equity
(noun)
Ownership, especially in terms of net monetary value, of a business.
(noun)
Ownership interest in a company, as determined by subtracting liabilities from assets.
Examples of equity in the following topics:
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The Statement of Equity
- The statement of equity explains the changes of the company's equity throughout the reporting period.
- The statement of equity (and similarly the equity statement, statement of owner's equity for a single proprietorship, statement of partner's equity for a partnership, and statement of retained earnings and stockholders' equity for a corporation) are basic financial statements.
- These statements explain the changes of the company's equity throughout the reporting period.
- The statements are expected by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and explain the owners' equity and retained earnings shown on the balance sheet, where: owners' equity = assets − liabilities.
- Retained earnings are part of the statement of changes in equity.
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Reporting Stockholders' Equity
- Equity (beginning of year) + net income − dividends +/− gain/loss from changes to the number of shares outstanding = Equity (end of year).
- A statement of shareholder's equity provides investors with information regarding the transactions that affected the stockholder's equity accounts during the period.
- For example, equity will decrease when machinery depreciates.
- Issue of new equity in which the firm obtains new capital and increases the total shareholders' equity.
- Equity (beginning of year) + net income − dividends +/− gain/loss from changes to the number of shares outstanding = Equity (end of year).
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ROE and Potential Limitations
- The total shareholder equity in the business is $50,000.
- What is the return on equity?
- Return on equity (ROE) measures the rate of return on the ownership interest or shareholders' equity of the common stock owners.
- Return on equity is equal to net income, after preferred stock dividends but before common stock dividends, divided by total shareholder equity and excluding preferred shares.
- ROE is equal to after-tax net income divided by total shareholder equity.
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Debt to Equity
- The debt-to-equity ratio (D/E) indicates the relative proportion of shareholder's equity and debt used to finance a company's assets.
- The debt-to-equity ratio (D/E) is a financial ratio indicating the relative proportion of shareholders' equity and debt used to finance a company's assets.
- Preferred stocks can be considered part of debt or equity.
- The formula of debt/equity ratio: D/E = Debt (liabilities) / equity.
- Identify the different methods of calculating the debt to equity ratio.
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The Cost of Common Equity
- The cost of equity is the return on equity that is required in order to compensate investors for the risk they undertake.
- The cost of equity is broadly defined as the risk-weighted projected return required by investors on a company's equity in order to compensate investors for the risk they undertake.
- The cost of equity can be estimated by comparing the investment to other investments with similar risk profiles.
- The CAPM shows that the cost of equity is equal to the risk free rate plus a premium expected for risk.
- There are other options for estimating the cost of equity outside of using the capital asset pricing model.
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Return on Common Equity
- Return on equity (ROE) measures how effective a company is at using its equity to generate income and is calculated by dividing net profit by total equity.
- ROE is the ratio of net income to equity.
- Equity is the amount of ownership interest in the company, and is commonly referred to as shareholders' equity, shareholders' funds, or shareholders' capital.
- The return on equity is a ratio of net income to equity.
- It is a measure of how effective the equity is at generating income.
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The Cost of New Common Stock
- The cost of new common stock is determined by adding flotation costs to the cost of current equity.
- The cost of new equity is 15.3%.
- If a company plans to issue new common equity, or external equity, in order to finance a new project, the cost of that equity must be calculated and factored into the weighted average cost of capital to be used during the evaluation process.
- The cost of external equity is higher than the cost of existing equity, or retained earnings.
- We can determine how much higher the cost of external equity will be by factoring in flotation cost.
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Liabilities and Equity
- The balance sheet contains details on company liabilities and owner's equity.
- If liability exceeds assets, negative equity exists.
- In financial accounting, owner's equity consists of the net assets of an entity.
- Equity appears on the balance sheet, one of the four primary financial statements.
- Equity (end of year balance) = Equity (beginning of year balance) +/- changes to common or preferred stock and capital surplus +/- net income/loss (net profit/loss earned during the period) − dividends.
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Trade-Off Consideration
- Trade-off considerations are important because they take into account the cost and benefits of raising capital through debt or equity.
- An important purpose of the theory is to explain the fact that corporations are usually financed partly with debt and partly with equity.
- Therefore, a firm that is optimizing its overall value will focus on this trade-off when choosing how much debt and equity to use for financing.
- Combine that with the fact that issuing new equity is often seen as a negative signal by market investors, which can decrease value and returns.
- Describe the balancing act between debt and equity for a company as described by the "trade-off" theory
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Components of the Balance Sheet
- The balance sheet relationship is expressed as; Assets = Liabilities + Equity.
- The balance sheet contains statements of assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity.
- As a company's assets grow, its liabilities and/or equity also tends to grow in order for its financial position to stay in balance.
- How assets are supported, or financed, by a corresponding growth in payables, debt liabilities, and equity reveals a lot about a company's financial health.
- Differentiate between the three balance sheet accounts of asset, liability and shareholder's equity