
capitalisation. and being the corporate,
markets and financial
Just as companies struggle to develop an effective corporate governance system, so too do countries. services regulator for
Governments establish legal frameworks that either encourage or discourage the development of competitive Australia
businesses and efficient financial markets. For example, a legal system should permit efficiency-enhancing Australian Securities
Exchange (ASX)
mergers and acquisitions, but should block business combinations that significantly restrict competition. It
The primary stock exchange
should provide protection for creditors and minority shareholders by limiting the opportunities for managers operating in Australia for
or majority shareholders to expropriate wealth. trading shares in publicly
listed companies
We will discuss each of the five major finance functions at length in this text, and we hope you come
to share our enthusiasm about the career opportunities that corporate finance provides. Never before has
finance been as fast-paced, as technological, as international, as ethically challenging or as rigorous as it is
today, and the market seems to be responding. A notable recent pattern in Australian university education has
been that more students are currently enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate business and management
education courses than in any other broad field such as science, engineering or arts.
In a survey by Accenture, analysis found that the following issues were central to the finance
function in the organisation and the role of the CFO in managing it.
M A N AG I N G VO L AT I L I T Y
Finance functions have made significant progress in their ability to navigate some of the powerful
external forces that affect performance, including the challenge of permanent volatility.
T H E R I S E O F D I G I TA L O N T H E C F O AG E N DA
Digital technology – which may include cloud computing or software as a service (SaaS), big data
and/or analytics, mobility and social media – is having a profound impact on the finance function’s
performance.
N AV I GAT I N G C O M P L E X I T Y
Complexity, in its various guises, is the biggest challenge finance organisations face today. But it is
also an opportunity. High-performance businesses must find ways of navigating complexity – by
standardising and optimising processes to streamline and simplify the organisation.
H I G H - P E R F O R M A N C E B U S I N E S S E S H AV E M O R E I N F L U E N T I A L C F O s
Finance leaders at high-performance businesses are particularly likely to have seen their influence
grow in key strategic activities.
10 PART 1: INTRODUCTION
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
1 .1 d THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES IN CORPORATE FINANCE
In Australia and most developed countries, companies can obtain debt capital by selling securities, either
directly to investors or through financial intermediaries. A financial intermediary is an institution that financial intermediary
raises capital by issuing liabilities against itself, and then uses the capital raised either to make loans to An institution that raises
capital by issuing liabilities
companies and individuals or to buy various types of investments. Financial intermediaries include banks, against itself, and then
insurance companies, savings and loan institutions, credit unions, mutual funds and pension funds. But the uses the capital raised
either to make loans to
best-known financial intermediaries are commercial banks, which issue liabilities such as demand deposits companies and individuals
(cheque accounts) to companies and individuals and then lend these funds to companies, governments and or to buy various types of
investments
households.
In addition to making corporate loans, financial intermediaries provide a variety of financial services
to businesses. By accepting money in demand deposits received from companies and individuals, banks
eliminate their depositors’ need to hold large amounts of cash for use in purchasing goods and services. Banks
also act as the backbone of a nation’s payments system by facilitating the transfer of money between payers
and payees, providing transaction information and streamlining large-volume transactions such as payroll
disbursements.
Even as China was exposed to the global financial crisis during 2007–2011, and its share market value declined from
a peak of nearly 80% of its gross domestic product in 2007 to 40% in 2013, the overall value of the ratio was on an
upward trend from the mid-1990s through to at least 2017.
80
70
60
50
Per cent
40
30
20
10
0
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
Source: World Bank, Stock Market Capitalization to GDP for China [DDDM01CNA156NWDB], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis;
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DDDM01CNA156NWDB, March 26, 2020.
3 What is a financial intermediary? Why have these institutions been steadily losing market share
to capital markets as the principal source of external financing for companies?
Maximise Profit?
Some people believe that the manager’s objective is to maximise profits, and it is common to see compensation
plans designed so that managers receive larger bonuses for increasing reported earnings. To achieve profit
maximisation, the financial manager takes those actions that make a positive contribution to the company’s
profits. Thus, for each alternative, the financial manager should select the one with the highest expected
profit. From a practical standpoint, this objective translates into maximising earnings per share (EPS), the
12 PART 1: INTRODUCTION
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
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Circumspection towards women, in travel or elsewhere, or, better
still, indifference towards women, is the standardized attitude of
American husbands. In marriage, too, a relationship of status rather
than of attention to the fluctuations of personality, indifference to
psychical experience, is a not uncommon marital trait. American men
in general, as Europeans have noted, are peculiarly indifferent to the
psychology of women. They are also peculiarly sentimental about
women, a trait quite consistent with indifference or ignorance, but
one which, in view of American prostitution and the persistent
exclusion of many women from equal opportunities for education and
for life, gives an ugly look of hypocrisy to the trumpeters of American
chivalry.
And yet subject the American concept of chivalry to a little
scrutiny and the taunt, at least of hypocrisy, will miss the mark. For
the concept is, both actually and historically, a part of the already
noted classification of women as more or less sequestered, on the
one hand, and unsequestered or loose on the other, as
inexperienced and over-experienced or, more accurately, partially
over-experienced. In this classification the claims of both classes of
women are settled by men on an economic basis, with a few
sentimentalities about womanhood, pure or impure, thrown in for
good measure. The personality of the woman a man feels that he is
supporting, whether as wife or prostitute, may, theoretically, be
disregarded and, along with her personality, her capacity for sexual
response. Whether as a creature of sin or as an object of chivalry, a
woman becomes a depersonalized, and, sexually, an unresponsive
being.
People sometimes forget this when they discuss the relations
between men and women in this country, and especially the
sexlessness or coldness of American women. They forget it in
arguing against the feminizing of education, the theatre, literature,
etc., meaning, not that women run the schools or are market for the
arts, but that immature, sexless women are in these ways too much
to the fore. In part at least it is thanks to chivalry or to her “good and
considerate husband” that the American woman, the non-wage
earner at least, does not grow up, and that it is possible for so many
women to marry without having any but the social consequences of
marriage in mind. One surmises that there are numbers, very large
numbers, of American women, married as well as unmarried, who
have felt either no stirring of sex at all or at most only the generalized
sex stir of pre-adolescence. What proportion of women marry “for a
home” or to escape from a home, or a job, and what proportion
marry for love? After marriage, with the advent of children, what of
these proportions?
Marriage for a home or for the sake of children, chivalry,
“consideration” for the wife, all these attitudes are matters of status,
not of personality, and to personality, not to status, love must look,
since love is an art, not a formula. It often seems that in American
culture, whether in marriage or out, little or no place is open to this
patient, ardent, and discerning art, and that lovers are invariably put
to flight. Even if they make good their escape, their adventure is
without social significance, since it is perforce surreptitious. Only
when adventurers and artists in love are tolerated enough to be able
to come out from under cover, and to be at least allowed to live, if
only as variants from the commonplace, may they contribute of their
spirit or art to the general culture.
Elsie Clews Parsons
THE FAMILY
THE American family is the scapegoat of the nations. Foreign
critics visit us and report that children are forward and incorrigible,
that wives are pampered and extravagant, and that husbands are
henpecked and cultureless. Nor is this the worst. It only skims the
surface by comparison with the strictures of home-grown criticism.
Our domestic arbiters of every school have a deeper fault to find:
they see the family as a crumbling institution, a swiftly falling
bulwark. Catholic pulpits call upon St. Joseph to save the ruins and
Puritan moralists invoke Will Carlton, believing in common with most
of our public guardians that only saints and sentimentalism can help
in such a crisis. Meanwhile the American family shows the usual
tenacity of form, beneath much superficial change, uniting in various
disguises the most ancient and the newest modes of living. In
American family life, if anywhere, the Neolithic meets the modern
and one needs to be very rash or very wise to undertake the nice job
of finding out which is which. But one at least refuses to defeat one’s
normal curiosity by joining in the game of blind-man’s buff, by means
of which public opinion about the family secures a maximum of
activity along with a minimum of knowledge.
A little science would be of great help. But popular opinion does
not encourage scientific probing of the family. In this field, not
honesty but evasion is held to be the best policy. Rather than
venture where taboo is so rife and the material so sensitive,
American science would much rather promote domestic dyes and
seedless oranges. It is true that we have the Federal Census with its
valuable though restrained statistics. But even the census has
always taken less interest in family status and family composition,
within the population, than in the classification of property and
occupation and the fascinating game of “watching Tulsa grow.” In no
country is the collection of vital statistics so neglected and sporadic
and the total yield of grab-bag facts so unamenable to correlation.
Through the persistent effort of the Children’s Bureau, this situation
has been considerably improved during the past ten years; so that
now there exist the so-called “registration areas” where births,
marriages, and deaths are actually recorded. For the country as a
whole, these vital facts still go unregistered. The prevailing
sketchiness in the matter of vital statistics is in distinct contrast to the
energy and thoroughness with which American political machinery
manages to keep track of the individual who has passed the age of
twenty-one.
One of the tendencies, statistically verified, of the native family is
its reduction in size. In the first place the circumference of the family
circle has grown definitely smaller through the loss of those
adventitious members, the maiden aunt and the faithful servant. The
average number of adult females in the typical household is
nowadays just one. The odd women are out in the world on their
own; they no longer live “under the roofs” of their brothers-in-law.
Miss Lulu Bett is almost an anachronism in 1920. The faithful servant
has been replaced by the faithless one, who never by any chance
remains long enough to become a familial appendage, or else she
has not been replaced at all. Even “Grandma” has begun to manifest
symptoms of preferring to be on her own. Thus the glory of the
patriarchal household has visibly departed, leaving only the
biological minimum in its stead.
In the dwindling of this ultimate group lies the crux of the matter.
The American grows less and less prolific, and panicky theorists can
already foresee a possible day when the last 100 per cent. American
Adam and the last 100 per cent. American Eve will take their
departure from our immigrationized stage. It is providentially
arranged—the maxim tells us—that the trees shall not grow and
grow until they pierce the heavens; but is there any power on the job
of preventing the progressive decline of the original Anglo-Saxon
stock even to the point of final extinction? This is a poignant doubt in
a country where the Anglo-Saxon strain enjoys a prestige out of all
proportion to its population quota. The strain may derive what
comfort it can from the reflection that the exit of the Indian was
probably not due to birth control.
Still, birth control is not new. If it did not originate with the
Indians, it did at least with the Puritans. As the census books and
genealogy books show, every succeeding American generation has
manifested a tendency to reduce the birth-rate. The new aspects of
the situation are the acceleration of the tendency and the
propaganda for family limitation by artificial methods. In the birth
registration area, which includes twenty-three States, the number of
births for the year 1919 compared with those for 1918 showed a
slump of seven per cent. Also the current assumption that children
are more numerous on farms, where they are an economic asset,
than they are in cities, where they became an economic handicap,
has recently received a startling correction through a survey made
by the Department of Agriculture. Among the surprises of the study,
says the report, was the small number of children in farm homes:
—“Child life is at a premium in rural districts.” The farm is not the
national child reserve it has been supposed to be. As far as the
salaried class is concerned, it has stood out as the national pace-
setter in family limitation. The editorial writer of the New York Times,
who may be trusted for a fairly accurate statement of the standards
of this group, justifies its conduct thus: “Unless the brain-worker is
willing to disclass his children, to subject them to humiliation, he
must be willing to feed, clothe, and educate them during many years.
In such circumstances, to refuse parenthood is only human.” It
therefore remains for the manual worker, who cannot obtain from his
Church the same absolution that the suburban resident can obtain
from his Times, to produce the bulk of the population. This, as a
whole, is not yet stationary; the recent census estimates an annual
excess of births over deaths throughout the United States amounting
to about one per cent. What will the next decade do with it?
A peculiar feature of the American propaganda for birth control is
its specific advocacy of artificial methods. The defenders of this
cause have been compelled, it appears, to define a position which
would be self-evident in any society not incorrigibly Puritan. People
who regard celibacy as a state of grace and celibacy within marriage
as a supreme moral victory are still growing, it would seem, on every
bush. This unwholesome belief must have its effect upon the birth
control methods of the married population. It is a matter of
speculation how many marriages succumb to its influence, especially
after the birth of a second or third child; but there is reason to believe
that the ascetic method is by no means uncommon. You cannot hold
up an ideal before people steadily for forty years without expecting
some of them to try to follow it. This kind of rigorous negativism
passes for morality in America and finds its strongest devotees
among the middle-aged and the heads of families. Such people are
greatly shocked at the wild conduct of the young who are certainly
out of bounds since the war; but the most striking feature of the
current wave of so-called immorality is the exposure of the
bankruptcy of ideals among the older generation. There are thirty
million families in the United States; presumably there are at least
sixty million adults who have experimented with the sexual
relationship with the sanction of society. But experience has taught
them nothing if one may judge by the patented and soulless
concepts which still pass for sexual morality among people who are
surely old enough to have learned about life from living it.
The population policies of the government are confined to the
supply through immigration. A few years ago, an American president
enunciated population policies of his own and conducted an
energetic though solitary campaign against “race suicide.” But no
faction rallied to his standard, no organization rose up to speed his
message. His bugle-call was politely disregarded as the personal
idiosyncrasy of a popular president who happened to be the proud
father of six children. Mr. Roosevelt was evidently out of tune with his
own generation, as, no doubt, Mr. Washington was with his, for
exactly the opposite reason. But the more retiring nature of our first
president saved him from the egoistic error of regarding his own
familial situation as the only proper and desirable example. The
complete failure of Mr. Roosevelt’s crusade is significant. There are
clerical influences in America which actively fight race suicide, but
with these obscurantist allies the doughty son of a Dutch Reform
family had too little else in common. Among the men of his own class
he stirred not an echo. Is it because the American husband is too
uxorious or too indifferent? I have heard a married man say, “It is too
much to expert of any woman;” and still another one explain, “The
Missis said it was my turn next and so we stopped with one.” Or is
there any explanation in the fact that the American father tends more
and more to spend his life in a salaried job and has little land or
business to bequeath? Whatever the reason, the Business Man is in
accord with the Club Woman on the subject of birth control, in
practice if not in theory.
So far as relative distribution of income is concerned, the
families of the United States fare much as those in the industrial
countries of Europe. In 1910, the same relative inequality of wealth
and income existed in feudal Prussia and democratic America. The
richest fifth of the families in each country claimed about half the
income while the poorest two-thirds of the families were thankful for
about one-third. The same law of economic relativity falls alike on
the just American and the unjust Prussian. But the American family,
it appears, is in every case two or three times better off than the
corresponding family in Prussia. You must multiply Herr Stinnes by
two to get a Judge Gary and the wealth of a Silesian child labourer is
only half that of a Georgia mill-child. This economic advantage of our
American rich and poor alike is measured chiefly in dollars and
marks and not in actual standards of living. It is apparently difficult to
get real standards of living out into the open; otherwise the superior
fortune of American families of every estate might be less evident.
Some of us who may have visited middle-class Prussian people only
half as well off as ourselves probably did not commiserate the poor
things as they deserved. My hostess, I recall, had eight hundred
dollars a year on which she maintained an apartment of two rooms,
bath, and kitchen; kept a part-time maid; bought two new suits’ a
year; drove out in a hired carriage on Sunday; and contributed
generously to a society which stirred up women to call themselves
Frau instead of Fräulein. Any “single woman” in an American city of
equal size who could have managed as much in those days on
fifteen hundred a year would certainly have deserved a thumping
thrift-prize.... And then there were all those poor little children in a
Black Forest village, who had to put up with rye bread six days in the
week and white bread only on Sundays. Transported to America,
they might have had package crackers every day and ice-cream
sandwiches on Sunday. One wonders whether the larger income of
the American family is not largely spent on things of doubtful value
and pinchbeck quality.
According to theory, the income of the family normally belongs to
the man of the house. According to theory, he has earned it or
derived it from some lawful business enterprise. “The head of the
family ordinarily divides income between himself and his various
dependents in the proportion that he deems best,” says Mr. Willford
King. The American husband has a peculiarly unblemished
reputation as a provider—and probably deserves it. Certainly few
husbands in the world are so thoughtful of their widows; they invest
extensively in life insurance but rarely in annuities against a period of
retirement. Trust Companies remind them through advertisements
every day to make their wills, and cemetery corporations nag them
incessantly to buy their graves. “Statistics show that women outlive
men!” says the promoter of America’s Burial Park. “They show that
the man who puts off the selection of a burial place leaves the task
to the widow in her grief. For the man it is easy now—for the woman
an ordeal then.” The chivalry of the business man leads him to
contrive all sorts of financial mechanisms for his widow’s
convenience and protection. His will, like his insurance policy, is in
her favour. Unlike the European husband, he hates to leave the
man’s world of business and to spend his declining years in the
society of his wife. After he is dead, she is welcome to his all, but so
long as he lives he keeps business between them.
Though in life and death a generous provider, he is not a
systematic one. Financial arrangements between husband and wife
are extremely casual. As the dowry hardly exists, so a regular cash
allowance is very rare. He loves to hold the purse-strings and let her
run the bills. This tendency is known in the outside business world,
and the American wife, therefore, enjoys a command of credit which
would amaze any solvent foreign housekeeper. She has accounts on
every hand. She orders food by telephone or through the grocer’s
boy and “charges it.” The department store expects her to have a
charge account, and gives her better service if she does. For
instance, the self-supporting woman who is, for obvious reasons,
more inclined to pay as she goes, finds herself discriminated against
in the matter of returning or exchanging goods. In numerous ways,
the charge account has the inside track. This would not seem
strange if credit were limited to the richest fraction. But that is not the
case; almost every housewife in the country has credit, from the
Newport ladies to the miners’ wives who “trade at the company
store.” The only difference is that, in the case of these two extremes
—Newport and the company store—longer credit than ususal seems
to be the rule. In the meantime, the preaching of thrift to the
American housewife goes on incessantly by apostles from a
business world which is largely organized on the assumption that
she does not possess it and which would be highly disconcerted if
she actually developed it. American business loves the housewife for
the same reason that it loves China—that is, for her economic
backwardness.
The record of the American husband as a provider is not uniform
for all classes. In Congress it is now and then asserted with
appropriate oratory that there are no classes in America. This is
more or less true from the point of view of a Cabin Creek vote-getter,
who lives in a factitious political world, where economic realities fail
to penetrate; to him middle-class and working-class are much the
same since they have equal rights not to “scratch the ticket.” But the
economist finds it convenient, as has been said, to classify the
totality of American families in definite income-groups corresponding
to the Prussian classes. As one descends the income scale one
finds that the American husband no longer fulfils his reputation for
being sole provider for his family. According to Edgar Sydenstricker,
“less than half of the wage-earners’ families in the United States,
whose heads are at work, have been found to be supported by the
earnings of the husband or father.” The earnings of the mother and
the children are a necessary supplement to bring the family income
up to the subsistence level. Half the workingmen, who have dutifully
“founded” families, cannot support them. According to the latest
figures published, it costs $2,334 a year to keep a family of five in
New York. Have the young Lochinvars of the tenements never heard
of those appalling figures? Very likely they have a premonition, if not
an actual picture of the digits. In any case they have their mothers to
warn them. “Henry’s brought it on himself,” said the janitress. “He
had a right not to get married. He had his mother to take care of
him.” If he had only chosen bachelorhood, he might have lived at
home in comfort and peace on his twenty-five a week. But having
chosen, or been chosen by, Mrs. Henry instead, it is now up to the
latter to go out office-cleaning or operating, which she very
extensively does. It is estimated that since the war fully one-third of
all American women in industry are married.
Going back up the scale to the middle-class wife, we find new
influences at work upon her situation. Custom has relaxed its
condemnation of the economically independent wife, and perhaps it
is just as well that it has done so. For this is the class which has
suffered the greatest comparative loss of fortune, during the last
fifteen years. “If all estimates cited are correct,” writes Mr. Willford
King, “it indicates that, since 1896, there has occurred a marked
concentration of income in the hands of the very rich; that the poor
have relatively lost but little; but that the middle class has been the
principal sufferer.” It is, then, through the sacrifices of our middle-
class families that our very richest families have been able to
improve their standard of living. The poor, of course, have had no
margin on which to practise such benevolence, but the generous
middle-class has given till it hurts. The deficit had to be relieved, the
only possible way being through the economic utilization of the
women. At first daughters became self-supporting, while wives still
tarried in the odour of domestic sanctity; then wives came to be
sporadically self-supporting. The war, like peace still bearing hardest
on the middle-class, enhanced all this. Nine months after the
armistice, fifty per cent. more women were employed in industry than
there were in the year before the war.
In America, we have no surplus women. The countries of
western Europe are each encumbered with a million or two, and their
existence is regarded as the source of acute social problems. What
shall be done with them is a matter of earnest consideration and
anxious statecraft. America has been spared all this. She has also
no surplus men—or none that anybody has ever heard of. It is true
that the population in 1910 consisted of ninety-one millions, of whom
forty-seven millions were men and forty-four were women. There
were three million more men than women, but for some reason they
were not surplus or “odd” men and they have never been a
“problem.” The population figures for 1920,—one hundred and five
millions,—have not yet been divided by sexes, but the chances are
that there is still a man for every woman in the country, and two men
apiece for a great number of them. However, no one seems to fear
polyandry for America as polygamy is now feared in Europe.
The situation is exceptional in New England where the typical
European condition is duplicated. Beyond the Berkshire Hills, all the
surplus women of America are concentrated. In the United States as
a whole there are a hundred and five men for each one hundred
women, but in New England the balance shifts suddenly to the other
side. Within the present century, a gradual increase has taken place
in the masculine contingent owing to immigration. But the chances of
marriage have not correspondingly improved, for matches are rarely
made between New England spinsters and Armenian weavers or
Neapolitan bootblacks.
In America only the very rich and the very poor marry early.
Factory girls and heiresses are, as a rule, the youngest brides. It is
generally assumed that twenty-four for women and twenty-nine for
men are the usual ages for marriage the country over. Custom varies
enormously, of course, in so polyglot a population. Now and then an
Italian daughter acquires a husband before the compulsory
education law is through with her. In such cases, however, there is
apparently a gentleman’s agreement between the truant officer and
the lady’s husband which solves the dilemma. At the opposite
extreme from these little working-class Juliets are the mature brides
of Boston. As the result of a survey covering the last ten years, the
registrar of marriage licenses discovered that the women married
between twenty-seven and thirty-three and the men between thirty
and forty. Boston’s average marriage age for both sexes is over
thirty. This does not represent an inordinate advance upon the
practice of the primitive Bostonians. According to certain American
genealogists, the Puritans of the 17th century were in no great haste
to wed—the average age of the bride being twenty-one and of the
bridegroom twenty-five. The marriage age in the oldest American city
has moved up about ten years in a couple of centuries. The change
is usually ascribed to increasing economic obstacles, and nobody
questions its desirability. Provided that celibacy is all that it seems to
be, the public stands ready to admire every further postponement of
the marriage age as evidence of an ever-growing self-control and the
triumphant march of civilization.
In the majority of marriages, the American wife outlives her
husband. This is partly because he is several years older than she
and partly because she tends to be longer-lived than he. Americans
of the second and third generation are characterized by great
longevity,—the American woman of American descent being the
longest-lived human being on earth. Consequently the survivors of
marriage are more likely to be widows than widowers. In the census
of 1910, there were about two million and a half widows of forty-five
or over as compared with about one million widowers of
corresponding age. Nor do they sit by the fire and knit as once upon
a time; they too must “hustle.” Among the working women of the
country are a million and a quarter who are more than forty-five and
who are probably to a very large extent—though the census provides
no data on the subject—economically independent widows. As was
said before, “Grandma” too is on her own nowadays.
The widow enjoys great honour in American public life, although
it usually turns out to be rather a spurious and sentimental homage.
Political orators easily grow tearful over her misfortunes. For
generations after the Civil War, the Republican Party throve on a
pension-system which gathered in the youngest widow of the oldest
veteran, and Tammany has always understood how to profit from its
ostentatious alms-giving to widows and orphans. From my earliest
childhood, I can recollect how the town-beautifiers, who wanted to
take down the crazy board fences, were utterly routed by the
aldermen who said the widow’s cow must range and people must
therefore keep up their fences. Similarly, the Southern States have
never been able to put through adequate child labour laws because
the widow’s child had to be allowed to earn in order to support his
mother. All this sentimentalism proved to be in time an excellent
springboard for a genuine economic reform—the widow’s pension
systems of the several states which would be more accurately
described as children’s pensions. The legislatures were in no
position to resist an appeal on behalf of the poor widow and so nicely
narcotized were they by their traditional tender-heartedness that they
failed to perceive the socialistic basis of this new kind of widow’s
pensions. Consequently America has achieved the curious honour of
leading in a socialistic innovation which European States are now
only just beginning to copy. Maternity insurance, on the other hand,
has made no headway in America although adopted years and even
decades ago in European countries. With us the obstacle seems to
be prudishness rather than capitalism—it makes a legislator blush to
hear childbirth spoken of in public while it only makes him cry to hear
of widowhood.
One aspect of widowhood is seldom touched upon and that is its
prevention. Aged widows, on the whole, in spite of their soap-boxing
and their wage-earning, are a very lonely race. Why must they bring
it on themselves by marrying men whose expectation of life is so
much less than theirs? And yet so anxious are the marrying people
to observe this conventional disparity of age, that if the bride
happens to be but by three months the senior of the bridegroom,
they conceal it henceforth as a sort of family disgrace. Even if this
convention should prove to be immutable, is there nothing to be
done about the lesser longevity of the American male? There is a life
extension institute with an ex-president at the head but, as far as I
am aware, it has never enlisted the support of the millions reported
by the census as widows, who surely, if anybody, should realize the
importance of such a movement. It is commonly assumed that the
earlier demise of husbands is due to the hazardous life they lead in
business and in industry; but domestic life is not without its hazards,
and child-bearing is an especially dangerous trade in the United
States, which has the highest maternal death-rate of seventeen
civilized countries. If American husbands were less philosophical
about the hardships of child-bed—the judgment of Eve and all that
sort of thing—and American wives were less philosophical about
burying their husbands—the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken
away and so on—it might result in greater health and happiness for
all concerned.
But the main trouble with American marriage, as all the world
knows, is that divorce so often separates the twain before death has
any chance to discriminate between them. The growing prevalence
of divorce is statistically set forth in a series of census investigations.
In 1890, there was one divorce to every sixteen marriages; in 1900,
there was one to every twelve marriages; and in 1916, there was
one to every nine marriages. The number of marriages in proportion
to the population has also increased during the same period, though
not at a rate equal to that of divorce. But divorce, being so much
younger than marriage, has had more room to grow from its first
humble scared beginnings of fifty years ago. Queen Victoria’s frown
had a very discouraging effect on divorce in America; and Mrs.
Humphry Ward, studying the question among us in the early 20th
century, lent her personal influence towards the arrest of the
American evil. We also have raised up on this side of the water our
own apostles against divorce, among whom Mr. Horace Greeley
perhaps occupies the first and most distinguished place. But in spite
of all heroic crusades, divorce has continued to grow. One even
suspects that the marked increase in the marriage rate is partly—
perhaps largely—due to the remarriage of the divorced. At any rate,
they constitute new and eligible material for marriage which formerly
was lacking.
The true cause of the increase of divorce in America is not easy
to come by. Commissions and investigations have worried the
question to no profitable end, and have triumphantly come out by the
same door by which they went in. That seems to be the test of a
successful divorce inquiry; and no wonder, for the real quest means
a conflict with hypocrisy and prejudice, fear and taboo, which only
the intrepid spirit of a John Milton or a Susan B. Anthony is able to
sustain. The people who want divorces and who can pay for them
seem to be able to get them nowadays, and since it is the truth only
that suffers the situation has grown more tolerable.
In the meantime, there are popular impressions and
assumptions which do not tally with the known facts. It is assumed
that divorce is frequent in America because it is easy, and that the
logical way to reduce it would be to make it difficult. Certain States of
the West have lenient divorce laws but other States have stringent
laws, while South Carolina abolished divorce entirely in 1878. On the
whole, our laws are not so lenient as those of Scandinavia, whose
divorce rate is still far behind that of the United States. Neither is
divorce cheap in America; it is enormously expensive. Therefore for
the poor it is practically inaccessible. The Domestic Relations Courts
do not grant divorce and the Legal Aid Societies will not touch it. The
wage-earning class, like the inhabitants of South Carolina, just have
to learn to get along without it. Then there is another belief, hardly
justified by the facts, that most divorced wives get alimony. Among
all the divorces granted in 1916, alimony was not even asked for by
73 per cent. of the wives and it was received altogether by less than
20 per cent. of them. The statistics do not tell us whether the actual
recipients of alimony were the mothers of young children or whether
they were able-bodied ladies without offspring. The average
American divorce court could not be trusted to see any difference
between them.
The war has naturally multiplied the actions for divorce in every
country. It was not for nothing that the British government called the
stipends paid to soldiers’ wives “separation allowances.” The war-
time conditions had a tendency to unmake marriages as well as to
make them. The momentary spread of divorce has revived again the
idea of a uniform divorce law embodied in an amendment to the
Federal Constitution. As no reasonable law can possibly be hoped
for, the present state of confusion is infinitely to be preferred as
affording at least some choice of resources to the individual who is
seeking relief. If there were any tendency to take divorce cases out
of the hands of the lawyers, as has been done with industrial
accidents, and to put it into domestic relations courts where it
belongs; if there were the least possibility of curbing the vested
interest of the newspapers in divorce news; if there were any
dawning appreciation of the absurdity of penalizing as connivance
the most unanswerable reason for divorce, that is, mutual consent; if
there were any likelihood that the lying and spying upon which
divorce action must usually depend for its success would be viewed
as the grossest immorality in the whole situation; if there were any
hope whatever that a statesman might rise up in Congress and, like
Johan Castberg of Norway, defend a legal measure which would
help ordinary men and women to speak the truth in their personal
relationships—if there were any prospect that any of these
influences would have any weight in the deliberations of Congress,
one might regard the possibilities of Federal action with a gleam of
hope. But since nothing of the kind can be expected, the best that
can happen in regard to divorce in the near future is for Congress to
leave it alone. There is a strong tradition in the historical suffrage
movement of America which favours liberal divorce laws and which
makes it improbable that a reactionary measure could gain sufficient
support from the feminine electorate. Since the majority of those who
seek divorce in this country are women, it seems to put them
logically on the side of dissoluble marriage.
Though home is a sacred word in America, it is a portable affair.
Migration is a national habit, handed down and still retained from the
days when each generation went out to break new ground. The
disasters of the Civil War sent Southern families and New England
families scurrying to the far West. The development of the railway
and express systems produced as a by-product a type of family life
that was necessarily nomadic. The men of the railway
“Brotherhoods” have always been marrying men, and their families
acquired the art of living on wheels, as it were. Rich farmers of the
Middle West retire to spend their old age in a California cottage
surrounded by an orange grove—and the young farmers move to the
city. The American family travels on any and every excuse. The
neurotic pursuit of health has built up large communities in Colorado,
Arizona, and other points West. Whole families “picked up,” as the
saying goes, and set out for the miraculous climate that was to save
one of its members from the dreaded tuberculosis—and then later
had to move again because somebody’s heart couldn’t stand the
“altitude.” The extreme examples of this nomadic habit are found
among the families of the very poor and the very rich, who have
regular seasonal migrations. The oyster canners and strawberry-
pickers have a mobility which is only equalled by that of the Palm
Beachers. And finally there is the curious practice of New England
which keeps boarders in the summer-time in order that it may be
boarded by Florida in the winter-time.
By contrast with all this geographical instability, the stable sway
of convention and custom stands out impressively. With each
change of environment, family tradition became more sacred.
Unitarians who moved to Kansas were more zealous in the faith than
ever, and F.F.V.’s who settled in Texas were fiercely and undyingly
loyal to the memory of Pocahontas. Families that were always losing
their background, tried to fixate in some form the ancestral prestige
which threatened always to evaporate. Organizations composed of
the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution, of the descendants of the
Pilgrims, of Civil War Veterans, of the Scions of the Confederacy,
and so on, sprang up and flourished on the abundant soil of family
pride. All of which means that pioneering brought no spiritual
independence or intellectual rebirth, and that new conditions were
anxiously reformulated under the sanction of the old. Above all,
sanction was important. That incredible institution, the “society
column” of the local newspaper, took up the responsibility where the
Past laid it down. Stereotyped values of yesterday gave way to
stereotyped values of to-day. This was the commercial opportunity of
a multitude of home journals and women’s magazines which
undertook—by means of stories, pictures, and advertisements—to
regiment the last detail of home life. But the perforated patterns, the
foods “shot from guns,” and all the rest of the labour-saving
ingenuities which came pouring into the home and which were
supposed to mean emancipation for mothers and their families,
brought little of the real spirit of freedom in their wake. Our
materialistic civilization finds it hard to understand that liberty is not
achieved through time-saving devices but only through the love of it.
But the notorious spoiling of the American child—some one says
—is not that a proper cradle of liberty for the personality? A spoilt
child may be a nuisance, but if he is on the way towards becoming a
self-reliant, self-expressive adult, the “American way” of bringing up
children may have its peculiar advantages. But a spoilt child is really
a babyish child, and by that token he is on the way towards
becoming a childish adult. Neither is his case disposed of simply by
adjudging him a nuisance; the consequence of his spoiling carry
much further than that. They are seen, for instance, in malnutrition of
the children of the American rich—a fact which has but recently been
discovered and which came as a great surprise to the experts. “In
Chicago,” one of them tells us, “it was found that a group of foreign
children near the stockyards were only 17 per cent. underweight,
while in the all-American group near the University of Chicago they
were 57 per cent. below normal.” The same condition of things was
found in a select and expensive boarding school in the
neighbourhood of Boston. A pathetic commentary—is it not?—on a
country which leads the world in food-packing and food-profits, that it
should contain so many parents who, with all the resources of the
earth at their command, do not know how to feed their own children.
Surely, the famous American spoiling has something to do with this.
Whether it may not also be behind the vast amount of mental
disturbance in the population may well be considered. The asylums
are suddenly over-crowded. The National Committee for Mental
Hygiene suggests for our consolation that this may be because the
asylums are so much more humane than they used to be and the
families of the sufferers are more willing than formerly to consign
them to institutions.
It is the fashion to attribute all these mental tragedies to the
strain of business life and industry, and more recently to war-shock.
But if we are to accept the results of the latest psychological
research, the family must receive the lion’s share of blame. The
groundwork for fatal ruptures in the adult personality is laid in
childhood and in the home which produced the victim. For many
years the discussion of American nerves has hinged on the hectic
haste of business and industrial life, on the noise and bustle and lack
of repose in the national atmosphere. But we have neglected to
accuse the family to its face of failing to protect the child against the
cataclysms of the future while it had the chance.
The tremendous influence of the family on the individuals, old
and young, composing it is not merely a pious belief. We are, alas,
what our families make us. This is not a pleasant thought to many
individuals who have learned through bitter experience to look on
family relationships as a form of soul imprisonment. Yet it seems to
be an incontestable fact that personality is first formed—or deformed
—in the family constellation. The home really does the job for which
the school, the press, the church, and the State later get the credit. It
is a smoothly articulated course from the cradle onward, however, in
which the subjugated parent produces a subjugated child, not so
much by the rod of discipline—which figures very little in American
family life—but by the more powerful and pervasive force of habit
and attitude. Parents allow themselves to be a medium for
transmitting the incessant pressure of standards which allow no
room for impulse and initiative; they become the willing instrument of
a public mania for standardization which tries to make every human
soul into the image of a folded pattern. The babe is moulded in his
cradle into the man who will drop a sentimental tear, wear a white
carnation, and send a telegram on Mother’s Day—that travesty of a
family festival which shames affection and puts spontaneous feeling
to the blush.
As the family itself grows smaller, this pressure of mechanistic
and conventional standards encroaches more closely upon the child.
A sizeable group of brothers and sisters create for themselves a
savage world which is their best protection against the civilization
that awaits them. But with one or two children, or a widely scattered
series, this natural protection is lost. The youngster is prematurely
assimilated to the adult world of parents who are nowadays, owing to
later marriage, not even quite so young as formerly they were. It is a
peculiarity of parents, especially of mothers, that they never entertain
a modest doubt as to whether they might be the best of all possible
company for their children. And obviously the tired business man
cannot properly substitute in the evenings for a roistering, shouting
brother who never came into the world at all; nor can all the
concentrated care of the most devoted mother take the place of the
companionship and discipline which children get from other children.
These considerations deserve more attention than they usually
receive in connection with the falling birth-rate. The figures mean
that the environment of the young child is being altered in a
fundamental respect. Parents of small families need to take effective
steps to counteract the loss. Practical things, like nursery schools,
would be a help. But, chiefly, if parents will insist on being
companions of their children, they need themselves to understand
and practise the art of common joy and happiness.
Katharine Anthony