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Question 278  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows

Imagine that the interest rate on your savings account was 1% per year and inflation was 2% per year.

After one year, would you be able to buy , exactly the as or than today with the money in this account?


Question 992  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows

You currently have $100 in the bank which pays a 10% pa interest rate.

Oranges currently cost $1 each at the shop and inflation is 5% pa which is the expected growth rate in the orange price.

This information is summarised in the table below, with some parts missing that correspond to the answer options. All rates are given as effective annual rates. Note that when payments are not specified as real, as in this question, they're conventionally assumed to be nominal.

Wealth in Dollars and Oranges
Time (year) Bank account wealth ($) Orange price ($) Wealth in oranges
0 100 1 100
1 110 1.05 (a)
2 (b) (c) (d)
 

 

Which of the following statements is NOT correct? Your:



Question 993  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows

In February 2020, the RBA cash rate was 0.75% pa and the Australian CPI inflation rate was 1.8% pa.

You currently have $100 in the bank which pays a 0.75% pa interest rate.

Apples currently cost $1 each at the shop and inflation is 1.8% pa which is the expected growth rate in the apple price.

This information is summarised in the table below, with some parts missing that correspond to the answer options. All rates are given as effective annual rates. Note that when payments are not specified as real, as in this question, they're conventionally assumed to be nominal.

Wealth in Dollars and Apples
Time (year) Bank account wealth ($) Apple price ($) Wealth in apples
0 100 1 100
1 100.75 1.018 (a)
2 (b) (c) (d)
 

 

Which of the following statements is NOT correct? Your:



Question 295  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows, NPV

When valuing assets using discounted cash flow (net present value) methods, it is important to consider inflation. To properly deal with inflation:

(I) Discount nominal cash flows by nominal discount rates.

(II) Discount nominal cash flows by real discount rates.

(III) Discount real cash flows by nominal discount rates.

(IV) Discount real cash flows by real discount rates.

Which of the above statements is or are correct?



Question 363  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 8% 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.



Question 407  income and capital returns, inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows

A stock has a real expected total return of 7% pa and a real expected capital return of 2% pa.

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

What is the nominal expected total return, capital return and dividend yield? The answers below are given in the same order.



Question 456  inflation, effective rate

In the 'Austin Powers' series of movies, the character Dr. Evil threatens to destroy the world unless the United Nations pays him a ransom (video 1, video 2). Dr. Evil makes the threat on two separate occasions:

  • In 1969 he demands a ransom of $1 million (=10^6), and again;
  • In 1997 he demands a ransom of $100 billion (=10^11).

If Dr. Evil's demands are equivalent in real terms, in other words $1 million will buy the same basket of goods in 1969 as $100 billion would in 1997, what was the implied inflation rate over the 28 years from 1969 to 1997?

The answer choices below are given as effective annual rates:


Question 522  income and capital returns, real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation, real estate

A residential investment property has an expected nominal total return of 6% pa and nominal capital return of 2.5% pa. Inflation is expected to be 2.5% pa.

All of the above are effective nominal rates and investors believe that they will stay the same in perpetuity.

What are the property's expected real total, capital and income returns?

The answer choices below are given in the same order.



Question 523  income and capital returns, real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation

A low-growth mature stock has an expected nominal total return of 6% pa and nominal capital return of 2% pa. Inflation is expected to be 3% pa.

All of the above are effective nominal rates and investors believe that they will stay the same in perpetuity.

What are the stock's expected real total, capital and income returns?

The answer choices below are given in the same order.



Question 525  income and capital returns, real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation

Which of the following statements about cash in the form of notes and coins is NOT correct? Assume that inflation is positive.

Notes and coins:



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?



Question 574  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows, NPV

What is the present value of a nominal payment of $100 in 5 years? The real discount rate is 10% pa and the inflation rate is 3% pa.



Question 576  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows

What is the present value of a nominal payment of $1,000 in 4 years? The nominal discount rate is 8% pa and the inflation rate is 2% pa.



Question 577  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows

What is the present value of a real payment of $500 in 2 years? The nominal discount rate is 7% pa and the inflation rate is 4% pa.



Question 578  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows

Which of the following statements about inflation is NOT correct?



Question 604  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows

Apples and oranges currently cost $1 each. Inflation is 5% pa, and apples and oranges are equally affected by this inflation rate. Note that when payments are not specified as real, as in this question, they're conventionally assumed to be nominal.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?



Question 664  real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation, no explanation

What is the present value of real payments of $100 every year forever, with the first payment in one year? The nominal discount rate is 7% pa and the inflation rate is 4% pa.



Question 734  real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation, DDM, no explanation

An equities analyst is using the dividend discount model to price a company's shares. The company operates domestically and has no plans to expand overseas. It is part of a mature industry with stable positive growth prospects.

The analyst has estimated the real required return (r) of the stock and the value of the dividend that the stock just paid a moment before ##(C_\text{0 before})##.

What is the highest perpetual real growth rate of dividends (g) that can be justified? Select the most correct statement from the following choices. The highest perpetual real expected growth rate of dividends that can be justified is the country's expected:



Question 739  real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation

There are a number of different formulas involving real and nominal returns and cash flows. Which one of the following formulas is NOT correct? All returns are effective annual rates. Note that the symbol ##\approx## means 'approximately equal to'.



Question 744  income and capital returns, real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation

If someone says "my shares rose by 10% last year", what do you assume that they mean? The effective annual:



Question 745  real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation, income and capital returns

If the nominal gold price is expected to increase at the same rate as inflation which is 3% pa, which of the following statements is NOT correct?



Question 348  PE ratio, Multiples valuation

Estimate the US bank JP Morgan's share price using a price earnings (PE) multiples approach with the following assumptions and figures only:

  • The major US banks JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Citi Group (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are comparable companies;
  • JP Morgan Chase's historical earnings per share (EPS) is $4.37;
  • Citi Group's share price is $50.05 and historical EPS is $4.26;
  • Wells Fargo's share price is $48.98 and historical EPS is $3.89.

Note: Figures sourced from Google Finance on 24 March 2014.



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.



Question 1022  inflation linked bond, breakeven inflation rate, inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows

Below is a graph of 10-year US treasury fixed coupon bond yields (red), inflation-indexed bond yields (green) and the 'breakeven' inflation rate (blue). Note that inflation-indexed bonds are also called treasury inflation protected securities (TIPS) in the US. In other countries they're called inflation-linked bonds (ILB's). For more information, see PIMCO's great article about inflation linked bonds here.

The 10 year breakeven inflation rate (blue) equals the:



Question 1024  inflation linked bond, bond pricing

PIMCO gives the following example of an Inflation Linked Bond (ILB), called Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) in the US.

How do ILBs work?

An ILB’s explicit link to a nationally-recognized inflation measure means that any increase in price levels directly translates into higher principal values. As a hypothetical example, consider a $1,000 20-year U.S. TIPS with a 2.5% coupon (1.25% on semiannual basis), and an inflation rate of 4%. The principal on the TIPS note will adjust upward on a daily basis to account for the 4% inflation rate. At maturity, the principal value will be $2,208 (4% per year, compounded semiannually). Additionally, while the coupon rate remains fixed at 2.5%, the dollar value of each interest payment will rise, as the coupon will be paid on the inflation-adjusted principal value. The first semiannual coupon of 1.25% paid on the inflation-adjusted principal of $1,020 is $12.75, while the final semiannual interest payment will be 1.25% of $2,208, which is $27.60.

Forecast the semi-annual coupon paid in 10 years based on the bond details given above. The 20th semi-annual coupon, paid in 10 years, is expected to be:



Question 1023  monetary policy, inflation, breakeven inflation rate

If the breakeven inflation rate was far above the US Fed's long term 2% average inflation target, the Fed would be expected to:



Question 1015  RBA cash rate, monetary policy

Former Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Phil Lowe says that the RBA cash rate is the interest rate in the Australian:



Question 1016  RBA cash rate, monetary policy

Former RBA Governor Phil Lowe says that if the economy is growing very strongly, then goods and services prices might be growing too:



Question 1017  RBA cash rate, monetary policy

Former RBA Governor Phil Lowe says that when the RBA raise interest rates, homeowners' mortgage loan interest expense will be:



Question 1019  RBA cash rate, monetary policy, wealth effect

Former RBA Governor Phil Lowe says that when the RBA raise the cash rate, asset prices tend to:



Question 344  CFFA, capital budgeting

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

Image of option graphs

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?



Question 361  CFFA

Over the next year, the management of an unlevered company plans to:

  • Make $5m in sales, $1.9m in net income and $2m in equity free cash flow (EFCF).
  • Pay dividends of $1m.
  • Complete a $1.3m share buy-back.

Assume that:

  • All amounts are received and paid at the end of the year so you can ignore the time value of money.
  • The firm has sufficient retained profits to legally pay the dividend and complete the buy back.
  • The firm plans to run a very tight ship, with no excess cash above operating requirements currently or over the next year.

How much new equity financing will the company need? In other words, what is the value of new shares that will need to be issued?



Question 413  CFFA, interest tax shield, depreciation tax shield

There are many ways to calculate a firm's free cash flow (FFCF), also called cash flow from assets (CFFA).

One method is to use the following formulas to transform net income (NI) into FFCF including interest and depreciation tax shields:

###FFCF=NI + Depr - CapEx -ΔNWC + IntExp###

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

Another popular method is to use EBITDA rather than net income. EBITDA is defined as:

###EBITDA=Rev - COGS - FC###

One of the below formulas correctly calculates FFCF from EBITDA, including interest and depreciation tax shields, giving an identical answer to that above. Which formula is correct?



Question 418  capital budgeting, NPV, interest tax shield, WACC, CFFA, CAPM

Project Data
Project life 1 year
Initial investment in equipment $8m
Depreciation of equipment per year $8m
Expected sale price of equipment at end of project 0
Unit sales per year 4m
Sale price per unit $10
Variable cost per unit $5
Fixed costs per year, paid at the end of each year $2m
Interest expense in first year (at t=1) $0.562m
Corporate tax rate 30%
Government treasury bond yield 5%
Bank loan debt yield 9%
Market portfolio return 10%
Covariance of levered equity returns with market 0.32
Variance of market portfolio returns 0.16
Firm's and project's debt-to-equity ratio 50%
 

Notes

  1. Due to the project, current assets will increase by $6m now (t=0) and fall by $6m at the end (t=1). Current liabilities will not be affected.

Assumptions

  • The debt-to-equity ratio will be kept constant throughout the life of the project. The amount of interest expense at the end of each period has been correctly calculated to maintain this constant debt-to-equity ratio.
  • Millions are represented by 'm'.
  • All cash flows occur at the start or end of the year as appropriate, not in the middle or throughout the year.
  • All rates and cash flows are real. The inflation rate is 2% pa. All rates are given as effective annual rates.
  • The project is undertaken by a firm, not an individual.

What is the net present value (NPV) of the project?



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.



Question 406  leverage, WACC, margin loan, portfolio return

One year ago you bought $100,000 of shares partly funded using a margin loan. The margin loan size was $70,000 and the other $30,000 was your own wealth or 'equity' in the share assets.

The interest rate on the margin loan was 7.84% pa.

Over the year, the shares produced a dividend yield of 4% pa and a capital gain of 5% pa.

What was the total return on your wealth? Ignore taxes, assume that all cash flows (interest payments and dividends) were paid and received at the end of the year, and all rates above are effective annual rates.

Hint: Remember that wealth in this context is your equity (E) in the house asset (V = D+E) which is funded by the loan (D) and your deposit or equity (E).


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.



Question 989  PE ratio, Multiples valuation, leverage, accounting ratio

A firm has 20 million stocks, earnings (or net income) of $100 million per annum and a 60% debt-to-equity ratio where both the debt and asset values are market values rather than book values. Similar firms have a PE ratio of 12.

Which of the below statements is NOT correct based on a PE multiples valuation?



Question 69  interest tax shield, capital structure, leverage, WACC

Which statement about risk, required return and capital structure is the most correct?



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##.



Question 115  capital structure, leverage, WACC

A firm has a debt-to-assets ratio of 50%. The firm then issues a large amount of debt to raise money for new projects of similar market risk to the company's existing projects. Assume a classical tax system. Which statement is correct?



Question 121  capital structure, leverage, financial distress, interest tax shield

Fill in the missing words in the following sentence:

All things remaining equal, as a firm's amount of debt funding falls, benefits of interest tax shields __________ and the costs of financial distress __________.



Question 337  capital structure, interest tax shield, leverage, real and nominal returns and cash flows, multi stage growth model

A fast-growing firm is suitable for valuation using a multi-stage growth model.

It's nominal unlevered cash flow from assets (##CFFA_U##) at the end of this year (t=1) is expected to be $1 million. After that it is expected to grow at a rate of:

  • 12% pa for the next two years (from t=1 to 3),
  • 5% over the fourth year (from t=3 to 4), and
  • -1% forever after that (from t=4 onwards). Note that this is a negative one percent growth rate.

Assume that:

  • The nominal WACC after tax is 9.5% pa and is not expected to change.
  • The nominal WACC before tax is 10% pa and is not expected to change.
  • The firm has a target debt-to-equity ratio that it plans to maintain.
  • The inflation rate is 3% pa.
  • All rates are given as nominal effective annual rates.

What is the levered value of this fast growing firm's assets?



Question 376  leverage, capital structure, no explanation

Interest expense on debt is tax-deductible, but dividend payments on equity are not. or ?


Question 377  leverage, capital structure

Issuing debt doesn't give away control of the firm because debt holders can't cast votes to determine the company's affairs, such as at the annual general meeting (AGM), and can't appoint directors to the board. or ?


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 379  leverage, capital structure, payout policy

Companies must pay interest and principal payments to debt-holders. They're compulsory. But companies are not forced to pay dividends to share holders. or ?


Question 380  leverage, capital structure

The "interest expense" on a company's annual income statement is equal to the cash interest payments (but not principal payments) made to debt holders during the year. or ?


Question 506  leverage, accounting ratio

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



Question 507  leverage, accounting ratio

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



Question 536  idiom, bond pricing, capital structure, leverage

The expression 'my word is my bond' is often used in everyday language to make a serious promise.

Why do you think this expression uses the metaphor of a bond rather than a share?



Question 663  leverage, accounting ratio

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



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?



Question 774  leverage, WACC, real estate

One year ago you bought a $1,000,000 house partly funded using a mortgage loan. The loan size was $800,000 and the other $200,000 was your wealth or 'equity' in the house asset.

The interest rate on the home loan was 4% pa.

Over the year, the house produced a net rental yield of 2% pa and a capital gain of 2.5% pa.

Assuming that all cash flows (interest payments and net rental payments) were paid and received at the end of the year, and all rates are given as effective annual rates, what was the total return on your wealth over the past year?

Hint: Remember that wealth in this context is your equity (E) in the house asset (V = D+E) which is funded by the loan (D) and your deposit or equity (E).


Question 799  LVR, leverage, accounting ratio

In the home loan market, the acronym LVR stands for Loan to Valuation Ratio. If you bought a house worth one million dollars, partly funded by an $800,000 home loan, then your LVR was 80%. The LVR is equivalent to which of the following ratios?



Question 801  negative gearing, leverage, capital structure

The following steps outline the process of ‘negative gearing’ an investment property in Australia. Which of these steps or statements is NOT correct? To successfully achieve negative gearing on an investment property:



Question 802  negative gearing, leverage, capital structure, no explanation

Which of the following statements about ‘negative gearing’ is NOT correct?



Question 959  negative gearing, leverage, capital structure, interest tax shield, real estate

Last year, two friends Gear and Nogear invested in residential apartments. Each invested $1 million of their own money (their net wealth).

Apartments cost $1,000,000 last year and they earned net rents of $30,000 pa over the last year. Net rents are calculated as rent revenues less the costs of renting such as property maintenance, land tax and council rates. However, interest expense and personal income taxes are not deducted from net rents.

Gear and Nogear funded their purchases in different ways:

  • Gear used $1,000,000 of her own money and borrowed $4,000,000 from the bank in the form of an interest-only loan with an interest rate of 5% pa to buy 5 apartments.
  • Nogear used $1,000,000 of his own money to buy one apartment. He has no mortgage loan on his property.

Both Gear and Nogear 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?



Question 917  Macaulay duration, duration

Which of the following statements about Macaulay duration is NOT correct? The Macaulay duration:



Question 994  duration

Find the Macaulay duration of a 2 year 5% pa annual fixed coupon bond which has a $100 face value and currently has a yield to maturity of 8% pa. The Macaulay duration is:



Question 995  duration

Find the Macaulay duration of a 2 year 5% pa semi-annual fixed coupon bond which has a $100 face value and currently has a yield to maturity of 8% pa. The Macaulay duration is:



Question 996  duration, CAPM

Assume that the market portfolio has a duration of 15 years and an individual stock has a duration of 20 years.

What can you say about the stock's (single factor CAPM) beta with respect to the market portfolio? The stock's beta is likely to be:



Question 997  duration

Which of the following assets would have the shortest duration?



Question 1027  duration

Below is a table showing GMO's 2016 estimates of different assets' durations, appearing in Slater (2017).

Image of GMO durations table

If you were certain that interest rates would fall more than the market expects, into what asset might you allocate more funds?



Question 1028  duration, beta, 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 3% pa and the market risk premium (MRP) is 6% pa. All returns are effective annual rates.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?



Question 871  duration, Macaulay duration, modified duration, portfolio duration

Which of the following statements about Macaulay duration is NOT correct? The Macaulay duration:



Question 872  duration, Macaulay duration, modified duration, portfolio duration

A fixed coupon bond’s modified duration is 20 years, and yields are currently 10% pa compounded annually. Which of the following statements about the bond is NOT correct?



Question 918  duration, Macaulay duration, modified duration, bond convexity

A fixed coupon bond’s modified duration is 10 years, and yields are currently 5% pa compounded annually. Which of the following statements about the bond is NOT correct?



Question 919  duration, bond convexity

Which of the following statements about bond convexity is NOT correct?



Question 1049  sensitivity analysis, WACC, DDM

An analyst has prepared a discounted cash flow model to value a firm's share price. A sensitivity analysis data table with ‘conditional formatting’ shading is shown below. The table shows how changes in the weighted average cost of capital (WACC, left column) and terminal value growth rate (top row) affect the firm's model-estimated share price.

SensitivityAnalysis

The base case estimates are shown in bold.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct? The model-estimated share price would normally be expected to:



Question 1048  duration, sensitivity analysis, WACC

Canaccord conducts a sensitivity analysis of the Israeli pharmaceutical firm InterCure's (INCR) estimated share price in figure 33 on page 30:

Canaccord2021_INCR_SensitivityAnalysis_Page30_Figure33

https://canaccordgenuity.bluematrix.com/sellside/EmailDocViewer?encrypt=a555719b-412b-4cc7-8528-505c27fb1e82&mime=PDF&co=Canaccordgenuity&id=mbottomley@cgf.com&source=libraryview&htmlToPdf=ture

Estimate the Macaulay duration of INCR's equity. The Macaulay duration is approximately:



Question 1039  gross domestic product, inflation, business cycle

In this business cycle graph shown in the RBA's article explaining recessions, how might 'output' on the y-axis be measured?

The ‘output’ y-axis amount in the business cycle chart can be measured by:



Question 1040  monetary policy, business cycle

When implementing monetary policy, do central banks attempt to or the swings in the business cycle?


Question 1041  monetary policy, business cycle

Recessions occur in the or phases of the business cycle?


Question 1042  monetary policy, business cycle

The central bank would be likely to implement contractionary monetary policy in the or phases of the business cycle?


Question 852  gross domestic product, inflation, employment, no explanation

When the economy is booming (in an upswing), you tend to see:



Question 840  gross domestic product

Calculate Australia’s GDP over the 2016 calendar year using the below table:

Australian Gross Domestic Product Components
A$ billion, 2016 Calendar Year from 1 Jan 2016 to 31 Dec 2016 inclusive
Consumption Investment Government spending Exports Imports
971 421 320 328 344
 

 

Source: ABS 5206.0 Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product. Table 3. Expenditure on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Current prices.

Over the 2016 calendar year, Australia’s GDP was:



Question 850  gross domestic product, gross domestic product per capita

Below is a table showing some countries’ GDP, population and GDP per capita.

Countries' GDP and Population
  GDP Population GDP per capita
  USD million millions of people USD
United States 18,036,648 325 55,492
China 11,158,457 1,383 8,066
Japan 4,383,076 127 34,586
Germany 3,363,600 83 40,623
Norway 500,519 5 95,027
 

 

Source: "GDP and its breakdown at current prices in US Dollars" United Nations Statistics Division. December 2016.

Using this data only, which one of these countries’ citizens have the highest living standards?



Question 853  gross domestic product

Which form of production is included in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reported by the government statistics agency?



Question 1053  bond pricing, monetary policy, supply and demand

In his 31 August 2021 article 'The rich get richer and rates get lower', Robert Armstrong states that: "Savings chase returns, so when there are more savings and the same number of places to put them, rates of return must fall" (Armstrong, 2021).

supply and demand graphs

Another way of saying that "rates of return must fall" when there are more savings (loanable funds) invested into fixed coupon government and corporate bonds, is that increased:



Question 1035  Minsky financial instability hypothesis, leverage

Which of the following statements about 'The Financial Instability Hypothesis' (Minsky, 1992) is NOT correct? Borrowers with sufficient income to pay:



Question 1036  Minsky financial instability hypothesis, leverage

Hyman Minsky, author of 'The Financial Instability Hypothesis' (1992), wrote:

In particular, over a protracted period of good times, capitalist economies tend to move from a financial structure dominated by hedge finance units to a structure in which there is large weight to units engaged in speculative and Ponzi finance. Furthermore, if an economy with a sizeable body of speculative financial units is in an inflationary state, and the authorities attempt to exorcise inflation by monetary constraint, then speculative units will become Ponzi units and the net worth of previously Ponzi units will quickly evaporate. Consequently, units with cash flow shortfalls will be forced to try to make position by selling out position. This is likely to lead to a collapse of asset values.

Which of the below statements explaining this quote is NOT correct?



Question 1037  gross domestic product, no explanation

What effect is being referred to in the following quote from the MARTIN model description?  

Economy-wide models also account for feedback between economic variables. For example, an increase in aggregate demand will encourage firms to hire more workers, which raises employment and lowers the unemployment rate. The tightening of the labour market is likely to lead to an increase in wages growth. The resulting increase in household incomes is likely to lead to an increase in consumption, further raising aggregate demand. (Ballantyne et al, 2019)

The name of the effect being referred to is:



Question 1038  fire sale, leverage, no explanation

Listen to 'Lessons and Questions from the GFC' on 6 December 2018 by RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle from 17:58 to 20:08 or read the below transcript:

Guy Debelle talks about the GFC and says that the Australian government’s guarantee of wholesale debt and deposits on 12 October 2008 was "introduced to facilitate the flow of credit to the real economy at a reasonable price and, in some cases, alleviate the need for asset fire sales, which have the capacity to tip markets and the economy into a worse equilibrium... The crisis very much demonstrated the critical importance of keeping the lending flowing. The lesson is that countries that did that fared better than countries that didn't. That lesson is relevant to the situation today in Australia, where there is a risk that a reduced appetite to lend will overly curtail borrowing with consequent effects for the Australian economy." (Debelle, 2019)

When assets are sold in a fire sale, there’s usually a large increase in the:



Question 882  Asian currency crisis, foreign exchange rate, original sin, no explanation

In the 1997 Asian currency crisis, the businesses most vulnerable to bankruptcy were those that:



Question 814  expected and historical returns

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


Question 815  expected and historical returns

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


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 986  initial public offering, capital raising

In an initial public offering (IPO), a:



Question 1013  book build, initial public offering, capital raising, demand schedule

A firm is floating its stock in an IPO and its underwriter has received the following bids, listed in order from highest to lowest share price:

IPO Book Build Bids
Bidders Share price Number of shares
  $/share millions
BidderA 2.5 2
BidderB 2 1.5
BidderC 1.5 4
BidderD 1 3
BidderE 0.5 2
 

 

Suppose that the firm's owner wishes to sell all of their 8 million shares, so no new money will be raised and no money will re-invested back into the firm. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?



Question 1014  book build, initial public offering, capital raising, demand schedule

A firm is floating its stock in an IPO and its underwriter has received the following bids, listed in order from highest to lowest share price:

IPO Book Build Bids
Bidders Share price Number of shares
  $/share millions
BidderA 2.5 2
BidderB 2 1.5
BidderC 1.5 4
BidderD 1 3
BidderE 0.5 2
 

 

Suppose that the firm's owner wishes to raise $6 million to expand the business by selling new stock in the initial public offering (IPO). The owner currently holds 8 million stock which are not for sale. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?



Question 566  capital structure, capital raising, rights issue, on market repurchase, dividend, stock split, bonus issue

A company's share price fell by 20% and its number of shares rose by 25%. Assume that there are no taxes, no signalling effects and no transaction costs.

Which one of the following corporate events may have happened?



Question 568  rights issue, capital raising, capital structure

A company conducts a 1 for 5 rights issue at a subscription price of $7 when the pre-announcement stock price was $10. What is the percentage change in the stock price and the number of shares outstanding? The answers are given in the same order. Ignore all taxes, transaction costs and signalling effects.



Question 625  dividend re-investment plan, capital raising

Which of the following statements about dividend re-investment plans (DRP's) is NOT correct?



Question 666  rights issue, capital raising

A company conducts a 2 for 3 rights issue at a subscription price of $8 when the pre-announcement stock price was $9. Assume that all investors use their rights to buy those extra shares.

What is the percentage increase in the stock price and the number of shares outstanding? The answers are given in the same order.



Question 755  bond pricing, capital raising

A firm wishes to raise $50 million now. They will issue 7% pa semi-annual coupon bonds that will mature in 6 years and have a face value of $100 each. Bond yields are 5% pa, given as an APR compounding every 6 months, and the yield curve is flat.

How many bonds should the firm issue?



Question 788  rights issue, capital raising

A firm wishes to raise $100 million now. The firm's current market value of equity is $300m and the market price per share is $5. They estimate that they'll be able to issue shares in a rights issue at a subscription price of $4. All answers are rounded to 6 decimal places. Ignore the time value of money and assume that all shareholders exercise their rights. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?



Question 803  capital raising, rights issue, initial public offering, on market repurchase, no explanation

Which one of the following capital raisings or payouts involve the sale of shares to existing shareholders only?



Question 1009  lemons problem, asymmetric information, adverse selection

Akerlof’s 1970 paper ‘The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism’ provides a famous example of asymmetric information leading to market failure. This example is commonly known as the ‘Lemons Problem’. Imagine that half of all second hand cars are:

  • Lemons worth $5,000 each. Lemons are bad second-hand cars with hidden faults that only the seller knows about; and the other half are
  • Plums worth $10,000 each. Plums are good second-hand cars without faults.

Car buyers can’t tell the difference between lemon and plum cars.

Car sellers know whether their car is a lemon or a plum since they’ve driven the car for a long time. However, plum car owners cannot prove their cars’ higher quality to buyers. Also, lemon car owners are known to dis-honestly claim that their cars are plums.

What will be the market price of second hand cars?



Question 1010  lemons problem, asymmetric information, adverse selection, fungible

The ‘Lemons Problem’ is likely to more adversely affect the desirability of which type of investment?



Question 1011  winners curse

A teacher fills up a large jar with coins. The jar is auctioned among a large class of wealthy accounting students who have never studied economics or finance.

The auction is conducted in the English style, which is as an open-outcry ascending auction. This means that the winning bidder is able to bid, win and pay slightly more than the second highest bidder's private valuation, but less than their own private valuation.

The jar of coins is not allowed to be weighed by students and is filled with different-valued coins so it’s difficult to value. Therefore there is a wide distribution of bidders’ fair value estimates. Students’ bids are purely profit-driven, there is no fame to be gained by being the winner or loser.

Assume that each bidder bids up to their personal estimate of the fair value of the jar of coins without observing the number of other bidders during the auction. The winning bidder is likely to:



Question 1012  moral hazard, principal agent problem, asymmetric information

When does the ‘principal-agent problem’ occur? Is it when:

I. The principal has conflicting incentives (moral hazard);

II. The agent has conflicting incentives (moral hazard);

III. The principal has incomplete information about the agent (asymmetric information); or

IV. The agent has incomplete information about the principal (asymmetric information)?

The principal-agent problem occurs when the following statements are true:



Question 1044  leverage, capital structure, beta

A levered firm has only 2 assets on its balance sheet with the below market values and CAPM betas. The risk free rate is 3% pa and the market risk premium is 5% pa. Assume that the CAPM is correct and all assets are fairly priced.

Balance Sheet Market Values and Betas
Balance sheet item Market value ($m) Beta
Cash asset 0.5 0
Truck assets 0.5 2
Loan liabilities 0.25 0.1
Equity funding ? ?
 

 

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?



Question 1045  payout policy, leverage, capital structure, beta

A levered firm has only 2 assets on its balance sheet with the below market values and CAPM betas. The risk free rate is 3% pa and the market risk premium is 5% pa. Assume that the CAPM is correct and all assets are fairly priced.

Balance Sheet Market Values and Betas
Balance sheet item Market value ($m) Beta
Cash asset 0.5 0
Truck assets 0.5 2
Loan liabilities 0.25 0.1
Equity funding ? ?
 

 

The firm then pays out all of its cash as a dividend. Assume that the beta and yield on the loan liability remain unchanged. Ignore taxes, transaction costs, signalling, information asymmetries and other frictions.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct? This event led to a:



Question 1046  leverage, capital structure

A levered firm has only 2 assets on its balance sheet with the below market values and CAPM betas. The risk free rate is 3% pa and the market risk premium is 5% pa. Assume that the CAPM is correct and all assets are fairly priced.

Balance Sheet Market Values and Betas
Balance sheet item Market value ($m) Beta
Cash asset 0.5 0
Truck assets 0.5 2
Loan liabilities 0.25 0.1
Equity funding ? ?
 

 

The firm then pays off (retires) all of its loan liabilities using its cash. Ignore interest tax shields.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct? All answers are given to 6 decimal places. This event led to a:



Question 1047  five Cs of credit, banking, debt terminology, Loan, credit risk, risk, leverage, financial distress

Which of the following is NOT one of the "five C's" of credit used by bankers?



Question 1055  percent of sales forecasting

Which of the following income statement and balance sheet items should NOT be forecast using the 'percent of sales' technique?



Question 1056  CFFA

Which of the following formulas for the carrying or net amount of 'intangible assets' such as patents from the balance sheet is correct? Assume that now is time 1 and last year is time 0, and that 'IntangibleAssets' is a carrying value net of accumulated depreciation.



Question 938  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.

In the last 5 minutes, bad economic news was released showing a higher chance of recession. Over this time the share market fell by 2%. 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?



Question 729  book and market values, balance sheet, no explanation

If a firm makes a profit and pays no dividends, which of the firm’s accounts will increase?



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?

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 1090  NPV, DDM, multi stage growth model

You're considering starting a software company with an initial (t=0) cost of $71.

The first positive cash flow will be $10 in one year (t=1), and will grow by 2% pa for 3 years. So the next cash flows will be:
$10 at t=1;
$10.2 (=10*(1+0.02)^1) at t=2;
$10.404 (=10*(1+0.02)^2) at t=3;
$10.6121 (=10*(1+0.02)^3) at t=4.

From t=4 onwards, these positive cash flows will grow at the lower rate -3% pa (note the negative sign) in perpetuity. So the subsequent cash flows will be:
$10.2937 (=10*(1+0.02)^3*(1-0.03)^1) at t=5;
$9.9849 (=10*(1+0.02)^3*(1-0.03)^2) at t=6;
$9.6854 (=10*(1+0.02)^3*(1-0.03)^3) at t=7, and so on forever.

The required return is 10% pa. What is the net present value (NPV) of starting this company? All results above are rounded to 4 decimal points, and answer options below to 2 decimal points. The NPV of starting this company is: