HOW TO READ FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Hi! Everyone, 

In reality, you may be surprised to find many stocks valuations are far more higher than its' long term ability to create cash profit from invested capital. However, the financial statements are crafted to give its readers a snapshot of how successful this creation of value is being accomplished. In this connection, you will encounter with odd terminology. Hence, you are advised to get a professional accountant to assist you.

Its financial statement explains three major components as listed below:-

1. Income Statement

It attracts the company's stakeholders’ attention because it shows the company's "bottom line": its earnings, or profit. Most of the income statement details the company's operations. Through comparison of its current and preceding year earnings, you will find out whether its earnings is growing or declining. If you find both the figures for sales and operating expenses are also higher, then it is likely indication that the company is growing physically as well. In order to generate more money, it is increasing its capacity to produce more of whatever it sells.

One important thing that the income statement doesn't show is how the company is paying for this growth. To find that, you need to look at the cash flow statement. 

2. Cash Flow Statement

The Cash Flow Statement shows how the company is paying for its operations, by detailing the "flow" of cash between the company and the outside world. The positive numbers represent cash flowing in, whereas the negative numbers represent cash flowing out from the company. The operations mean "making" money by selling its goods and services.

Whereas the other two sections of the cash flow statement, Financing, and Investing, reflect the other two ways the company obtain its cash. Financing means "raising" money by issuing shares and bonds. The third section shows how the company is funding its investments for future growth. Usually investors prefer the stock of company who can pay its investment out of its operations rather than turn to "financing". This is because financing will have impacts to the company bottom line. Issuing new stocks will lower the value of each individual share whereas issuing bonds commits them to making interest payments which will punish future earnings.

This company has a very "healthy" cash flow if its operations cash inflow is more than sufficient to cover cash used for investing. 

Here it begins with "net" earnings from the income statement and then adjusting it by removing all components that do not entail actual cash flow. For instance depreciation, which is a "paper" expense has been taken out of earnings. So by adding it back in, you're removing its effect.

3. Balance Sheet

The balance sheet reflects its assets, which is what a company owns, and its liabilities, which is what it owes. Their difference is the company's net worth, on paper. The catch here is that the fair market value of many assets can be very different from the "book values" shown here. As such, people looking for "value" stocks need to do more research, beyond the balance sheet.

Generally, investors prefer its current assets are greater than current liabilities by a comfortable margin. To be more conservative, they often exclude inventory from current assets when they calculate this computation. This indicates that the company is likely to suffer a cash shortage during the following year, which may force the company to issue new stocks or bonds to survive. 

In short, Assets - Liabilities = Equity or Net Worth, just by the definition of equity. A balance sheet will also show how equity has actually been "built up" over the years, from stock sales and retained earnings. 

However, another important issue which the balance sheet does not take into consideration is its human assets such as the relationship between its management and its employees. 

Having said the above, the notes to the accounts should not be ignored as they formed part of the financial statement. The note will tell you about the principal accounting standards adopted by the company. Material litigation and contingency liabilities of the company are also stated in the notes of the accounts.

Hope the above discussion gives you a good insight as how to read financial statements. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need any clarification.

Wishing you have a fruitful investment and look forward to hearing from you again,

Happy Reading,

James Oh 

FIVE KEY FACTORS GUIDE DYNAMIC PLANNING

Dear Friend,

With today’s rapidly economic changes, volatility and change have become the norm and not exception, thus making dynamic planning imperative for organizations. Hence, a more reliable and versatile framework is needed to cope with these changes, now and in the future, where competitive pressures emerge from multiple regions and sources. As a result, organizations need dynamic planning to help them to stay focused on key areas to compete.

Below are the five key factors that guide dynamic planning:-

1. IDENTIFY THE KEY VALUE DRIVERS

These are the main factors that drive success or failure in an organization. Input across the organization is needed. Agreement on key value drivers is crucial in a way that they will help to demonstrate a clear focus on business strategy. Thereafter, execution and alignment of plan with strategy can follow suit before the “acceptable” tolerance range for these key value drivers can be established. Consequently, corrective actions if there is a need will then be taken.

2. INCORPORATE THE SELECTED VALUE DRIVERS INTO DYNAMIC PLANNING MODEL 

Depending on the complexity of the organization's model, software with multiple applications in the market may more likely facilitate the planning process to certain extent.  The choice of technology is not as important as the thinking behind value drivers and model construction. As such, it is clear that dynamic modeling with the right set of value drivers will lead to faster and more accurate resource allocation, portfolio analysis and target setting. 

3. REVISIT AND REFOCUS YOUR PLANNING MODELS IN MATERIAL AND VOLATILE AREAS

The objective is to reduce the integrated planning efforts, thereby helping enable finance to focus on value-add analysis and decision-making. For instance, the organization can plan more focusing on discretionary spending, where return generated will be far better off than non-discretionary expenses.

This is due to the nature that they normally demand too much management attention, and planning in this area was far too detailed for the limited return generated. As a result of this refocus, distribution of resources to areas yielding larger returns is always matched.

4. FREQUENTLY MONITOR THE VALUE DRIVERS

At an early stage, tolerance levels for each key value driver have been defined in the planning process. Any variances that exceed the specified range will attract management attention and action. These key value drivers should be monitored carefully and frequently, as part of the regular management meetings. 

5. RETHINK AND STREAMLINE PROCESSES THAT REQUIRES REVIEW AND SIGN OFF PLAN 

Speed is of the essence in the business context, therefore organizations need to streamline the processes consistently so as to ensure plans are relevant by the time they need to be used. As such, bureaucracy needs to be eliminated so as to increase the planning efficiency. In this regard, the back-and-forth review and final approval of business plans is a lengthy process especially in a large global organization. Both capital and operational planning processes should respond to shocks regardless whether it is generated internally or externally. However, the former is likely to be triggered less frequently because the actions that follow from these decisions have more structural business implications compared to the latter.

Hope the above discussion has given you a good insight of having dynamic planning. 

Together we deliver a better world

James Oh
 

HOW TO BROADEN YOUR INCOME STREAM

Dear loving readers and visitors,

I am sure some of you may have heard of the saying that going gets tough, the tough gets going. This is very true especially during recession, people from all walk of lives are more inclined to look for additional means and ways to broaden their income streams so as to maintain their lifestyle.

Append below are the commonly means:-

1. Working at weekends

Working at weekend may offer you a new mean of increasing your income, it also open new opportunity for you to acquire new skill. However it is worthwhile not to over work and lose the meaning of life.  Life is more important than money.  So, strike a balance.

2. Networking

Networking is another way to enhance your value.  Networking with like minded individuals,  not only helps motivate and inspire each other, but also facilitate collaboration with others to achieve your mutual goals. Through networking, you may pool your resources together to market your skill or expertise to a larger crowd.
3. Affiliate Marketing

This is another popular means of marketing whereby you are required to establish a website or a business blog to advertise your business to a wider audience in the hope of generating more income. One thing good about affiliate marketing is that you are allowed to market third party's products on your webpage. The success of this is very much depend on how much traffic your website is able to attract and how attractive are the product. 

4. Rationalise your monthly Expenses

Always remember a small leak may sink a boat. Similarly if you don't contain your expenses, they may cause you to work extra for the wastage. One way of rationalising your monthly expenses is to look at cheaper alternatives to get your routine work done. Thing like using cheaper mode of communication,  car pooling and etc.

The recession has pushed us harder to think of better means and ways to be more effective and efficient, both in personal and business aspects. So, enjoy the ride. You are rest assured to be a better person.

5. Improve ourselves

For those who are unemployed or stuck in a job that leads you nowhere, then it is advisable for you to learn a new trade or a new skill so as to enhance your market capability. Pursuing  a professional qualification can also help you  to enhance your earning potential. You may take up courses that offer online learning where you can study at your own pace and home.

6. Turn your hobbies into business

You may turn your hobby into business using internet. What you need to do is share your hobbies at the same time offering your services or expertise to your readers and visitors. You may also use your blog to dispose off the thing you no longer require. You may then use the proceeds from your sale to acquire new products for your new collection. This will refresh your collection.

7.  Seek for Government grant

There are lots lot of incentives or grants given to individual or entrepreneur who has ideas to generate new employment in new fields where the country is keen to promote. This is also another means to finance your capital outlay in the hope to generate income for yourself and create new employment.

Thanks for your time and effort. See you again and look forward to hearing from you again.

James Oh

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE OFFLINE

Hi! Everyone,

Before I proceed further, may I be allowed to define the meaning of your circle of influence offline. Your circle of influence refers to the group of people that are in contact with regularly, such as your friends, family, current clients, acquaintances etc. As such, increasing your circle of influence offline can help you to expand your client base. By doing so, you open up more possibilities for your business. You may either meet someone in need of your services, or someone who may refer your services to others.

You may increase your circle of influence offline by joining networking groups, clubs, and other organizations. Introduce yourself to the other members who are also there to network and grow their businesses, too.

Volunteering is also another great opportunity for you to meet new people. So, make use of every opportunity you have to strike a conversation with others. You never know that it may lead you to some brilliant ideas or someone may turn out to be your client, business partner or they may even refer you to others. Alternatively, you may make use of his service, so as to enlarge your circle.

Whenever you meet someone new, smile and politely introduce yourself. Try to strike a conversation and find out what you both have in common. If both of you are standing in line to pick up your children from school, ask about what class their child is in. If you are at the video store and someone picks up a copy of your favorite movie, tell them how much you loved it.

You need to break the barrier of communication with the stranger. If you are able to have a quick, friendly conversation with them, the chances that both of you will recognize each other the next time you meet and say “hello”, is much greater. After a while, both of you will feel comfortable to talk about business.

If you find that they do not need your service currently, then it is no harm for you to ask for a referral. You may phrase it something like, “Please let me know should you ever come across anyone who needs such service." You may be surprised that such a simple statement may open up some business deals. At times, you may be lucky that the company they work for is thinking about sourcing for such a service or someone they know are sourcing for the service you provide for.

Stay friendly and sincere while you are meeting new people. If you keep doing so, you are rest assured that your circle of influence will be widening, so will your client base. Try it out and let us know the outcome.

Wishing you success,

 James Oh

AUCTION PROPERTIES AND ITS TRAPS

Dear Valued readers and visitors,

Lately, one of my siblings approached me to explore on property auction. He was attracted by the fact that a huge amount of money can be made speedily, but I am cautiously optimistic.  

No doubt there are huge opportunities available at properties auction, however there are huge traps too. I guess the risks are proportionate with the opportunities. So, if you choose to play this game, you must first of all know what you are doing. Otherwise, you may lose it all and return with a much bigger headache.

Location, location and location is always the key issue as far as property is concerned. Not surprisingly that you can find some properties being auctioned at a very low price. But, low price does not mean it is cheap. This is because no one will buy from you later on when you want to dispose it. You need to have the mean to hold it. Guess you know what I mean now.

The second dangerous trap is if the property is occupied, then it is your responsibility to evict them from it because you are buying the auctioned property as it is. This may be very burdensome if they are not in most of the time. Even if they are, what can you do if they refuse to open the door. No doubt, you may obtain court order to evict them but it takes time. Time is the essence of any business. Worse still, at times they may refuse to budge even you have the court order! Therefore, it is advisable not to touch those properties that are tenanted and the people living there are not willing to move out – no matter how cheap the property is. Choosing another property seems to be a better choice.

The third trap is outstanding bills. These outstanding bills may be mountain high such as renovation costs, electric, water, maintenance, assessment taxes etc... Therefore, it is vitally important to ascertain with accuracy before you bid for the property. Otherwise, you could be buying a property with huge outstanding bills to be settled. This may make the property cost even more than its market value.

However, this does not mean that you should shy away from auction, but you must do your home work well and calculate all these costs and figure out whether it is worthwhile for you to bid for it. At the same time, you must also take into accounts, its repair costs. The repair cost will obviously vary much depending on the condition of the property. 

These are the four main traps that await an unwary bidder at property auctions. As such, it is always wise to equip yourself with all the relevant and material knowledge with this subject before you deal with it.

Hope the above is of assistance to you. 

James Oh

AUCTIONS PROPERTIES AND ITS TRAPS 2

Hi! Everyone,

It is my pleasure to seeing you again.

In conjunction with my previous article on Auction Property and its traps, I must say that the article below is also relevant to substantiate my advice not to touch those properties that are tenanted and the people living there are not willing to move out – no matter how cheap the property is. Choosing another property seems to be a better choice.

To refresh your memory, you may click at the title of this article to access to its previous article.

I say so because the tenants may use similar plot to trap its new owner. As such, I advise you to read the article below. For your easy reference, I also append the article for your easy reading.  

Beware the property trap, Chong tells owners

By HIU CHII FEN in the Star Newspapers dated April 16, 2010

newsdesk@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Do not break into your own property even if your tenant fails to pay the rent. It could be a trap.

This was the warning given by MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong to landlords who were thinking of doing this to reclaim their property.

Chong said any move by a landlord to break into the property, even when the tenant failed to pay the rent, was against the law.

He said many landlords had been brought to court by tenants for breaking into their properties and were sued for the loss of their tenants’ assets including cash.

“This could be a trap laid by tenants who are looking for easy cash. They could be conmen,” Chong told a press conference at his office in Wisma MCA here yesterday.

In the past three months, three such claims were made by tenants – all of them Malaysians – against their landlords.

Their claims amounted to a total of RM117,000 in cash and assets.

During the same period, he said he received 12 complaints of tenants who failed to pay a total of RM57,000 in rent.

Lawyer Leong Pak Yiew, who is a member of the department, advised landlords facing this problem to file for a distress order at a court.

“Under this order, landlords will be able to legally seize the premises and the tenant’s rent will be recovered through auctioning all assets found within it,” he said.

However, this process could take up to two months and might be costly in terms of legal and court fees.

Hope you find it relevant and helpful. Thanks and look forward to hearing from you,

James Oh

EFFECTIVE WAYS TO STRENGTHEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP

Hi! everyone,

As the world is becoming more and more integrated, no man can live on his own. Therefore, integration and staying well connected become crucial and important in our lives. To be successful, you need to maintain good and lasting relationship with others. You can only grow further through this healthy relationship

1. Respecting each other is an absolutely fundamental pillar in establishing good relationship. This means that we have to accept who they are; caring and loving them for their uniqueness and differences. However, many people expect others to conform in ways they deem appropriate. This is more inclined to slavery than love! Bear in mind that others are not neither your private property, nor your slave. Needless to say, it is not conducive for you to have a happy relationship when you restrict their freedom by treating them in the above manner. Most human beings may want to grow in ways, not to your liking or your comfort,  but preventing their growth will stifle both you and them. Instead of restricting others' freedom, it is far better to encourage them to grow and become the persons they want to be. Indeed, the only way that can assure a person can  flourish is through true love.

2. None of us is perfect. Therefore to have successful relationships with others, we need to tolerate each other's imperfectness. Understanding others will help us to see things from their perspective, and not from ours. Through this, we will not only become wiser, but  will also reduce conflicts through better understanding of each other. This means tolerance will serve to maintain harmony and strengthen relationship. We must be aware that every one has his own belief, culture, liking and preferences. Therefore you need more than love to build a long lasting relationship. Without tolerance and compromise, there will be no true relationship. Extra care is required especially in the multi-racial environment. True harmony will not be achieve if any particular race remains more superior than the others because it acts against the profound human principle of equality. Good and sound relation will not take place if  there is no true acceptance of each other and no true equality in that sense. These will create hatred due to lack of trust among them.

3. Argument is the worst way to spoil relationship, if left unchecked, because the tendency is for the person is to win and to be right. So, watch out for this DEADLY trait. Argumentative people have a great tendency to argue until they "win" about everything and anything. They will not listen and consider others' viewpoints. This is because they are rarely compromise. You must bear in mind that any criticism, however fair and justified will be met with opposition. Therefore, it is wise to not indulge in silly futile arguments. Remember that winning arguments is not the objective, but what is more important is to establish truly good and lasting relationship.

4. Listening and learning are required. Relation is build through understanding  each other. As such, you need to listen and learn from others so as to avoid conflict. This serve as a double edge sword that can cut both sides. To ensure lasting and healthy relations, we cannot lack these skills. Without these, there is no true understanding.  We need to polish our listening and learning skill for us to grow beyond our personal capabilities.

5. Open minded. A fundamental prerequisite for learning is an open mind. No one can learn without doing so. The undeniable truth is that who we are is what we believe in. The things we believe control our lives. We pass judgment based on our beliefs and we perceive things from our own belief windows. How can we see others' perspectives if we are restricted by our own beliefs?  To accept change and new idea, we need to change our core belief that allow us to open our heart to listen to the new idea. Without doing so, there is no way we can acquire new ideas because our belief has rejected them in the first place prior to listening.

I challenge you to give the above serious thought and I hope that the proven recipes will not only assist you in strengthening your relationship with others, but also ensure that you enjoy long lasting happiness and a deeper loving bond.

Please do voice out your thoughts via comments so as we can enrich our discussion. Thank you in advance for your kind participation.

Wish you a success,

James Oh

To Achieve Your Dreams-Remember Your's A to Z (S)

Hi, Valued Readers and Visitors,

Do you believe that the most important wealth is lie inside you? For those who believe so, these series of posts as how to create wealth through A to Z will assist you to materailise your dream.

S

Stop procrastinating.

To create wealth, you must align to the above thought.

Please put forward your view on this.

Stay tuned for next series. Look forward to seeing you again,

Wishing you success,

James Oh

HOW TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITHOUT BORROWING

Hi! Everyone,

When your business expands, one of the main challenges you face is to look for additional capital. In this situation, it is very common to inject new cash to take your business to next level of success. Alternatively, you may need additional money for survival.  Whatever it is, getting new money may be very frustrating at times. Banks may turn down your business loans application for a thousand and one reasons. This may be due to inadequate assets to be used as collateral, or your company may not be in the business long enough to establish a required credit rating. This does not mean the end, so long you have a viable business, good customers, and a business plan. What you need to do is to look at other alternative options to get the funds to grow and succeed.  Append below are some of the means you may consider:-

1. IMPROVE YOUR CASH INFLOW

To unearth cash to expand your business, the first step you need to do is to shorten your cash cycle. One way is to examine your receivables. At times, by shortening your collection period, it may offer sufficient fund for your new project or expand your business. Bear in mind that too much receivables can cripple or even kill a company. To deliver good and reliable service, you need to be paid promptly as well. As such, tighten your payment policy and demand deposits or cash upfront is common and practicable. You may offer cash discount as an incentive for quick payment. To stay healthy, you need to keep track of those accounts that are past due, and diligently pursue payment after 30 days. Meet and resolve the dispute, if applicable, with your customer promptly should the need arise. 

2. EXPAND THROUGH PROFITS

As your company grows, stay focus on your star products and services that have been proven to be profitable. When a particular line of products succeed, expand sales in that line rather than expanding other lines. With this in mind, it may consequently turn your operations and marketing be more cost-effective through the scale of production, thus maximizing your bottom line, so to speak.

3. ENHANCE YOUR INCOME  

Here, you can do so in a number of ways. First, you may look into the means to raise your prices or increase fees if it does not cause your customers to turn to others. Alternatively, you may explore adding complementary products or services that would fit naturally into your present product mix. The main key for doing so is to broaden your scope of the business without incurring disproportionate expenses.

4. REDUCE YOUR CASH OUTFLOW 

Another way you may look at is to preserve your capital by decelerating your cash outflow. Similarly, you may improve it in a number of ways. You may negotiate directly with your vendors for better payment term or sourcing for a relative cheaper alternate means. Review and enlarge your circle of vendors so as to obtain more favorable terms.

5. RATIONALISE YOUR OPERATIONS

To examine and improve each process of your business operation, with intention to improve productivity and efficiency. You may be surprised that you may save millions of dollars in term of pure wastage by way of fuel tankering concept for a fleet of vehicle the company has. At times, certain routine work or process, if shorten or reroute, may enhance productivity and time. Thus they directly contribute to your bottom line.

6. FORM A STRATEGIC PRODUCT ALLIANCE

This strategy is getting popular because of the circumstance that demand competitiveness. Therefore, it is, at times, viable to enter into a product alliance with another business partner, so as to enable you to sell to your existing customers with more competitive price. Similarly, your alliance partner is also able to pass such benefit to on to their customers as well. As a result, you are able to expand your product line without any additional costs associated with it. 

 In order to sustain such mutual benefits, you must ensure that both parties are end up with win-win situations.

7. STRATEGIC MARKETING ALLIANCE 

A marketing alliance is a joint effort between the allied parties to build awareness of the benefits their business products and/or services. In this manner, both parties may be able to gain access to multiple and wider services and also exchange customer bases. By doing so, your market will not only increase rapidly without spending much on promotional activities, but you may also increase your revenue from sales of your own products and services to your alliance partner's customers.

8.  THROUGH NON-DEBT FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS

Another source you can explore is through non-debt solutions to grow your business such as accounts receivable factoring, bankers' negotiable papers, equipment leasing or leaseback arrangement. Through factoring house, they buy over your company's accounts receivable and give you cash up front. They will collect your accounts receivable and gives you a certain percentage of their face value less a fee. If you are a retail merchant or trader, you may explore funding sources that will provide a cash advance for future credit card purchases.

9. BRANCHING OUT TO OTHER RELATED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

This is one way to broaden your product range, without incurring much marketing costs because these are related to your existing field. This strategy will save you on marketing and operations costs. Care must be taken so as to ensure that you are not tap into entirely different market segment from your existing services. This is important so that you will not spend tons of financial resources and time marketing this new product range.

10. WORK WITH ADVISERS

It is wise to seek help or guidance from the financial and business advisers as you grow your business. Get their help to map your strategies so as to enhance your bottom line. Note that streamlining operations and increasing the effectiveness of your marketing need to be addressed constantly as your business expands.

Hope you find it helpful to you. For more details, please contact me. You may reach me at jamesoh2003@yahoo.co.uk.

James Oh

To Achieve Your Dreams-Remember Your's A to Z (R)

Hi, Valued Readers and Visitors,

Do you believe that the most important wealth is lie inside you? For those who believe so, these series of posts as how to create wealth through A to Z will assist you to materailise your dream.

R

Read, study and learn about everything important in your life.

To create wealth, you must choose the latter and not the former. Do align to the above series thoughts.

Please put forward your view on this.

Stay tuned for next series. Look forward to seeing you again,

Wishing you success,

James Oh