📖 公司金融补充测试（10 题）

Corporate Finance

I. Lesson Focus

II. The Problem

A manufacturing firm must simultaneously evaluate multiple investment projects, determine its optimal capital structure, decide whether to pay dividends, design governance mechanisms to mitigate agency conflicts, and assess financial health through ratios. These decisions directly affect firm-value maximization. Relying on intuition or single metrics often leads to misallocation of capital, higher financing costs, or damage to shareholder interests. This lesson systematically reviews and reinforces core Corporate Finance concepts through 10 high-quality practice questions, enabling candidates to make fast and accurate judgments in exam-like situations.

III. Core Capital Budgeting Methods and Decision Rules

Capital budgeting is the foundational long-term investment decision tool in corporate finance. Its primary objective is to select projects that increase firm value.

Primary methods include: - Net Present Value (NPV): $NPV = \sum_{t=0}^{n} \frac{CF_t}{(1+r)^t}$ - Rule: Accept if NPV > 0; reject if NPV < 0; for mutually exclusive projects, choose the highest NPV. - Internal Rate of Return (IRR): The discount rate that makes NPV = 0. - Rule: Accept if IRR > required return (r). However, IRR suffers from multiple-IRR and reinvestment-rate assumption problems. - Payback Period: Ignores time value of money and favors quick-recovery projects; useful only as a supplement to NPV. - Profitability Index (PI): $PI = \frac{PV\ of\ future\ cash\ flows}{Initial\ investment}$ - Accept if PI > 1; especially useful under capital rationing.

Key reminder: When project cash flows change signs more than once, multiple IRRs may exist. NPV must then be the decisive criterion.

IV. Capital Structure Theories and Optimal Capital Structure

Capital structure determines the debt-to-equity mix and centers on balancing the tax shield benefit against costs of financial distress.

MM Propositions (no taxes): In perfect markets, capital structure is irrelevant to firm value (MM Proposition I).
MM Propositions (with taxes): $V_L = V_U + t_c \times D$; the interest tax shield increases firm value.
Trade-off Theory: Optimal debt occurs where marginal tax-shield benefit equals marginal cost of financial distress.
Pecking-Order Theory: Firms prefer internal funds, then debt, and finally equity.

Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC): $$WACC = w_d \times r_d \times (1 - t_c) + w_e \times r_e$$ The optimal capital structure minimizes WACC and thereby maximizes firm value.

V. Dividend Policy and Signaling

Dividend policy affects shareholder wealth and conveys information.

Major theories: - MM Dividend Irrelevance: In perfect markets, dividend policy does not affect firm value. - Tax Differential Theory: Because dividends are usually taxed more heavily than capital gains, firms should minimize dividend payouts. - Signaling Theory: An increase in dividends signals management confidence in future earnings. - Agency-cost Theory: Paying dividends reduces managers’ misuse of free cash flow.

Common payout methods: Cash dividends, stock dividends, and share repurchases. Share repurchases generally offer superior tax treatment compared with cash dividends.

VI. Corporate Governance and Agency Problems

Corporate governance aims to resolve conflicts of interest between shareholders and management (the agency problem).

Key mechanisms: - Board independence and oversight - Equity-based managerial compensation - Creditor monitoring - Threat of hostile takeover (market for corporate control) - Disclosure and transparency

CFA exams emphasize the effectiveness of independent directors, dual-class share structures, poison pills, and similar tools.

VII. Application of Financial Statement Analysis in Corporate Finance

DuPont analysis decomposes ROE: $$ROE = \frac{Net\ Income}{Sales} \times \frac{Sales}{Assets} \times \frac{Assets}{Equity}$$ = Profit Margin × Asset Turnover × Equity Multiplier

Other important ratios include: - Liquidity: Current ratio, quick ratio - Solvency: Interest coverage, debt-to-equity - Profitability: ROA, ROE, net profit margin

These ratios help determine whether the firm has sufficient financial flexibility to support its capital-budgeting decisions.

Worked Cases

Case 1: NPV vs IRR Conflict

A project requires an initial outlay of $1,000,000 with cash flows of –$500,000 in Year 1 and +$1,800,000 in Year 2. The required return is 10%.

NPV calculation:
$NPV = -1,000,000 + \frac{-500,000}{1.1} + \frac{1,800,000}{1.1^2} = -1,000,000 - 454,545 + 1,487,603 = +33,058 > 0$. Accept the project.

The IRR equation yields two roots (approximately –9.1% and 69.1%). Trap: Relying solely on IRR might lead to incorrect rejection; NPV remains the superior criterion.

Case 2: Optimal Capital Structure and WACC

An unlevered firm has $V_U = $50 million and a tax rate of 25%. It adds $20 million of debt at 6%; levered equity cost is 12%.

Levered firm value: $V_L = 50 + 0.25 \times 20 = 55$ million.
WACC = (20/55) × 6% × (1–0.25) + (35/55) × 12% ≈ 9.27%.
Compared with the previous 12% all-equity cost, WACC declines and firm value rises.

Case 3: Dividend Policy Signaling

Company A has maintained a 40% payout ratio for five years and suddenly raises it to 70% while announcing upward revisions to future earnings growth. The market typically interprets this as a positive signal, driving the stock price higher. Conversely, maintaining a high dividend during declining earnings may be viewed as management’s reluctance to cut dividends to hide problems—a negative signal.

Traps

Key Formulas

• $NPV = \sum \frac{CF_t}{(1+r)^t} - \text{Initial Outlay}$
• $WACC = w_d r_d (1-t) + w_e r_e$
• $V_L = V_U + t_c D$ (MM with taxes)
• $ROE = PM \times AT \times EM$ (DuPont)
• $PI = \frac{PV(\text{future cash flows})}{\text{Initial investment}}$
• Dividend payout ratio = $\frac{\text{Dividends}}{NI}$; retention ratio = 1 – payout ratio
• Sustainable growth rate = $ROE \times b$ (b = retention ratio)

Practice Questions

Q1. A project’s cash flows change sign twice. Which statement is correct?
A. There can be at most one IRR
B. Multiple IRRs are possible; NPV should be used preferentially
C. IRR is always greater than the discount rate implied by NPV
D. The payback period should be used for the decision

Q2. According to MM with corporate taxes, firm value is positively related to which factor?
A. Interest tax rate on debt
B. Corporate income tax rate
C. Cost of equity
D. Cost of financial distress

Q3. Which of the following most effectively reduces agency costs between shareholders and management?
A. Increasing fixed salary
B. Raising the proportion of independent directors
C. Lowering the dividend payout ratio
D. Adopting a dual-class share structure

Q4. A firm has ROE = 15%, profit margin = 5%, and asset turnover = 2. Its equity multiplier is closest to:
A. 1.5
B. 2.0
C. 1.0
D. 3.0

Q5. Under capital rationing, which metric should be maximized when selecting a combination of projects?
A. NPV
B. IRR
C. Profitability Index (PI)
D. Shortest payback period

Q6. According to the pecking-order theory, the financing hierarchy is:
A. Equity → debt → internal funds
B. Internal funds → debt → equity
C. Debt → equity → internal funds
D. Equity → internal funds → debt

Q7. A company announces it will replace cash dividends with a share repurchase program. The most likely signal is that:
A. Management believes the stock is severely overvalued
B. Management believes the stock is undervalued and has confidence
C. The firm’s cash flow is about to dry up
D. The firm’s tax burden will increase significantly

Q8. Which statement about WACC is correct?
A. WACC continuously declines as debt proportion rises
B. Optimal capital structure corresponds to the minimum WACC
C. WACC is unaffected by corporate income tax
D. WACC equals the simple average of equity and debt costs

Answers

Takeaways

• Capital budgeting decisions are driven first by NPV; IRR is supplementary and subordinate when conflicts arise
• Moderate debt increases firm value via the tax shield under MM with taxes, but must be balanced against financial-distress costs
• Dividend policy simultaneously conveys signals and affects agency costs; share repurchases are often tax-superior to cash dividends
• Corporate governance primarily reduces agency conflicts; independent directors and equity incentives are key tools
• DuPont analysis reveals the true drivers of ROE rather than focusing on the headline figure alone
• Minimizing WACC is the fundamental objective of capital-structure policy because it maximizes firm value