Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personal Statement Example Family background influences the career choice of one, especially in traditional societies like China. For example, a doctor’s children tend to study medicine; a bureaucrat’s children opt for civil service qualifications; a carpenter’s son learns carpentry from childhood, and so on. My father runs a factory-supported business enterprise, and it was but natural for me to pursue education and training courses, which would help me in future to participate in managing the family business. Quite honestly, I am as much responsible for this decision as my parents have been, since that is how it is in my country – the elders exert considerable influence in matters of education. Fortunately, my own positive inclination towards economics as the major subject sealed the issue. Our factory in China employing nearly 600 persons produces a wide variety of stainless steel cookware items. This is a fairly large business and it inevitably creeps into our everyday Shen 2 li ves, all the time. Family discussions or little talks around the dining table or even while on holidays always end up in business matters, and I was thus exposed to the affairs of our business since childhood. This has kindled an interest in me – first in general factory affairs, and later as I grew up, in the nitty-gritty of running a profitable business venture. I was often to be seen at my father’s office and factory, observing at firsthand how he handled his routine work, how he interacted with his staff and workers, and how he dealt with his clients. It is an invaluable experience for me to become aware of the practical world of business, and for my father’s staff and workmen to recognize me as one among them. This was my informal internship and background to my choosing economics as the academic option. Since completing high school studies, I have been attending working in my father’s office and factory more formally. I do this even now, whenever, I travel home on vacation. I have been assigned work in different departments, under the guidance of senior staff. I have worked in the factory assisting the manager and learning the production processes, staff deployment, order processing and dispatches; in office duties, I have done document preparation and presentation, raising bills and follow up for collecting payments; in the human resource department, I have come to know of staff management, salary administration and training; in the finance department, I was exposed to the different aspects of the relationship between a business and the banks like capital investments, working capital and stock/bills hypothecation, cash flow issues etc. All in all, I should say that I have just begun to appreciate the intricacies of business management and felt the need for a proper professional qualification for a fuller understanding of the processes, especially relating to the economics and financing of a running business. As a first step i n this direction, I have selected the subjects of macro and micro-economics, statistics, Shen 3 social sciences and business for my major at the SBCC. I have begun to enjoy solving problems in the economics subject. After completing my graduation/post-graduation in University of California, I wish to return to China and play an important role in the development of our enterprise. 2. What character or attitude

Equities and Fixed Income Investments Assignment

Equities and Fixed Income Investments - Assignment Example While the analysis of the free cash flow will indicate if the company enjoys an unobstructed flow of cash. The analysis of the free cash flow to equity will indicate if the company is in a position to service the equity holders after clearing all the expenses, reinvestment and repayment of debt. The analysis of the EBITDA indicates the cash flow from the operations (Hatten and Ruhland, 2005). The cash flow from the operations will indicate if able to optimize its operational performance. With the increase in the efficiency of the operations the cash flow of the firm will increase. Table 1: Tabulation of different ratios    2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 Gearing ratio 0.95 0.91 0.90 0.90 0.90 EBITDA 492.2 469.8 497.7 507.4 451 FCFE N/A -86.8 -89.9 -376.6 -162.1 FCFF N/A 252,286.60 239,185.37 220,906.19 2,284,070.11 Source: (Severn Trent Annual Report, 2013) Fig 1: Gearing ratio Source: (Severn Trent Annual Report, 2013) The gearing ratio increased considerably in the last 5 years. This in dicates that Severn Trent increasingly resorted to debt financing. The increase in the debt financing puts Severn Trent in a risky state, since higher the debt, higher the chance of insolvency, if the company is not able to finance the debt with the revenue (Jang and Namkung, 2009). This also indicates that the company has already resorted to huge amount of debt financing Severn Trent is in a highly leveraged position due to the presence of significant percentage of debt in its capital structure. Being in a highly leveraged position indicates that the company has a strong credit score otherwise the investors would not have taken Severn Trent into confidence (Kutner, Nachtsheim and Neter, 2004.). The highly leveraged position of Severn Trent also puts enormous pressure on the company to finance the debts. Fig 2: EBITDA Source: (Severn Trent Annual Report, 2013) The EBITDA does not indicate a linear increasing trend or decreasing trend. It is a mixed trend of intermittent ups and down s. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization are highest in year 2010, while it is lowest in the year 2009. The increasing trend in the EBITDA is an indication that the company is in a position to finance the interest payments quite efficiently (Miravete, 2003). Although the previous graphs already indicate that the company is already in a highly leveraged state. This means that although the EBITDA shows an increasing trend but the highly leveraged position of the company are putting severe pressure on the EBITDA due to the need to clear the interest payments (Pinhanez, 2001). Fig 3: FCFE Source: (Severn Trent Annual Report, 2013) The free cash flow to equity showing a constant negative trend for the past 4 years, which is a cause of concern. The negative value of the ratio indicates that the company has been suffering cash crunch for the past 4 years. This clearly indicates that the company faced trouble trying to clear the dividend for the equity holders (Stumpf , Dunbar and Mullen, 2001). This is because of the reason that the equity holders are paid only after clearing the expenses for reinvestment and debt repayment. The negative ratio of the free cash flow to the equity shareholders is a clear sign of the fact that the expense due to the reinvestment