Fight Finance

Question 301  leverage, capital structure, real estate

Your friend just bought a house for $1,000,000. He financed it using a $900,000 mortgage loan and a deposit of $100,000.

In the context of residential housing and mortgages, the 'equity' or 'net wealth' tied up in a house is the value of the house less the value of the mortgage loan. Assuming that your friend's only asset is his house, his net wealth is $100,000.

If house prices suddenly fall by 15%, what would be your friend's percentage change in net wealth?

Assume that:

• No income (rent) was received from the house during the short time over which house prices fell.
• Your friend will not declare bankruptcy, he will always pay off his debts.

(a) -1,000%

(b) -150%

(c) -100%

(d) -15%

(e) -10%

Question 507  leverage, accounting ratio

A firm has a debt-to-equity ratio of 60%. What is its debt-to-assets ratio?

(a) 64%

(b) 40%

(c) 37.5%

(d) 25%

(e) 6.25%

Question 94  leverage, capital structure, real estate

Your friend just bought a house for $400,000. He financed it using a $320,000 mortgage loan and a deposit of $80,000.

In the context of residential housing and mortgages, the 'equity' tied up in the value of a person's house is the value of the house less the value of the mortgage. So the initial equity your friend has in his house is $80,000. Let this amount be E, let the value of the mortgage be D and the value of the house be V. So ##V=D+E##.

If house prices suddenly fall by 10%, what would be your friend's percentage change in equity (E)? Assume that the value of the mortgage is unchanged and that no income (rent) was received from the house during the short time over which house prices fell.

Remember:

### r_{0\rightarrow1}=\frac{p_1-p_0+c_1}{p_0} ###

where ##r_{0-1}## is the return (percentage change) of an asset with price ##p_0## initially, ##p_1## one period later, and paying a cash flow of ##c_1## at time ##t=1##.

(a) -100%

(b) -50%

(c) -12.5%

(d) -10%

(e) -8%

Question 408  leverage, portfolio beta, portfolio risk, real estate, CAPM

You just bought a house worth $1,000,000. You financed it with an $800,000 mortgage loan and a deposit of $200,000.

You estimate that:

• The house has a beta of 1;
• The mortgage loan has a beta of 0.2.

What is the beta of the equity (the $200,000 deposit) that you have in your house?

Also, if the risk free rate is 5% pa and the market portfolio's return is 10% pa, what is the expected return on equity in your house? Ignore taxes, assume that all cash flows (interest payments and rent) were paid and received at the end of the year, and all rates are effective annual rates.

(a) The beta of equity is 5 and the expected return on equity is 30% pa.

(b) The beta of equity is 4.2 and the expected return on equity is 26% pa.

(c) The beta of equity is 0.86 and the expected return on equity is 9.3% pa.

(d) The beta of equity is 1 and the expected return on equity is 10% pa.

(e) The beta of equity is 0.6 and the expected return on equity is 8% pa.

Question 800  leverage, portfolio return, risk, portfolio risk, capital structure, no explanation

Which of the following assets would you expect to have the highest required rate of return? All values are current market values.

(a) $1000 of Australian federal government bonds.

(b) $2 million of Australian federal government bonds.

(c) A $1 million residential house asset.

(d) A home loan secured on a $1 million residential house asset with an LVR of 80%.

(e) Equity (the deposit) in a $1 million residential house asset with an LVR of 80%.

Question 506  leverage, accounting ratio

A firm has a debt-to-equity ratio of 25%. What is its debt-to-assets ratio?

(a) 20%

(b) 36%

(c) 60%

(d) 75%

(e) 93.75%

Question 663  leverage, accounting ratio

A firm has a debt-to-assets ratio of 20%. What is its debt-to-equity ratio?

(a) 20%

(b) 25%

(c) 60%

(d) 75%

(e) 80%

Question 88  WACC, CAPM

A firm can issue 3 year annual coupon bonds at a yield of 10% pa and a coupon rate of 8% pa.

The beta of its levered equity is 2. The market's expected return is 10% pa and 3 year government bonds yield 6% pa with a coupon rate of 4% pa.

The market value of equity is $1 million and the market value of debt is $1 million. The corporate tax rate is 30%.

What is the firm's after-tax WACC? Assume a classical tax system.

(a) 8.40%

(b) 10.50%

(c) 10.80%

(d) 12.00%

(e) 21.00%

Question 117  WACC

A firm can issue 5 year annual coupon bonds at a yield of 8% pa and a coupon rate of 12% pa.

The beta of its levered equity is 1. Five year government bonds yield 5% pa with a coupon rate of 6% pa. The market's expected dividend return is 4% pa and its expected capital return is 6% pa.

The firm's debt-to-equity ratio is 2:1. The corporate tax rate is 30%.

What is the firm's after-tax WACC? Assume a classical tax system.

(a) 9.47%

(b) 8.93%

(c) 8.53%

(d) 7.80%

(e) 7.07%

Question 67  CFFA, interest tax shield

Here are the Net Income (NI) and Cash Flow From Assets (CFFA) equations:

###NI=(Rev-COGS-FC-Depr-IntExp).(1-t_c)###

###CFFA=NI+Depr-CapEx - \varDelta NWC+IntExp###

What is the formula for calculating annual interest expense (IntExp) which is used in the equations above?

Select one of the following answers. Note that D is the value of debt which is constant through time, and ##r_D## is the cost of debt.

(a) ##D(1+r_D)##

(b) ##D/(1+r_D) ##

(c) ##D.r_D ##

(d) ##D / r_D##

(e) ##NI.r_D##

Question 77  interest tax shield

The equations for Net Income (NI, also known as Earnings or Net Profit After Tax) and Cash Flow From Assets (CFFA, also known as Free Cash Flow to the Firm) per year are:

###NI=(Rev-COGS-FC-Depr-IntExp).(1-t_c)###

###CFFA=NI+Depr-CapEx - \varDelta NWC+IntExp###

For a firm with debt, what is the amount of the interest tax shield per year?

(a) ##IntExp.t_c##

(b) ##IntExp/t_c##

(c) ##IntExp.(1-t_c)##

(d) ##IntExp/(1-t_c)##

(e) ##IntExp.(t_c-1)##

Question 95  interest tax shield

The equations for Net Income (NI, also known as Earnings or Net Profit After Tax) and Cash Flow From Assets (CFFA, also known as Free Cash Flow to the Firm) per year are:

###NI=(Rev-COGS-FC-Depr-IntExp).(1-t_c)###

###CFFA=NI+Depr-CapEx - \varDelta NWC+IntExp###

For a firm with debt, what is the formula for the present value of interest tax shields if the tax shields occur in perpetuity?

You may assume:

• the value of debt (D) is constant through time,
• The cost of debt and the yield on debt are equal and given by ##r_D##.
• the appropriate rate to discount interest tax shields is ##r_D##.
• ##\text{IntExp}=D.r_D##

(a) ##D.t_c##

(b) ##D.r_D/t_c ##

(c) ##D.r_D.(1-t_c)##

(d) ##D.r_D/(1-t_c)##

(e) ##D.r_D.(t_c-1)##

Question 206  CFFA, interest expense, interest tax shield

Interest expense (IntExp) is an important part of a company's income statement (or 'profit and loss' or 'statement of financial performance').

How does an accountant calculate the annual interest expense of a fixed-coupon bond that has a liquid secondary market? Select the most correct answer:

Annual interest expense is equal to:

(a) the bond's face value multiplied by its annual yield to maturity.

(b) the bond's face value multiplied by its annual coupon rate.

(c) the bond's market price at the start of the year multiplied by its annual yield to maturity.

(d) the bond's market price at the start of the year multiplied by its annual coupon rate.

(e) the future value of the actual cash payments of the bond over the year, grown to the end of the year, and grown by the bond's yield to maturity.

Question 240  negative gearing, interest tax shield

Unrestricted negative gearing is allowed in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Negative gearing laws allow income losses on investment properties to be deducted from a tax-payer's pre-tax personal income. Negatively geared investors benefit from this tax advantage. They also hope to benefit from capital gains which exceed the income losses.

For example, a property investor buys an apartment funded by an interest only mortgage loan. Interest expense is $2,000 per month. The rental payments received from the tenant living on the property are $1,500 per month. The investor can deduct this income loss of $500 per month from his pre-tax personal income. If his personal marginal tax rate is 46.5%, this saves $232.5 per month in personal income tax.

The advantage of negative gearing is an example of the benefits of:

(a) Diversification.

(b) The time value of money.

(c) Interest tax shields.

(d) Depreciation tax shields.

(e) A 'buy and hold' investment strategy.

Question 296  CFFA, interest tax shield

Which one of the following will decrease net income (NI) but increase cash flow from assets (CFFA) in this year for a tax-paying firm, all else remaining constant?

Remember:

###NI=(Rev-COGS-FC-Depr-IntExp).(1-t_c )### ###CFFA=NI+Depr-CapEx - ΔNWC+IntExp###

(a) An increase in revenue (##Rev##).

(b) An decrease in revenue (##Rev##).

(c) An increase in rent expense (part of fixed costs, ##FC##).

(d) An increase in interest expense (##IntExp##).

(e) An increase in dividends.

Question 766  CFFA, WACC, interest tax shield, DDM

Use the below information to value a levered company with constant annual perpetual cash flows from assets. The next cash flow will be generated in one year from now, so a perpetuity can be used to value this firm. Both the operating and firm free cash flows are constant (but not equal to each other).

Data on a Levered Firm with Perpetual Cash Flows
Item abbreviation	Value	Item full name
##\text{OFCF}##	$100m	Operating free cash flow
##\text{FFCF or CFFA}##	$112m	Firm free cash flow or cash flow from assets (includes interest tax shields)
##g##	0% pa	Growth rate of OFCF and FFCF
##\text{WACC}_\text{BeforeTax}##	7% pa	Weighted average cost of capital before tax
##\text{WACC}_\text{AfterTax}##	6.25% pa	Weighted average cost of capital after tax
##r_\text{D}##	5% pa	Cost of debt
##r_\text{EL}##	9% pa	Cost of levered equity
##D/V_L##	50% pa	Debt to assets ratio, where the asset value includes tax shields
##t_c##	30%	Corporate tax rate

 

What is the value of the levered firm including interest tax shields?

(a) $431.111m

(b) $444.444m

(c) $485m

(d) $515.464m

(e) $1600m

Question 773  CFFA, WACC, interest tax shield, DDM

Use the below information to value a levered company with constant annual perpetual cash flows from assets. The next cash flow will be generated in one year from now, so a perpetuity can be used to value this firm. Both the operating and firm free cash flows are constant (but not equal to each other).

Data on a Levered Firm with Perpetual Cash Flows
Item abbreviation	Value	Item full name
##\text{OFCF}##	$48.5m	Operating free cash flow
##\text{FFCF or CFFA}##	$50m	Firm free cash flow or cash flow from assets
##g##	0% pa	Growth rate of OFCF and FFCF
##\text{WACC}_\text{BeforeTax}##	10% pa	Weighted average cost of capital before tax
##\text{WACC}_\text{AfterTax}##	9.7% pa	Weighted average cost of capital after tax
##r_\text{D}##	5% pa	Cost of debt
##r_\text{EL}##	11.25% pa	Cost of levered equity
##D/V_L##	20% pa	Debt to assets ratio, where the asset value includes tax shields
##t_c##	30%	Corporate tax rate

 

What is the value of the levered firm including interest tax shields?

(a) $515.464m

(b) $500m

(c) $485m

(d) $444.444m

(e) $431.111m

Question 804  CFFA, WACC, interest tax shield, DDM

Use the below information to value a levered company with annual perpetual cash flows from assets that grow. The next cash flow will be generated in one year from now. Note that ‘k’ means kilo or 1,000. So the $30k is $30,000.

Data on a Levered Firm with Perpetual Cash Flows
Item abbreviation	Value	Item full name
##\text{OFCF}##	$30k	Operating free cash flow
##g##	1.5% pa	Growth rate of OFCF
##r_\text{D}##	4% pa	Cost of debt
##r_\text{EL}##	16.3% pa	Cost of levered equity
##D/V_L##	80% pa	Debt to assets ratio, where the asset value includes tax shields
##t_c##	30%	Corporate tax rate
##n_\text{shares}##	100k	Number of shares

 

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) The WACC before tax is 6.46% pa.

(b) The WACC after tax is 5.50% pa.

(c) The current levered asset value including tax shields is $603.839k.

(d) The current debt value is $600k and the interest tax shield benefit over the first year is $7.2k (at t=1).

(e) The current share price is $1.50.

Question 772  interest tax shield, capital structure, leverage

A firm issues debt and uses the funds to buy back equity. Assume that there are no costs of financial distress or transactions costs. Which of the following statements about interest tax shields is NOT correct?

(a) Higher debt leads to higher interest expense.

(b) Higher interest expense leads to lower profit before tax, following on from above.

(c) Lower profit before tax leads to lower tax payments, following on from above.

(d) Lower tax payments lead to higher cash flow from assets, following on from above.

(e) Lower profit after tax leads to a lower share price, following on from above.

Question 86  CAPM

Treasury bonds currently have a return of 5% pa. A stock has a beta of 0.5 and the market return is 10% pa. What is the expected return of the stock?

(a) 5% pa

(b) 7.5% pa

(c) 10% pa

(d) 12.5% pa

(e) 20% pa

Question 232  CAPM, DDM

A stock has a beta of 0.5. Its next dividend is expected to be $3, paid one year from now. Dividends are expected to be paid annually and grow by 2% pa forever. Treasury bonds yield 5% pa and the market portfolio's expected return is 10% pa. All returns are effective annual rates.

What is the price of the stock now?

(a) $55.6364

(b) $54.5455

(c) $40.8

(d) $40

(e) $37.5

Question 90  CAPM, risk

According to the theory of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), total variance can be broken into two components, systematic variance and idiosyncratic variance. Which of the following events would be considered the most diversifiable according to the theory of the CAPM?

(a) Global economic recession.

(b) A major terrorist attack, grounding all commercial aircraft in the US and Europe.

(c) An increase in corporate tax rates.

(d) The outbreak of world war.

(e) A company's poor earnings announcement.

Question 617  systematic and idiosyncratic risk, risk, CAPM

A stock's required total return will increase when its:

(a) Systematic risk increases.

(b) Idiosyncratic risk increases.

(c) Total risk increases.

(d) Systematic risk decreases.

(e) Idiosyncratic risk decreases.

Question 672  CAPM, beta

A stock has a beta of 1.5. The market's expected total return is 10% pa and the risk free rate is 5% pa, both given as effective annual rates.

What do you think will be the stock's expected return over the next year, given as an effective annual rate?

(a) 5% pa

(b) 7.5% pa

(c) 10% pa

(d) 12.5% pa

(e) 20% pa

Question 673  CAPM, beta, expected and historical returns

A stock has a beta of 1.5. The market's expected total return is 10% pa and the risk free rate is 5% pa, both given as effective annual rates.

In the last 5 minutes, bad economic news was released showing a higher chance of recession. Over this time the share market fell by 1%. The risk free rate was unchanged.

What do you think was the stock's historical return over the last 5 minutes, given as an effective 5 minute rate?

(a) -12.5%

(b) -4%

(c) -1.5%

(d) -1%

(e) 12.5%

Question 80  CAPM, risk, diversification

Diversification is achieved by investing in a large amount of stocks. What type of risk is reduced by diversification?

(a) Idiosyncratic risk.

(b) Systematic risk.

(c) Both idiosyncratic and systematic risk.

(d) Market risk.

(e) Beta risk.

Question 657  systematic and idiosyncratic risk, CAPM, no explanation

A stock's required total return will decrease when its:

(a) Systematic risk increases.

(b) Idiosyncratic risk increases.

(c) Total risk increases.

(d) Systematic risk decreases.

(e) Idiosyncratic risk decreases.

Question 326  CAPM

A fairly priced stock has an expected return equal to the market's. Treasury bonds yield 5% pa and the market portfolio's expected return is 10% pa. What is the stock's beta?

(a) 0

(b) 0.5

(c) 1

(d) 1.5

(e) 2

Question 778  CML, systematic and idiosyncratic risk, portfolio risk, CAPM

The capital market line (CML) is shown in the graph below. The total standard deviation is denoted by σ and the expected return is μ. Assume that markets are efficient so all assets are fairly priced.

Which of the below statements is NOT correct?

(a) The risk free security has zero systematic variance and zero idiosyncratic variance.

(b) The market portfolio has zero idiosyncratic variance.

(c) Any portfolio comprised of the market portfolio and risk free security has zero idiosyncratic variance.

(d) Portfolios that plot on the CML must only be comprised of the risk free security and the market portfolio.

(e) Portfolios that plot on the CML have some idiosyncratic variance and some systematic variance.

Question 809  Markowitz portfolio theory, CAPM, Jensens alpha, CML, systematic and idiosyncratic risk

A graph of assets’ expected returns ##(\mu)## versus standard deviations ##(\sigma)## is given in the graph below. The CML is the capital market line.

Which of the following statements about this graph, Markowitz portfolio theory and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) theory is NOT correct?

(a) The market portfolio M has systematic risk only. It’s a fully diversified portfolio comprised of all individual risky assets. The market portfolio is usually assumed to be the equity index, such as the ASX200 in Australia or the S&P500 in the US.

(b) The risk free security has no risk at all. Government bonds are usually assumed to be the risk-free security.

(c) Portfolio combinations of the market portfolio and risk free security will plot on the CML and will have systematic risk only. They will have no diversifiable risk.

(d) The portfolios on the CML with a return above ##r_f## have maximum return for any given level of risk.

(e) The individual assets and portfolios with returns less than the risk free rate are over-priced, have a negative Jensen’s alpha and should be sold.

Question 810  CAPM, systematic and idiosyncratic risk, market efficiency

Examine the graphs below. Assume that asset A is a single stock. Which of the following statements is NOT correct? Asset A:

(a) Has a beta of 0.5.

(b) Is fairly priced.

(c) Has systematic standard deviation equal to 10% pa.

(d) Has diversifiable standard deviation equal to 20% pa.

(e) Has total standard deviation equal to 40% pa.

Question 244  CAPM, SML, NPV, risk

Examine the following graph which shows stocks' betas ##(\beta)## and expected returns ##(\mu)##:

Assume that the CAPM holds and that future expectations of stocks' returns and betas are correctly measured. Which statement is NOT correct?

(a) Asset A is underpriced.

(b) Asset B has a negative alpha (a negative excess return or abnormal return).

(c) Buying asset C would be a positive NPV investment.

(d) Asset D has less systematic variance than the market portfolio (M).

(e) Asset E is fairly priced.

Question 235  SML, NPV, CAPM, risk

The security market line (SML) shows the relationship between beta and expected return.

Investment projects that plot on the SML would have:

(a) A positive NPV and should be accepted.

(b) A zero NPV.

(c) A negative NPV and should be rejected.

(d) A large amount of diversifiable risk.

(e) Zero diversifiable risk.

Question 110  CAPM, SML, NPV

The security market line (SML) shows the relationship between beta and expected return.

Buying investment projects that plot above the SML would lead to:

(a) A positive NPV.

(b) A zero NPV.

(c) A negative NPV.

(d) A large amount of diversifiable risk.

(e) Zero diversifiable risk.

Question 71  CAPM, risk

Stock A has a beta of 0.5 and stock B has a beta of 1. Which statement is NOT correct?

(a) Stock A has less systematic risk than stock B, so stock A's return should be less than stock B's.

(b) Stock B has the same systematic risk as the market, so its return should be the same as the market's.

(c) Stock B has the same beta as the market, so it also has the same total risk as the market.

(d) If stock A and B were combined in a portfolio with weights of 50% each, the beta of the portfolio would be 0.75.

(e) Stocks A and B have more systematic risk than the risk free security (government bonds) so their return should be greater than the risk free rate.

Question 79  CAPM, risk

Which statement is the most correct?

(a) The risk free rate has zero systematic risk and zero idiosyncratic risk.

(b) The market portfolio has zero idiosyncratic risk.

(c) The market portfolio has zero systematic risk.

(d) a and b are true.

(e) a and c are true.

Question 627  CAPM, SML, NPV, Jensens alpha

Assets A, B, M and ##r_f## are shown on the graphs above. Asset M is the market portfolio and ##r_f## is the risk free yield on government bonds. Which of the below statements is NOT correct?

(a) Asset A has a Jensen's alpha of 4.5% pa.

(b) Asset A is under-priced.

(c) The NPV of buying asset A is zero.

(d) Asset B has a Jensen's alpha of zero.

(e) Asset B is fairly priced.

Question 628  CAPM, SML, risk

Assets A, B, M and ##r_f## are shown on the graphs above. Asset M is the market portfolio and ##r_f## is the risk free yield on government bonds. Assume that investors can borrow and lend at the risk free rate. Which of the below statements is NOT correct?

(a) Asset A has the same systematic risk as asset B.

(b) Asset A has more total variance than asset B.

(c) Asset B has zero idiosyncratic risk. Asset B must be a portfolio of half the market portfolio and half government bonds.

(d) If risk-averse investors were forced to invest all of their wealth in a single risky asset, so they could not diversify, every investor would logically choose asset A over the other three assets.

(e) Assets M and B have the highest Sharpe ratios, which is defined as the gradient of the capital allocation line (CAL) from the government bonds through the asset on the graph of expected return versus total standard deviation.

Question 443  corporate financial decision theory, investment decision, financing decision, working capital decision, payout policy

Business people make lots of important decisions. Which of the following is the most important long term decision?

(a) Investment decision.

(b) Financing decision.

(c) Working capital decision.

(d) Payout policy decision.

(e) Capital or labour decision.

Question 444  investment decision, corporate financial decision theory

The investment decision primarily affects which part of a business?

(a) Assets.

(b) Liabilities and owner's equity.

(c) Current assets and current liabilities.

(d) Dividends and buy backs.

(e) Net income, also known as earnings or net profit after tax.

Question 445  financing decision, corporate financial decision theory

The financing decision primarily affects which part of a business?

(a) Assets.

(b) Liabilities and owner's equity.

(c) Current assets and current liabilities.

(d) Dividends and buy backs.

(e) Net income, also known as earnings or net profit after tax.

Question 446  working capital decision, corporate financial decision theory

The working capital decision primarily affects which part of a business?

(a) Assets.

(b) Liabilities and owner's equity.

(c) Current assets and current liabilities.

(d) Dividends and buy backs.

(e) Net income, also known as earnings or net profit after tax.

Question 447  payout policy, corporate financial decision theory

Payout policy is most closely related to which part of a business?

(a) Assets.

(b) Liabilities and owner's equity.

(c) Current assets and current liabilities.

(d) Dividends and buy backs.

(e) Net income, also known as earnings or net profit after tax.

Question 514  corporate financial decision theory, idiom

The expression 'cash is king' emphasizes the importance of having enough cash to pay your short term debts to avoid bankruptcy. Which business decision is this expression most closely related to?

(a) Investment decision.

(b) Financing decision.

(c) Working capital decision.

(d) Payout policy decision.

(e) Capital or labour decision.

Question 515  corporate financial decision theory, idiom

The expression 'you have to spend money to make money' relates to which business decision?

(a) Investment decision.

(b) Financing decision.

(c) Working capital decision.

(d) Payout policy decision.

(e) Diversification decision.

Question 516  corporate financial decision theory

Which of the following decisions relates to the current assets and current liabilities of the firm?

(a) Investment decision.

(b) Financing decision.

(c) Working capital decision.

(d) Payout policy decision.

(e) Capital or labour decision.

Question 524  risk, expected and historical returns, bankruptcy or insolvency, capital structure, corporate financial decision theory, limited liability

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) Stocks are higher risk investments than debt.

(b) Stocks have higher expected returns than debt.

(c) Firms' past realised stock returns are always higher than their past realised debt returns.

(d) In the event of bankruptcy, stock holders are paid after debt holders are fully paid.

(e) Stock holders have a residual claim on the firm's assets.

Question 767  idiom, corporate financial decision theory, no explanation

The sayings "Don't cry over spilt milk", "Don't regret the things that you can't change" and "What's done is done" are most closely related to which financial concept?

(a) Competition.

(b) Opportunity costs.

(c) Separation of the investment and financing decisions.

(d) Diversification.

(e) Sunk costs.

Question 982  corporate financial decision theory, Lintner

In his survey paper from 1956, John Lintner stated: “A prudent foresighted management will always do its best to plan ahead in all aspects of financial policy to avoid getting into such uncomfortable situations where dividends have to be cut substantially below those which the company's previous practice would lead stockholders to expect on the basis of current earnings.”

This is a statement about which decision made by financial managers?

(a) Investment decision.

(b) Financing decision.

(c) Working capital decision.

(d) Payout policy decision.

(e) Capital or labour decision.

Question 983  corporate financial decision theory, DuPont formula, accounting ratio

A company manager is thinking about the firm's book assets-to-equity ratio, also called the 'equity multiplier' in the DuPont formula:

###\text{Equity multiplier} = \dfrac{\text{Total Assets}}{\text{Owners' Equity}}###

What's the name of the decision that the manager is thinking about? In other words, the assets-to-equity ratio is the main subject of what decision?

(a) Investment decision.

(b) Financing decision.

(c) Working capital decision.

(d) Payout policy decision.

(e) Capital or labour decision.

Note: DuPont formula for analysing book return on equity:

###\begin{aligned} \text{ROE} &= \dfrac{\text{Net Profit}}{\text{Sales}} \times \dfrac{\text{Sales}}{\text{Total Assets}} \times \dfrac{\text{Total Assets}}{\text{Owners' Equity}} \\ &= \text{Net profit margin} \times \text{Total asset turnover} \times \text{Equity multiplier} \\ \end{aligned}###

Question 941  negative gearing, leverage, capital structure, interest tax shield, real estate

Last year, two friends Lev and Nolev each bought similar investment properties for $1 million. Both earned net rents of $30,000 pa over the past year. They funded their purchases in different ways:

• Lev used $200,000 of his own money and borrowed $800,000 from the bank in the form of an interest-only loan with an interest rate of 5% pa.
• Nolev used $1,000,000 of his own money, he has no mortgage loan on his property.

Both Lev and Nolev also work in high-paying jobs and are subject personal marginal tax rates of 45%.

Which of the below statements about the past year is NOT correct?

(a) Lev’s annual interest expense would have been $40,000.

(b) Lev’s annual loss before tax on the investment property was $10,000

(c) Lev’s annual loss after tax on the investment property was $5,500

(d) Lev’s personal tax saving due to the investment property was $5,500.

(e) Nolev’s personal tax payable due to the investment property was $13,500.

Question 1  NPV

Jan asks you for a loan. He wants $100 now and offers to pay you back $120 in 1 year. You can borrow and lend from the bank at an interest rate of 10% pa, given as an effective annual rate.

Ignore credit risk. Remember:

### V_0 = \frac{V_t}{(1+r_\text{eff})^t} ###

Will you or Jan's deal?

Question 2  NPV, Annuity

Katya offers to pay you $10 at the end of every year for the next 5 years (t=1,2,3,4,5) if you pay her $50 now (t=0). You can borrow and lend from the bank at an interest rate of 10% pa, given as an effective annual rate. Ignore credit risk.

Will you or politely Katya's deal?

Question 9  DDM, NPV

For a price of $129, Joanne will sell you a share which is expected to pay a $30 dividend in one year, and a $10 dividend every year after that forever. So the stock's dividends will be $30 at t=1, $10 at t=2, $10 at t=3, and $10 forever onwards.

The required return of the stock is 10% pa.

Would you like to the share or politely ?

Question 44  NPV

The required return of a project is 10%, given as an effective annual rate. Assume that the cash flows shown in the table are paid all at once at the given point in time.

What is the Net Present Value (NPV) of the project?

Project Cash Flows
Time (yrs)	Cash flow ($)
0	-100
1	0
2	121

(a) -100

(b) 0

(c) 10

(d) 21

(e) 121

Question 59  NPV

The required return of a project is 10%, given as an effective annual rate. Assume that the cash flows shown in the table are paid all at once at the given point in time.

What is the Net Present Value (NPV) of the project?

Project Cash Flows
Time (yrs)	Cash flow ($)
0	-100
1	11
2	121

(a) -100

(b) 0

(c) 10

(d) 21

(e) 132

Question 140  IRR, NPV, profitability index

A project has an internal rate of return (IRR) which is greater than its required return. Select the most correct statement.

(a) The NPV will be negative and the profitability index will be less than 1.

(b) The NPV will be positive and the profitability index will be more than 1.

(c) The payback period will be positive and the Accounting Rate of Return will be more than the target return.

(d) The NPV will be positive and the profitability index will be negative.

(e) The NPV will be negative and the profitability index will be positive.

Question 167  NPV, IRR

A project's net present value (NPV) is negative. Select the most correct statement.

(a) The project should be accepted.

(b) The project's IRR is less than its required return.

(c) The project's IRR is more than its required return.

(d) The project's IRR is equal to its required return.

(e) The project is under-priced.

Question 37  IRR

If a project's net present value (NPV) is zero, then its internal rate of return (IRR) will be:

(a) Positive infinity (##+\infty##)

(b) Zero (0).

(c) Less than the project's required return.

(d) More than the project's required return.

(e) Equal to the project's required return.

Question 182  NPV, IRR, pay back period

A project's NPV is positive. Select the most correct statement:

(a) The project should be rejected.

(b) The project's IRR is more than its required return.

(c) The project's IRR is less than its required return.

(d) The project's IRR is equal to its required return.

(e) The project will never pay itself off, assuming that the discount rate is positive.

Question 189  IRR

A project has the following cash flows:

Project Cash Flows
Time (yrs)	Cash flow ($)
0	-400
1	0
2	500

The required return on the project is 10%, given as an effective annual rate.

What is the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of this project? The following choices are effective annual rates. Assume that the cash flows shown in the table are paid all at once at the given point in time.

(a) 0.2500

(b) 0.2000

(c) 0.1180

(d) 0.1000

(e) 0.1056

Question 191  NPV, IRR, profitability index, pay back period

A project's Profitability Index (PI) is less than 1. Select the most correct statement:

(a) The project should be rejected.

(b) The project's IRR is more than its required return.

(c) The project's payback period will be less than 3 years.

(d) The project's IRR is equal to its required return.

(e) The project's NPV is greater than 1.

Question 218  NPV, IRR, profitability index, average accounting return

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) If a project has a positive NPV, its Profitability Index (PI) will be more than 1.

(b) If a project has a negative NPV and the discount rate is zero, then the payback period will be infinite so the project will never pay back its costs.

(c) If a project's NPV is zero, then the PI must be 1.

(d) If a project has a negative NPV, its IRR will be negative.

(e) If a project has a positive NPV, its Average Accounting Return (AAR) is not necessarily positive, it could be positive, negative or zero.

Question 752  IRR, NPV

All other things remaining equal, a project is worse if its:

(a) IRR is lower.

(b) Discount rate is lower.

(c) NPV is higher.

(d) Positive cash flows occur sooner.

(e) Negative cash flows occur later.

Question 48  IRR, NPV, bond pricing, premium par and discount bonds, market efficiency

The theory of fixed interest bond pricing is an application of the theory of Net Present Value (NPV). Also, a 'fairly priced' asset is not over- or under-priced. Buying or selling a fairly priced asset has an NPV of zero.

Considering this, which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) The internal rate of return (IRR) of buying a fairly priced bond is equal to the bond's yield.

(b) The Present Value of a fairly priced bond's coupons and face value is equal to its price.

(c) If a fairly priced bond's required return rises, its price will fall.

(d) Fairly priced premium bonds' yields are less than their coupon rates, prices are more than their face values, and the NPV of buying them is therefore positive.

(e) The NPV of buying a fairly priced bond is zero.

Question 52  IRR, pay back period

A three year project's NPV is negative. The cash flows of the project include a negative cash flow at the very start and positive cash flows over its short life. The required return of the project is 10% pa. Select the most correct statement.

(a) The payback period is negative.

(b) The project's IRR is negative.

(c) The project's IRR is less than its required return.

(d) The project's IRR is more than its required return.

(e) The project's IRR is equal to its required return.

Question 126  IRR

What is the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of the project detailed in the table below?

Assume that the cash flows shown in the table are paid all at once at the given point in time. All answers are given as effective annual rates.

Project Cash Flows
Time (yrs)	Cash flow ($)
0	-100
1	0
2	121

(a) 0.21

(b) 0.105

(c) 0.1111

(d) 0.1

(e) 0

Question 489  NPV, IRR, pay back period, DDM

A firm is considering a business project which costs $11m now and is expected to pay a constant $1m at the end of every year forever.

Assume that the initial $11m cost is funded using the firm's existing cash so no new equity or debt will be raised. The cost of capital is 10% pa.

Which of the following statements about net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period is NOT correct?

(a) The NPV is negative $1m.

(b) The IRR is 9.09% pa, less than the 10% cost of capital.

(c) The payback period is infinite, the project will never pay itself off.

(d) The project should be rejected.

(e) If the project is accepted then the market value of the firm's assets will fall by $1m.

Question 500  NPV, IRR

The below graph shows a project's net present value (NPV) against its annual discount rate.

For what discount rate or range of discount rates would you accept and commence the project?

All answer choices are given as approximations from reading off the graph.

(a) From 0 to 10% pa.

(b) From 0 to 5% pa.

(c) At 5.5% pa.

(d) From 6 to 20% pa.

(e) From 0 to 20% pa.

Question 501  NPV, IRR, pay back period

The below graph shows a project's net present value (NPV) against its annual discount rate.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) When the project's discount rate is 18% pa, the NPV is approximately -$30m.

(b) The payback period is infinite, the project never pays itself off.

(c) The addition of the project's cash flows, ignoring the time value of money, is approximately $20m.

(d) The project's IRR is approximately 5.5% pa.

(e) As the discount rate rises, the NPV falls.

Question 942  dividend date, ex dividend date

To receive the dividend you must own the stock when the market closes on which date?

(a) Announcement date

(b) Last cum-dividend date

(c) Ex-dividend date

(d) Record date

(e) Payment date

Question 943  dividend date, ex dividend date

On which date would the stock price increase if the dividend and earnings are higher than expected?

(a) Announcement date

(b) Last cum-dividend date

(c) Ex-dividend date

(d) Record date

(e) Payment date

Question 944  stock split, bonus issue, stock dividend

A 2-for-1 stock split is equivalent to a 1-for-1 bonus issue or a 100% stock dividend. or ?

Question 945  stock split, bonus issue, stock dividend

A 3-for-2 stock split is equivalent to a 1-for-2 bonus issue or a 200% stock dividend. or ?

Question 946  stock split, bonus issue, stock dividend

A 1-for-4 bonus issue is equivalent to a 4-for-1 stock split or a 25% stock dividend. or ?

Question 567  stock split, capital structure

A company conducts a 4 for 3 stock split. What is the percentage change in the stock price and the number of shares outstanding? The answers are given in the same order.

(a) -33.33%, 50%

(b) -25%, 33.33%

(c) -25%, 25%

(d) -20%, 25%

(e) 33.33%, -25%

Question 665  stock split

A company conducts a 10 for 3 stock split. What is the percentage increase in the stock price and the number of shares outstanding? The answers are given in the same order.

(a) -76.92%,   333.33%

(b) -70%,   333.33%

(c) -70%, 233.33%

(d) -57.14%,   233.33%

(e) 233.33%,   -70%

Question 806  stock split, no explanation

A firm conducts a two-for-one stock split. Which of the following consequences would NOT be expected?

(a) The share price would halve.

(b) The number of shares would double.

(c) The market capitalisation of equity would be unchanged.

(d) The earnings per share (EPS) would halve.

(e) The price-earnings (PE) ratio would halve.

Question 279  diversification

Do you think that the following statement is or ? “Buying a single company stock usually provides a safer return than a stock mutual fund.”

Question 3  DDM, income and capital returns

The following equation is called the Dividend Discount Model (DDM), Gordon Growth Model or the perpetuity with growth formula: ### P_0 = \frac{ C_1 }{ r - g } ###

What is ##g##? The value ##g## is the long term expected:

(a) Income return of the stock.

(b) Capital return of the stock.

(c) Total return of the stock.

(d) Dividend yield of the stock.

(e) Price-earnings ratio of the stock.

Question 4  DDM

For a price of $13, Carla will sell you a share paying a dividend of $1 in one year and every year after that forever. The required return of the stock is 10% pa.

Would you like to Carla's share or politely ?

Question 5  DDM

For a price of $6, Carlos will sell you a share which will pay a dividend of $1 in one year and every year after that forever. The required return of the stock is 10% pa.

Would you like to his share or politely ?

Question 272  NPV

Suppose you had $100 in a savings account and the interest rate was 2% per year.

After 5 years, how much do you think you would have in the account if you left the money to grow?

than $102, $102 or than $102?

Question 6  DDM

For a price of $102, Andrea will sell you a share which just paid a dividend of $10 yesterday, and is expected to pay dividends every year forever, growing at a rate of 5% pa.

So the next dividend will be ##10(1+0.05)^1=$10.50## in one year from now, and the year after it will be ##10(1+0.05)^2=11.025## and so on.

The required return of the stock is 15% pa.

Would you like to the share or politely ?

Question 7  DDM

For a price of $1040, Camille will sell you a share which just paid a dividend of $100, and is expected to pay dividends every year forever, growing at a rate of 5% pa.

So the next dividend will be ##100(1+0.05)^1=$105.00##, and the year after it will be ##100(1+0.05)^2=110.25## and so on.

The required return of the stock is 15% pa.

Would you like to the share or politely ?

Question 8  DDM

For a price of $10.20 each, Renee will sell you 100 shares. Each share is expected to pay dividends in perpetuity, growing at a rate of 5% pa. The next dividend is one year away (t=1) and is expected to be $1 per share.

The required return of the stock is 15% pa.

Would you like to the shares or politely ?

Question 10  DDM

For a price of $95, Sherylanne will sell you a share which is expected to pay its first dividend of $10 in 7 years (t=7), and will continue to pay the same $10 dividend every year after that forever.

The required return of the stock is 10% pa.

Would you like to the share or politely ?

Question 14  bond pricing

For a price of $100, Andrea will sell you a 2 year bond paying annual coupons of 10% pa. The face value of the bond is $100. Other bonds with the same risk, maturity and coupon characteristics trade at a yield of 6% pa.

Would you like to the bond or politely ?

Question 223  CFFA, interest tax shield

Which one of the following will increase the Cash Flow From Assets in this year for a tax-paying firm, all else remaining constant?

(a) An increase in net capital spending.

(b) A decrease in the cash flow to creditors.

(c) An increase in interest expense.

(d) An increase in net working capital.

(e) A decrease in dividends paid.

Question 309  stock pricing, ex dividend date

A company announces that it will pay a dividend, as the market expected. The company's shares trade on the stock exchange which is open from 10am in the morning to 4pm in the afternoon each weekday. When would the share price be expected to fall by the amount of the dividend? Ignore taxes.

The share price is expected to fall during the:

(a) Day of the payment date, between the payment date's morning opening price and afternoon closing price.

(b) Night before the payment date, between the previous day's afternoon closing price and the payment date's morning opening price.

(c) Day of the ex-dividend date, between the ex-dividend date's morning opening price and afternoon closing price.

(d) Night before the ex-dividend date, between the last with-dividend date's afternoon closing price and the ex-dividend date's morning opening price.

(e) Day of the last with-dividend date, between the with-dividend date's morning opening price and afternoon closing price.

Question 93  correlation, CAPM, systematic risk

A stock's correlation with the market portfolio increases while its total risk is unchanged. What will happen to the stock's expected return and systematic risk?

(a) The stock will have a higher return and higher systematic risk.

(b) The stock will have a lower return and higher systematic risk.

(c) The stock will have a higher return and lower systematic risk.

(d) The stock will have a lower return and lower systematic risk.

(e) The stock's return and systematic risk will be unchanged.

Question 526  real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation, no explanation

How can a nominal cash flow be precisely converted into a real cash flow?

(a) ##C_\text{real, t}=C_\text{nominal,t}.(1+r_\text{inflation})^t##

(b) ##C_\text{real,t}=\dfrac{C_\text{nominal,t}}{(1+r_\text{inflation})^t} ##

(c) ##C_\text{real,t}=\dfrac{C_\text{nominal,t}}{r_\text{inflation}} ##

(d) ##C_\text{real,t}=C_\text{nominal,t}.r_\text{inflation} ##

(e) ##C_\text{real,t}=C_\text{nominal,t}.r_\text{inflation}.t##

Question 353  income and capital returns, inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows, real estate

A residential investment property has an expected nominal total return of 6% pa and nominal capital return of 3% pa.

Inflation is expected to be 2% pa. All rates are given as effective annual rates.

What are the property's expected real total, capital and income returns? The answer choices below are given in the same order.

(a) 3.9216%, 2.9412%, 0.9804%.

(b) 3.9216%, 0.9804%, 2.9412%.

(c) 3.9216%, 0.9804%, 0.9804%.

(d) 1.9804%, 1.0000%, 0.9804%.

(e) 1.9608%, 0.9804%, 0.9804%.

Question 619  CFFA

To value a business's assets, the free cash flow of the firm (FCFF, also called CFFA) needs to be calculated. This requires figures from the firm's income statement and balance sheet. For what figures is the balance sheet needed? Note that the balance sheet is sometimes also called the statement of financial position.

(a) Net income, depreciation and interest expense.

(b) Depreciation and capital expenditure.

(c) Current assets, current liabilities and cost of goods sold (COGS).

(d) Current assets, current liabilities and capital expenditure.

(e) Current assets, current liabilities and depreciation expense.

Question 951  option, in the money option

If a call option is in-the-money, then the spot price (##S_0##) is than, than or to the call option's strike price (##K_T##)?

Question 781  NPV, IRR, pay back period

You're considering a business project which costs $11m now and is expected to pay a single cash flow of $11m in one year. So you pay $11m now, then one year later you receive $11m.

Assume that the initial $11m cost is funded using the your firm's existing cash so no new equity or debt will be raised. The cost of capital is 10% pa.

Which of the following statements about the net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period is NOT correct?

(a) The NPV is negative $1m.

(b) The IRR is 0% pa, less than the 10% cost of capital.

(c) The payback period is one year.

(d) The project should be rejected.

(e) If the project is accepted now then the market value of the firm's assets will fall by $11m.

Question 81  risk, correlation, diversification

Stock A and B's returns have a correlation of 0.3. Which statement is NOT correct?

(a) If stock A's return increases, stock B's return is also expected to increase.

(b) If stock A's return decreases, stock B's return is also expected to decrease.

(c) If stock A and B were combined in a portfolio, there would be no diversification at all since they are positively correlated.

(d) Stock A and B's returns have positive covariance.

(e) a and b.

Question 111  portfolio risk, correlation

All things remaining equal, the variance of a portfolio of two positively-weighted stocks rises as:

(a) The correlation between the stocks' returns rise.

(b) The correlation between the stocks' returns decline.

(c) The portfolio standard deviation declines.

(d) Both stocks' individual variances decline.

(e) Both stocks' individual standard deviations decline.

Question 236  diversification, correlation, risk

Diversification in a portfolio of two assets works best when the correlation between their returns is:

(a) -1

(b) -0.5

(c) 0

(d) 0.5

(e) 1

Question 283  portfolio risk, correlation, needs refinement

Three important classes of investable risky assets are:

• Corporate debt which has low total risk,
• Real estate which has medium total risk,
• Equity which has high total risk.

Assume that the correlation between total returns on:

• Corporate debt and real estate is 0.1,
• Corporate debt and equity is 0.1,
• Real estate and equity is 0.5.

You are considering investing all of your wealth in one or more of these asset classes. Which portfolio will give the lowest total risk? You are restricted from shorting any of these assets. Disregard returns and the risk-return trade-off, pretend that you are only concerned with minimising risk.

(a) Most money in corporate debt, with some money in equity and real estate.

(b) Most money in equity, with some money in corporate debt and real estate.

(c) Most money in real estate, with some money in corporate debt and equity.

(d) Most money in corporate debt, with some money in real estate and none in equity.

(e) All money in corporate debt.

Question 293  covariance, correlation, portfolio risk

All things remaining equal, the higher the correlation of returns between two stocks:

(a) The more diversification is possible when those stocks are combined in a portfolio.

(b) The lower the variance of returns of an equally-weighted portfolio of those stocks.

(c) The lower the volatility of returns of an equal-weighted portfolio of those stocks.

(d) The higher the covariance between those stocks' returns.

(e) The more likely that when one stock has a positive return, the other has a negative return.

Question 559  variance, standard deviation, covariance, correlation

Which of the following statements about standard statistical mathematics notation is NOT correct?

(a) The arithmetic average of variable X is represented by ##\bar{X}##.

(b) The standard deviation of variable X is represented by ##\sigma_X##.

(c) The variance of variable X is represented by ##\sigma_X^2##.

(d) The covariance between variables X and Y is represented by ##\sigma_{X,Y}^2##.

(e) The correlation between variables X and Y is represented by ##\rho_{X,Y}##.

Question 563  correlation

What is the correlation of a variable X with itself?

The corr(X, X) or ##\rho_{X,X}## equals:

(a) var(X) or ##\sigma_X^2##

(b) sd(X) or ##\sigma_X##

(c) 1

(d) 0

(e) Mathematically undefined

Question 565  correlation

What is the correlation of a variable X with a constant C?

The corr(X, C) or ##\rho_{X,C}## equals:

(a) var(X) or ##\sigma_X^2##

(b) sd(X) or ##\sigma_X##

(c) 1

(d) 0

(e) Mathematically undefined

Question 798  idiom, diversification, market efficiency, sunk cost, no explanation

The following quotes are most closely related to which financial concept?

• “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work” -Thomas Edison
• “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary” -Vidal Sassoon
• “The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket” - Kin Hubbard

(a) The efficient markets hypothesis.

(b) Time value of money.

(c) Separation of the investment and financing decisions.

(d) Diversification.

(e) Sunk costs.

Question 241  Miller and Modigliani, leverage, payout policy, diversification, NPV

One of Miller and Modigliani's (M&M's) important insights is that a firm's managers should not try to achieve a particular level of leverage in a world with zero taxes and perfect information since investors can make their own leverage. Therefore corporate capital structure policy is irrelevant since investors can achieve their own desired leverage at the personal level by borrowing or lending on their own.

This principal of 'home-made' or 'do-it-yourself' leverage can also be applied to other topics. Read the following statements to decide which are true:

(I) Payout policy: a firm's managers should not try to achieve a particular pattern of equity payout.

(II) Agency costs: a firm's managers should not try to minimise agency costs.

(III) Diversification: a firm's managers should not try to diversify across industries.

(IV) Shareholder wealth: a firm's managers should not try to maximise shareholders' wealth.

Which of the above statement(s) are true?

(a) I only.

(b) I and II only.

(c) I and III only.

(d) III only.

(e) All are true.

Question 66  CAPM, SML

Government bonds currently have a return of 5% pa. A stock has an expected return of 6% pa and the market return is 7% pa. What is the beta of the stock?

(a) -0.5

(b) 0

(c) 0.5

(d) 1

(e) 7

Question 72  CAPM, portfolio beta, portfolio risk

Portfolio Details
Stock	Expected return	Standard deviation	Correlation	Beta	Dollars invested
A	0.2	0.4	0.12	0.5	40
B	0.3	0.8		1.5	80

What is the beta of the above portfolio?

(a) 0.75

(b) 0.833333333

(c) 1

(d) 1.166666667

(e) 1.4

Question 75  WACC, CAPM

A company has:

• 50 million shares outstanding.
• The market price of one share is currently $6.
• The risk-free rate is 5% and the market return is 10%.
• Market analysts believe that the company's ordinary shares have a beta of 2.
• The company has 1 million preferred stock which have a face (or par) value of $100 and pay a constant dividend of 10% of par. They currently trade for $80 each.
• The company's debentures are publicly traded and their market price is equal to 90% of their face value.
• The debentures have a total face value of $60,000,000 and the current yield to maturity of corporate debentures is 10% per annum. The corporate tax rate is 30%.

What is the company's after-tax weighted average cost of capital (WACC)? Assume a classical tax system.

(a) 11.75%

(b) 11.82%

(c) 13.54%

(d) 13.78%

(e) 20.84%

Question 76  CAPM, SML

Government bonds currently have a return of 5%. A stock has a beta of 2 and the market return is 7%. What is the expected return of the stock?

(a) 5%

(b) 7%

(c) 9%

(d) 12%

(e) 19%

Question 630  mispriced asset, NPV, DDM, market efficiency

A company advertises an investment costing $1,000 which they say is underpriced. They say that it has an expected total return of 15% pa, but a required return of only 10% pa. Of the 15% pa total expected return, the dividend yield is expected to always be 7% pa and rest is the capital yield.

Assuming that the company's statements are correct, what is the NPV of buying the investment if the 15% total return lasts for the next 100 years (t=0 to 100), then reverts to 10% after that time? Also, what is the NPV of the investment if the 15% return lasts forever?

In both cases, assume that the required return of 10% remains constant, the dividends can only be re-invested at 10% pa and all returns are given as effective annual rates.

The answer choices below are given in the same order (15% for 100 years, and 15% forever):

(a) 84,214.90,   Infinite

(b)  2,521.12,   3,000

(c)  2,100.93,   2,500

(d)  1,249.38,   1,333.33

(e)          0,               0

Question 17  bond pricing

A three year bond has a face value of $100, a yield of 10% and a fixed coupon rate of 5%, paid semi-annually. What is its price?

(a) 87.31

(b) 86.92

(c) 76.37

(d) 74.62

(e) 58.63

Question 160  interest only loan

You want to buy an apartment priced at $500,000. You have saved a deposit of $50,000. The bank has agreed to lend you the $450,000 as an interest only loan with a term of 30 years. The interest rate is 6% pa and is not expected to change. What will be your monthly payments?

(a) $ 1,250.00

(b) $ 2,250.00

(c) $ 2,652.17

(d) $ 2,697.98

(e) $ 32,692.01

Question 213  income and capital returns, bond pricing, premium par and discount bonds

The coupon rate of a fixed annual-coupon bond is constant (always the same).

What can you say about the income return (##r_\text{income}##) of a fixed annual coupon bond? Remember that:

###r_\text{total} = r_\text{income} + r_\text{capital}###

###r_\text{total, 0 to 1} = \frac{c_1}{p_0} + \frac{p_1-p_0}{p_0}###

Assume that there is no change in the bond's total annual yield to maturity from when it is issued to when it matures.

Select the most correct statement.

From its date of issue until maturity, the income return of a fixed annual coupon:

(a) Premium bond will increase.

(b) Premium bond will decrease.

(c) Premium bond will remain constant.

(d) Par bond will increase.

(e) Par bond will decrease.

Question 313  foreign exchange rate, American and European terms

If the AUD appreciates against the USD, the American terms quote of the AUD will or ?

Question 349  CFFA, depreciation tax shield

Which one of the following will decrease net income (NI) but increase cash flow from assets (CFFA) in this year for a tax-paying firm, all else remaining constant?

Remember:

###NI = (Rev-COGS-FC-Depr-IntExp).(1-t_c )### ###CFFA=NI+Depr-CapEx - \Delta NWC+IntExp###

(a) An increase in revenue (Rev).

(b) An increase in rent expense (part of fixed costs, FC).

(c) An increase in depreciation expense (Depr).

(d) An decrease in net working capital (ΔNWC).

(e) An increase in dividends.

Question 381  Merton model of corporate debt, option, real option

In the Merton model of corporate debt, buying a levered company's debt is equivalent to buying risk free government bonds and:

(a) Selling the company's assets.

(b) Buying a call option on the company's assets.

(c) Buying a put option on the company's assets.

(d) Selling a call option on the company's assets.

(e) Selling a put option on the company's assets.

Question 483  PE ratio

The below screenshot of Microsoft's (MSFT) details were taken from the Google Finance website on 28 Nov 2014. Some information has been deliberately blanked out.

What was MSFT's backwards-looking price-earnings ratio?

(a) $21.01

(b) 21.01

(c) $18.75

(d) 18.75

(e) 18.75%

Question 816  expected and historical returns

If future expected cash flows rise, and future required returns remain the same, then prices will , or remain the ?

Question 920  SML, CAPM, Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio, Jensens alpha, no explanation

Over-priced assets should NOT:

(a) Have Sharpe ratios less than the market’s.

(b) Have Treynor ratios that are negative.

(c) Have Jensen’s alphas that are negative.

(d) Be sold.

(e) Plot below the Security Market Line (SML).

Question 955  option, out of the money option

If a put option is out-of-the-money, then the spot price (##S_0##) is than, than or to the put option's strike price (##K_T##)?

Question 378  leverage, capital structure, no explanation

A levered company's required return on debt is always less than its required return on equity. or ?

Question 411  WACC, capital structure

A firm plans to issue equity and use the cash raised to pay off its debt. No assets will be bought or sold. Ignore the costs of financial distress.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct, all things remaining equal?

(a) The firm's WACC before tax will rise.

(b) The firm's WACC after tax will rise.

(c) The firm's required return on equity will be lower.

(d) The firm's net income will be higher.

(e) The firm's free cash flow will be lower.

Question 343  CFFA, capital budgeting

An old company's Firm Free Cash Flow (FFCF, same as CFFA) is forecast in the graph below.

To value the firm's assets, the terminal value needs to be calculated using the perpetuity with growth formula:

###V_{\text{terminal, }t-1} = \dfrac{FFCF_{\text{terminal, }t}}{r-g}###

Which point corresponds to the best time to calculate the terminal value?

(a) Point A.

(b) Point B.

(c) Point C.

(d) Any of the points.

(e) None of the points.

Question 358  PE ratio, Multiples valuation

Estimate the Chinese bank ICBC's share price using a backward-looking price earnings (PE) multiples approach with the following assumptions and figures only. Note that the renminbi (RMB) is the Chinese currency, also known as the yuan (CNY).

• The 4 major Chinese banks ICBC, China Construction Bank (CCB), Bank of China (BOC) and Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) are comparable companies;
• ICBC 's historical earnings per share (EPS) is RMB 0.74;
• CCB's backward-looking PE ratio is 4.59;
• BOC 's backward-looking PE ratio is 4.78;
• ABC's backward-looking PE ratio is also 4.78;

Note: Figures sourced from Google Finance on 25 March 2014. Share prices are from the Shanghai stock exchange.

(a) RMB 6.4595

(b) RMB 6.3739

(c) RMB 6.3311

(d) RMB 3.4903

(e) RMB 3.3966

Question 468  PE ratio

A firm has 1 million shares which trade at a price of $30 each. The firm is expected to announce earnings of $3 million at the end of the year and pay an annual dividend of $1.50 per share.

What is the firm's (forward looking) price/earnings (PE) ratio?

(a) 20

(b) 10

(c) 3

(d) 2

(e) 0.5

Question 634  continuously compounding rate

A $100 stock has a continuously compounded expected total return of 10% pa. Its dividend yield is 2% pa with continuous compounding. What do you expect its price to be in one year?

(a) $112.749685

(b) $110.517092

(c) $110

(d) $108.328707

(e) $108

Question 937  CAPM, SML

The market's expected total return is 10% pa and the risk free rate is 5% pa, both given as effective annual rates.

A stock has a beta of 0.7.

What do you think will be the stock's expected return over the next year, given as an effective annual rate?

(a) 5% pa

(b) 8.5% pa

(c) 9% pa

(d) 10% pa

(e) 12% pa

Question 936  CAPM, WACC, IRR

You work for XYZ company and you’ve been asked to evaluate a new project which has double the systematic risk of the company’s other projects.

You use the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) formula and input the treasury yield ##(r_f )##, market risk premium ##(r_m-r_f )## and the company’s asset beta risk factor ##(\beta_{XYZ} )## into the CAPM formula which outputs a return.

This return that you’ve just found is:

(a) The IRR of the company’s new project.

(b) The required return of the company’s new project.

(c) The IRR of the company’s assets.

(d) The required return of the company’s assets.

(e) The IRR of the company’s equity.

Question 784  boot strapping zero coupon yield, forward interest rate, term structure of interest rates

Information about three risk free Government bonds is given in the table below.

Federal Treasury Bond Data
Maturity	Yield to maturity	Coupon rate	Face value	Price
(years)	(pa, compounding annually)	(pa, paid annually)	($)	($)
1	0%	2%	100	102
2	1%	2%	100	101.9703951
3	2%	2%	100	100

 

Based on the above government bonds' yields to maturity, which of the below statements about the spot zero rates and forward zero rates is NOT correct?

(a) The 1 year zero coupon spot yield per annum compounding annually is 0% pa.

(b) The 2 year zero coupon spot yield per annum compounding annually is 1.0100025% pa.

(c) The 3 year zero coupon spot yield per annum compounding annually is 2.0272812% pa.

(d) The 1 to 2 year zero coupon forward rate per annum compounding annually is 3.030206% pa.

(e) The 2 to 3 year zero coupon forward rate per annum compounding annually is 4.0926772% pa.

Question 485  capital budgeting, opportunity cost, sunk cost

A young lady is trying to decide if she should attend university or not.

The young lady's parents say that she must attend university because otherwise all of her hard work studying and attending school during her childhood was a waste.

What's the correct way to classify this item from a capital budgeting perspective when trying to decide whether to attend university?

The hard work studying at school in her childhood should be classified as:

(a) A sunk cost.

(b) An opportunity cost.

(c) A negative side effect.

(d) A positive side effect.

(e) A depreciation expense.

Question 486  capital budgeting, opportunity cost, sunk cost

A young lady is trying to decide if she should attend university. Her friends say that she should go to university because she is more likely to meet a clever young man than if she begins full time work straight away.

What's the correct way to classify this item from a capital budgeting perspective when trying to find the Net Present Value of going to university rather than working?

The opportunity to meet a desirable future spouse should be classified as:

(a) A sunk cost.

(b) An opportunity cost.

(c) A negative side effect.

(d) A positive side effect.

(e) A depreciation expense.

Question 491  capital budgeting, opportunity cost, sunk cost

A man is thinking about taking a day off from his casual painting job to relax.

He just woke up early in the morning and he's about to call his boss to say that he won't be coming in to work.

But he's thinking about the hours that he could work today (in the future) which are:

(a) A sunk cost.

(b) An opportunity cost.

(c) A negative side effect.

(d) A capital expense.

(e) A depreciation expense.

Question 492  capital budgeting, opportunity cost, sunk cost

A man has taken a day off from his casual painting job to relax.

It's the end of the day and he's thinking about the hours that he could have spent working (in the past) which are now:

(a) A sunk cost.

(b) An opportunity cost.

(c) A negative side effect.

(d) A capital expense.

(e) A depreciation expense.

Question 60  pay back period

The required return of a project is 10%, given as an effective annual rate.

What is the payback period of the project in years?

Assume that the cash flows shown in the table are received smoothly over the year. So the $121 at time 2 is actually earned smoothly from t=1 to t=2.

Project Cash Flows
Time (yrs)	Cash flow ($)
0	-100
1	11
2	121

(a) 2.7355

(b) 2.3596

(c) 1.7355

(d) 1.2645

(e) 0.2645

Question 190  pay back period

A project has the following cash flows:

Project Cash Flows
Time (yrs)	Cash flow ($)
0	-400
1	0
2	500

What is the payback period of the project in years?

Normally cash flows are assumed to happen at the given time. But here, assume that the cash flows are received smoothly over the year. So the $500 at time 2 is actually earned smoothly from t=1 to t=2.

(a) -0.80

(b) 0.80

(c) 1.20

(d) 1.80

(e) 2.20

Question 496  NPV, IRR, pay back period

A firm is considering a business project which costs $10m now and is expected to pay a single cash flow of $12.1m in two years.

Assume that the initial $10m cost is funded using the firm's existing cash so no new equity or debt will be raised. The cost of capital is 10% pa.

Which of the following statements about net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period is NOT correct?

(a) The NPV is zero.

(b) The IRR is 10% pa, equal to the 10% cost of capital.

(c) The payback period is two years assuming that the whole $12.1m cash flow occurs at t=2, or 1.826 years if the $12.1m cash flow is paid smoothly over the second year.

(d) The project could be accepted or rejected, the owners would be indifferent.

(e) If the project is accepted then the market value of the firm's assets will increase by $2.1m more than it would otherwise if the project was rejected.

Question 250  NPV, Loan, arbitrage table

Your neighbour asks you for a loan of $100 and offers to pay you back $120 in one year.

You don't actually have any money right now, but you can borrow and lend from the bank at a rate of 10% pa. Rates are given as effective annual rates.

Assume that your neighbour will definitely pay you back. Ignore interest tax shields and transaction costs.

The Net Present Value (NPV) of lending to your neighbour is $9.09. Describe what you would do to actually receive a $9.09 cash flow right now with zero net cash flows in the future.

(a) Borrow $109.09 from the bank and lend $100 of it to your neighbour now.

(b) Borrow $100 from the bank and lend it to your neighbour now.

(c) Borrow $209.09 from the bank and lend $100 to your neighbour now.

(d) Borrow $120 from the bank and lend $100 of it to your neighbour now.

(e) Borrow $90.91 from the bank and lend it to your neighbour now.

Question 502  NPV, IRR, mutually exclusive projects

An investor owns an empty block of land that has local government approval to be developed into a petrol station, car wash or car park. The council will only allow a single development so the projects are mutually exclusive.

All of the development projects have the same risk and the required return of each is 10% pa. Each project has an immediate cost and once construction is finished in one year the land and development will be sold. The table below shows the estimated costs payable now, expected sale prices in one year and the internal rates of returns (IRR's).

Mutually Exclusive Projects
Project	Cost now ($)	Sale price in one year ($)	IRR (% pa)
Petrol station	9,000,000	11,000,000	22.22
Car wash	800,000	1,100,000	37.50
Car park	70,000	110,000	57.14

Which project should the investor accept?

(a) Petrol station.

(b) Car wash.

(c) Car park.

(d) None of the projects.

(e) All of the projects.

Question 252  NPV

You have $100,000 in the bank. The bank pays interest at 10% pa, given as an effective annual rate.

You wish to consume an equal amount now (t=0), in one year (t=1) and in two years (t=2), and still have $50,000 in the bank after that (t=2).

How much can you consume at each time?

(a) $36,555.8912

(b) $23,666.6667

(c) $21,450.1511

(d) $18,277.9456

(e) $16,666.6667