3
Choice of Sources of Funds:
Before the actual procurernent of funds, the finance manager has to decide the sources from
which the funds are to be raised. The management can raise finance from various sources
like equity shareholders, preference shareholders, debenture- holders, banks and other
financial institutions, public deposits, etc.
Utilisation of Funds:
The funds procured by the financial manager are to be prudently invested in various assets so as
to maximise the return on investment: While taking investment decisions, management
should be guided by three important principles, viz., safety, profitability, and liquidity.
Disposal of Profits or Surplus:
The financial manager has to decide how much to retain for ploughing back and how much to
distribute as dividend to shareholders out of the profits of the company. The factors which
influence these decisions include the trend of earnings of the company, the trend of the
rnarket price of its shares, the requirements of funds for self- financing the future
programmes and so on.
Management of Cash:
Management of cash and other current assets is an important task of financial manager. It
involves forecasting the cash inflows and outflows to ensure that there is neither shortage
nor surplus of cash with the firm. Sufficient funds must be available for purchase of
materials, payment of wages and rneeting day-to-day expenses.
Question 2
(10 marks)
List and explain four (4) types of budgets? Provide four (4) examples of budgets.
There are four common types of budgets that companies use:
o Incremental budgeting is the traditional budgeting method whereby the budget is
prepared by taking the current period's budget or actual performance as a base, with
incremental amounts then being added for the new budget period.
For example, if you are to determine the amount of electricity consumed in a particular
period, the number of units consumed determines the total bill for electricity. In such a
scenario, the units of electricity consumed do not change from year to year.
o Activity-based budgeting (ABB) is a system that records, researches, and analyses
activities that lead to costs for a company. Every activity in an organization that incurs a
cost is scrutinized for potential ways to create efficiencies. Budgets are then developed
based on these results.