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Before moving further, let’s understand what equity and debt funds are. Capital structure is a combination of long term sources of fund employed by a company. The sources of fund here are equity as well borrowing in form of debt like bonds/debentures and may include preference shares, debentures and retained earnings. It’s the permanent financing of the company and gives us an idea how is the structure of the liabilities of the firm. Share CapitalShare capital refers to the funds raised by an organization by issuing the company’s initial public offerings, common shares or preference stocks to the public. It appears as the owner’s or shareholders’ equity on the corporate balance sheet’s liability side.

It is the permanent financing of a firm represented by long-term debt, plus preferred stocks and net worth. A business without capital is impossible, and similarly, a business without capital structure is impossible to be scaled. In brief, a capital structure is a combination of different debt and equity funds ratios. A capital structure is generally designed to maximise the development from the raised and available funds. However, every business has diverse operations and aims, owing to which different types of capital structures have emerged. There are three capital structures, namely optimal, equity, and debt.
Some of the key metrics for analyzing business capital are weighted average cost of capital, debt to equity, debt to capital, and return on equity. A company’s balance sheet provides for metric analysis of a capital structure, which is split among assets, liabilities, and equity. Other private companies are responsible for assessing their capital thresholds, capital assets, and capital needs for corporate investment. Most of the financial capital analysis for businesses is done by closely analyzing the balance sheet.
Liquidation of the https://1investing.in/ can occur in case of any failures related to repayment of the principal amount or interest payment. Debt undoubtedly adds to the financial risks faced by a business and is more dangerous. Risk of cash insolvency arises due to failure to pay fixed interest liabilities. Generally, the higher proportion of debt in capital structure compels the company to pay higher rate of interest on debt irrespective of the fact that the fund is available or not. The non-payment of interest charges and principal amount in time call for liquidation of the company.
The first recapitalization option is increasing the debt and decreasing equity. It is done by issuing more of debt and repurchasing of equity. This option is suitable for companies willing to retain a high degree of control with themselves.
Equity funds are the funds where the rights are not distributed outside the organisation. Briefly, the debt-free funds are termed equity funds and contributed earnings and retained earnings are examples of equity funds. Let us consider a rival company B which has $12, 00,000 in assets and ₹ 1, 00,000 in debt. Company B is highly leveraged as for every ₹1 of debt, the company has ₹11 in equity. This implies that the company has to focus on its returns to be able to finance its debts. This company would also be viewed as a greater risk by the lenders.

Capital structure refers to the pattern and the proportion in which the composition of the capitalization is done. Equity capital is raised by issuing shares in the company, publicly or privately, and is used to fund the expansion of the business. A company that totaled up its capital value would include every item owned by the business as well as all of its financial assets .
Nature of Business -If your business is a monopoly you can go for debentures because your sales can give you adequate profits to pay your debts easily or pay dividends. There is no change in investment decisions or in the firm’s total assets. Due to taxes, EBIT for an all-equity firm would have to be higher for the firm to still be worth $43 million.
Different companies have different capital structures like some have capital based on debt, some have based on equity and some have a mixed or combination of both in their financial mix. Proportion of equity share capital in relation to the total capital comprising the other securities is small leading to capitalization being highly geared. The cost of equity is equal to capitalization rate of pure equity stream plus a premium for financial risk. A large proportion consisting of equity capital and retained earnings which have been ploughed back into the firm over a considerably large period of time. The debt capacity of a company depends on its ability to generate future cash flows.
This term includes only long-term debt and total stockholders’ investment. It may be defined as one including both short-term and long-term funds. The word capital in finance domain refers to the financial assets of a firm. It is basically the funding through which a firm acquires its assets and run its operations.
If the amount of equity capital raised is relatively less and the amount of borrowed funds and preference shares is relatively more, then it is said to be trading on thin equity. This is an optimal level of debt and equity mix which every firm must endeavour to attain. In the second stage, further application of debt will enhance cost of debt and equity share capital so sharply as to offset the gains in net income. High corporate tax, high tax on dividend and capital gain directly influence the capital structure decisions. High tax discourages the issues of equity shares and encourages issuing more debentures.
A capital structure concept is said to be “high-geared” if it has agreed to pay a fixed rate of interest or dividends on a very large proportion of its total capital funds. However, the rate of dividend cannot go beyond the general rate of return in case the entire capital consists of only equity capital i.e. if the company had issued only equity shares. But if the amount of equity capital is relatively larger than the amount of borrowed funds and preference shares, then it is said to be trading on thick equity. But usually, trading on equity is understood to mean trading on thin equity.
Deciding the suitable capital structure is the important decision of the financial management because it is closely related to the value of the firm. Decisions relating to financing the assets of a firm are very crucial in every business and the finance manager is often caught in the dilemma of what the optimum proportion of debt and equity should be. As a general rule there should be a proper mix of debt and equity capital in financing the firm’s assets. Capital structure is usually designed to serve the interest of the equity shareholders. Hence capital structure implies the composition of funds raised from various sources broadly classified as debt and equity. It may be defined as the proportion of debt and equity in the total capital that will remain invested in a business over a long period of time.
The pendulum has now swung far back and points to the period of calmer stagnation, which inevitably follows crises and storms, such as have shaken the business world to its foundations. Business becomes normal and is carried on sound lines and with manifest restrictions. Prices for commodities are at a low level, traffic is small and bank earnings are much reduced in value. The stocks having reached top, prices begin to decline owing to the fear of future trouble.
ClearTax offers taxation & financial solutions to individuals, businesses, organizations & chartered accountants in India. ClearTax serves 1.5+ Million happy customers, 20000+ CAs & tax experts & 10000+ businesses across India. Let us make an in-depth study of the meaning, concept, importance and factors of capital structure. It is the sum of a corporation’s long term financing included in the capital. A firm prefers to be on low gear during depreciation period because earnings will be less.
In addition, it ensures accurate funds utilization for business. The right capital structure level decreases the overall capital cost to the highest level. IV. Raise 50 per cent equity capital and 50 per cent preference share capital at 10 per cent.
Given that earnings remains constant, such decrease in WACC ups JJ Company’s value. With this debt and equity, company properties, which are also listed on the balance sheet, are purchased. Capital structure can be a combination of the long-term debt, short-term debt, common stock, and preferred stock of a company. In assessing the capital structure, the proportion of a firm’s short-term debt against long-term debt is considered. Cost of capital means cost of raising the capital from different sources of funds. A business enterprise should generate enough revenue to meet its cost of capital and finance its future growth.
According to the net operating approach, the cost of equity increases in accordance with leverage. Due to which the weighted average cost of capital remains constant and the value of the firm also remains constant as leverage is changed. The use of debt does not change the risk perception of investors, as a result, the equity capitalisation rate and the debt capitalisation rate remain constant with changes in leverage.
