Several factors affect a firm's need for external funds. evaluate the effect of each following factor and place a check next to each factor that is likely to increase a firm's need for external capital-that is, its afn (additional funds needed). check all that apply. a. the firm improves its production system and increases its profit margin. b. the firm increases its dividend payout ratio. the firm switches its supplier for the majority of its raw materials. c. the new supplier offers less favorable credit terms and thus reduces the trade credit available to the firm, resulting in a reduction in accounts payable. accounts payable and accrued liabilities represent obligations that the firm must pay off. assuming everything else holds constant, if they increase, the firm's afn will

Afirm's before-tax cost of debt, rd, is the interest rate that the firm must pay on debt. because interest is tax deductible, the relevant cost of debt used to calculate a firm's wacc is the cost of debt, rd (1 – t). the cost of debt is used in calculating the wacc because we are interested in maximizing the value of the firm's stock, and the stock price depends on cash flows. it is important to emphasize that the cost of debt is the interest rate on debt, not debt because our primary concern with the cost of capital is its use in capital budgeting decisions. the rate at which the firm has borrowed in the past is because we need to know the cost of capital. for these reasons, the on outstanding debt (which reflects current market conditions) is a better measure of the cost of debt than the . the on the company's -term debt is generally used to calculate the cost of debt because more often than not, the capital is being raised to fund -term projects. quantitative problem: 5 years ago, barton industries issued 25-year noncallable, semiannual bonds with a $1,600 face value and a 8% coupon, semiannual payment ($64 payment every 6 months). the bonds currently sell for $845.87. if the firm's marginal tax rate is 40%, what is the firm's after-tax cost of debt? round your answer to 2 decimal places. do not round intermediate calcu

You are chairman of the board of a successful technology firm. there is a nominal federal corporate tax rate of 35 percent, yet the effective tax rate of the typical corporation is about 12.6%. your firm has been clever with use of transfer pricing and keeping money abroad and has barely paid any taxes over the last 5 years; during this same time period, profits were $28 billion. one member of the board feels that it is un-american to use various accounting strategies in order to avoid paying taxes. others feel that these are legal loopholes and corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to minimize taxes. one board member quoted what the ceo of exxon once said: “i’m not a u.s. company and i don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the u.s.” what are the alternatives? what are your recommendations? why do you recommend this course of action?

10. which of the following is true regarding preretirement inflation? a. defined-benefit plans provide more inflation protection than defined-contribution plans. b. because of preretirement inflation, possible investment-related growth is increased for defined-contribution plans. c. all types of benefits are designed to cope with preretirement inflation. d. preretirement inflation is generally reflected in the increase in an employee's compensation level over a working career.