Sunday, August 23, 2020

Case summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Case outline - Essay Example For example, Paula can be new to new sheet material standard of the lodging. One progressively conceivable explanation is that Paula thinks that its hard to fit to this standard since it challenges her typical pace of work. Lisa doesn't think about these alternatives by any stretch of the imagination; her assessment of Paulas work is by all accounts excessively abstract. I accept that Lisa treats Paula uniquely in contrast to different servants. As indicated by her sentiment, cleaning is truly hard and significantly more youthful representatives â€Å"are challenged†. Regardless of Paulas high caliber of work, Lisa talks about Paulas age adversely. On the off chance that I were an administrator, I would not trust Lisa on the grounds that her assessment is prejudicial. All individuals must be dealt with similarly grinding away regardless of their age, sex, sexual orientation, religion and so forth. So as to settle on the correct choice, I will check whether Paula truly can't satisfy the guideline of the inn. To determine the issue, I would encourage Lisa to chat with Paula about new sheet material guidelines and her presentation. As Paulas line chief, Lisa needs to give her a helpful criticism about her presentation. She needs to make reference to both great and awful parts of Paulas work to demonstrate that her commitment to the group is valued. In addition, Lisa needs to ensure that Paula knows about new sheet material norm. In the event that she thinks that its hard to fit it, Lisa can offer her a preparation program. There are more youthful maids who are additionally tested by new sheet material norm. They can join Paula and gain from her how to help their nature of work. More youthful representatives can profit by participation with Paula in light of the fact that she has a significant work understanding and very much created abilities. Simultaneously, Paula can adjust to new standards faster in the event that she is helped by somebody from her group. Clearly there are some difficult issue with cooperation between maids. Paulas execution can deteriorate in light of the fact that she is treated as an untouchable by her group. As the

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Hurdle vs. Hurtle

Obstacle versus Plunge Obstacle versus Plunge Obstacle versus Plunge By Maeve Maddox The accompanying citation is from a site given to business English. The blogger is clarifying the articulation â€Å"to give a heads-up†: â€Å"This is a heads-up† is an extremely American method of saying, â€Å"I’m revealing to you this now on the grounds that xyz thing is leaping toward you and you’re going to need to accomplish something or escape the way.† It’s all the while a notification and an admonition. The nearness of the word jumping in this clarification is a solid sign that the creator of this site may have an unstable handle of the language he’s clarifying. The word he’s going after is rushing. Here are some more instances of the abuse of leaping on the Web: Space rock leaping towards earth Leaping Toward a Lockout Is it accurate to say that we are jumping towards obscurity and disastrous devastation? Is riches disparity in America leaping our country toward common agitation? Truck collides with vehicle, sends it leaping towards transport stop. In every model, the word ought to rush. Albeit both obstacle and rush can be utilized as either action word or thing, in most broad settings, obstacle is normally a thing and plunge an action word. obstacle An obstacle is a versatile rectangular edge that ranchers use to set up brief nooks. In sports, an obstacle is an obstruction to be hopped over by ponies or competitors. Obstacle can be utilized as an action word to mean either â€Å"to assemble a hurdle,† or â€Å"to hop over an obstacle.† The thing obstacle is oftentimes utilized allegorically: Ex-Im Bank Hits Hurdle in New GOP Leadership Xbox Ones Next Hurdle, Developing True Exclusives Last obstacle before Palmas title Parliament clears finalâ hurdle towards EU pesticide boycott. In these non-literal uses, an obstacle is any impediment. The monetary term â€Å"hurdle rate† alludes to the base pace of return, while applying a limited income examination, that a financial specialist requires before focusing on a venture. rush As an intransitive action word, rush methods â€Å"to move along quickly or wildly†: The wild train plunged along the tracks. All of a sudden, the stone came tearing at the campers. Weakly, I watched the bike tear past me into traffic. The transitive utilization of plunge isn't obscure, however in current use the word heave is utilized all the more as often as possible for the significance â€Å"to toss with force,† as in â€Å"The competitor flung the shot put 20 yards.† Novelist Louise Penney, then again, depicts a pointed stone â€Å"hurtled from a bow.† In the event that you end up composing the word leaping, stop. Except if the setting has something to do with hopping over an obstacle, tearing is your assertion. Need to improve your English quickly a day? Get a membership and begin accepting our composing tips and activities day by day! Continue learning! Peruse the Misused Words classification, check our famous posts, or pick a related post below:Spelling Test 1Among versus AmongstTestimony versus Tribute

Friday, August 21, 2020

Placebos Essays (1376 words) - Clinical Research, Medical Ethics

Fake treatments Why we need fake treatments English/History By Jj wallis A fake treatment is characterized as a latent substance looking like a drug, given for mental impact or as a control in assessing a medication accepted to be dynamic. Anyway the fake treatment just fits this depiction under the limitations it has been given by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which alludes to the fake treatment as an investigational new medication. In reality, up until the current quite a bit of medication was based on fake treatments. In the relatively recent past, the ceremonies and images of mending established the main part of the doctors armamentarium. In the early many years of the twentieth century, the greater part of the drug that specialists conveyed in their little dark packs and kept in their office cupboards had next to zero pharmacological incentive against the diseases for which they were recommended. By and by, their utilization in the suitable clinical setting was no uncertainty every now and again beneficial.(Brown, 6) Despite the fact that fake treatments have been demonstrated successful medication on numerous occasions the FDA stays hesitant to support them for anything over clinical research. The FDA remains on their objection to fake treatments as medication on the premise that patients are to be given the best treatment accessible. Who is to state that a fake treatment isn't as, if not more compelling than the acknowledged cure? There are a perpetual assortment of cases that have demonstrated fake treatments uncertainly viable. Among the most celebrated of these cases is the tale of Mr. Wright, who was found to have malignancy and in 1957 was given just days to live. Hospitalized in Long Beach, California, with tumors the size of oranges, he heard that researchers had found a pony serum, Krebiozen, that seemed, by all accounts, to be successful against malignancy. After Wright asked to get the serum, his doctor, Dr. Philip West, at long last concurred and gave wright the infusion on a Friday evening, not disclosing to Wright that infusion comprised distinctly of water. The next Monday the specialist was dumbfounded to find that the patient's tumors were no more. Dr. West later composed the tumors, had softened like snowballs on a hot oven. At Tulane University, Dr. Eileen Palace has been utilizing a fake treatment to reestablish sexual excitement in ladies who state they are nonorgasmic. The ladies are snare d to a biofeedback machine that they are told measures their vaginal blood stream, a file of excitement. At that point they are indicated sexual improvements that would stir most ladies. The examination at that point deceives the ladies by imparting a bogus input sign, inside 30 seconds, that their vaginal blood stream has expanded. Very quickly after they become really excited. For another situation an examination was completed in Japan on 13 individuals that were incredibly susceptible to harm ivy. Every individual was scoured on one arm with an innocuous leaf and told that it was poison ivy and afterward scoured on the contrary arm with poison ivy and told that it was innocuous. Every one of the thirteen broke out in a rash where the innocuous leaf had reached their arm. Just two responded to the toxic substance ivy leaves. (Blakeslee, 2) In one more model, patients with angina pectoris, chest torment, related with coronary illness, have been appeared to improve generously following an activity that included just a basic skin entry point. Angina likewise improved after a kind of conduit medical procedure once thought to be successful however later saw as incapable. (Turner, 1) These are only a couple of an extraordinary number of cases that demonstrate the adequacy of fake treatments. How accomplish fake treatments work? There are numerous hypotheses on how fake treatments work yet actually no distinct answers. Many accept that the reaction to fake treatments is one of molding. That will be that the site of a specialist, his white coat, the clean smell, and an endorsed medicine is likened with being relieved, and in light of the fact that we feel that we will show signs of improvement we do. Some feel that a fake treatment may decrease pressure, permitting the body to recover some regular ideal degree of wellbeing. Others accept that extraordinary atoms in the mind help do the misleading impact. An ongoing report found that focused on creatures could deliver a valium like substance in their mind in the event that they have some authority over the wellspring of the pressure. Individuals should unquestionably share

Hip replacement Essays

Hip substitution Essays Hip substitution Essay Hip substitution Essay Assistant roll was set leg length Tanat Eden everlasting operatively Ana a let lower limit was prepared and hung in the standard sterile design. No successive pressure was set on the non-employable leg. The patients left hip was moved toward utilizing the standard postural sidelong careful entry point and approach the similar sounding word usage band and the glutens greatest belt were chiseled and in fixed with the cut. Profound charley retractor was put. The patients back sidelong delicate tissues were raised from the postural parallel femur and reaching out along the femoral head into the executable in a rearranged hockey stick design. The sciatic nerve has been recognized, palpated, and was kept secured during the strategy. The patients hip was separated. The femoral neck stilettos was performed at the level operatively endeavoring. Femoral head was expelled was evacuated without trouble. The executable was uncovered and the auxiliary labium was extracted. The executable was reamed utilizing mm and mm reamers. They measured mm set of three trolley shell was unblemished into a situation with 45 degrees of snatching and roughly 20 degrees of self preoccupation. Due to the patients back divider inadequacy there was roughly 1 5 percent of the back part of the segment revealed. The patients cup was steady and it was chosen for enlarge obsession with 2 basic screws set into the Ilium. Great commitment of the two screws was noted. The executable was inundated preceding impaction of the cup. A 32 mm 10 degree back left basic liner was then pressed into position with great commitment of the strolling instrument noted. The femur was the put in inward pivot and planning of the femoral waterway was performed utilizing foremost box stepped and charley all. Consecutive reaming from mm to mm at 0. Mm augmentations were practiced. The trench was suggested with 10, 1, and 12 introduces with great rotational steadiness noted with the mm propose. Preliminary decreases was performed utilizing the standard neck off stud and a +3. Mm femoral head. It was checked for dependability and full augmentation with outer revolution. 45 degree flexing with interior turn at 90 degrees and flexing at 90 degrees with no impingement noted t 80 degrees of inward revolution. The hip could be flexed to roughly 110 degrees too without proof of precariousness. The breaking point on flexing was because of the patients delicate tissues. The leg length was then reevaluated and felt to be proper. The femur was separated. Preliminary introduce and embeds were evacuated. The femoral channel was set up for influence. A size 12 femoral Steen was then embedded it was shown to a last settled position which was roughly mm from being completely situated. Preliminary decrease was performed with a +mm femoral head Page 3 ND amazing steadiness was noted in all situations as recently portrayed. The preliminary femoral head was expelled and Morse tighten was cleaned and dried and a size mm pearl +Mum closes pearl Temporal nana was Impacted chivalrous ten Morse tighten. I en head was moved. The hip was altogether flooded with throb influence. The postural parallel delicate tissue structures were fixed to the postural sidelong femur through drill openings utilizing 5. 0 Othello stitch. The site and zone was palpated and noted to be liberated from the fix. Profound reemission channel was set. The Laotian band was shut utilizing 1. Triumph stitch in an ejected manner.

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Mission Of Microfinance Institutions Versus Microfinance Goes Public Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

The difference between many of commercial banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) is the commitment to a double-bottom line, financial and social, of the latter. The microfinance itself is considered as a poverty alleviation tool and as the sector with potential to become self-sustainable. There have been a number of debates about the future of the microfinance industry. Since 1990s, some debates regarding the possibility of achieving the social mission of the MFIs, mission to serve the poor and thus to alleviate the poverty, emerged as many microfinance institutions have been moving towards commercialization. Others argue that for-profit oriented microfinance institutions may move to targeting customers who are better off than their initial target. This phenomenon is known as mission drift. Recently, with the increased interest of microfinance sector from international investors, commercial, private and socially responsible, and up-scaling of the MFIs, there have been a number of discussions about the mission drift and concern that the microfinance is losing its social mission, commitment to poverty alleviation. Despite this interest, only few studies have been conducted to examine this issue. This paper will attempt to discuss whether or not MFIs moving up-market face difficulties in reaching their double bottom line. The first part of the paper will provide an overview of the literature on the topic of mission drift and try to answer the questions whether the mission drift is a relevant concern for the MFIs. The second part will discuss on whether MFIs that go public drift mission, to which extent growth and development of the industry really help poor people and what could be done in order to control and protect social bottom line. The last part will conclude. Mission Drift as a relevant concern for the commercialized and transformed MFIs In the existing literature there is definitely more than one definition of mission drift, but all of them stating generally about the same issues: mission drift is the notion when MFIs drift away from their original mission, to serve poor clients and alleviate poverty, to more profit generating vision by serving wealthier clients or by charging high interest rates for their clients. Most of the recent papers agree on the definition of mission drift given by Cull et al. (2007) ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦microbanks moved away from servicing their poorer clients in pursuit of commercial viability. Some researchers indicate mission drift with commercialization and transformation (Christen, 2001). It is thought that the commercialization approach may lead to more profit oriented motives and will decrease social impact, which in turn may follow by targeting less risky clients, thus drifting its focus away from the poor population. According to Dichter and Harper (2007), the microfinance institutions are losing their sight of mission to serve the poor while growing and getting mature. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, claims that ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦less poor clients crowd out poorer clients in any credit scheme (Christen and Drake, 2002, p. 10). Meanwhile, as the mission of MFIs is to provide microfinance services to the poor, the assumptions could be made that, is to lend relatively small amount of money to very poor clients. At the same time, concern of the financial viability of the MFIs should not be underestimated. The issue of mission drift has been discussed since 1992, when microfinance institution in Bolivia PRODEM was commercialized and transformed into the bank, BancoSol (Rhyne, 1998). Recent news, such as the initial public offering (IPO) of Banco Compartamos in Mexico in 2007, that led to total proceed of this sale to almost USD 450 million profit, have added new value to the debate (Rosenberg, 2007; Hudon, 2009). Thus, there are some critics about microfinance, saying that MFIs are becoming more profit oriented at the expense of greater outreach to the poor people. The point is that higher profits lead to lower outreach. Woller, Dunford, and Woodworth (1999) and Woller (2002) state that mission drift actually happens when a MFI step back from their initial poor customer segment. However, some researchers conjecture that MFIs that became commercialized are better able to serve the poorest customers due to spillover effect, as their profit motives lead them to be more efficient and increase their willingness to extend loan services to the new markets (urban and rural) (Rhyne, 1998; Christen and Drake, 2002). The underlying message is that when someone seeks the explanations for mission drift, the profit of the MFI is not the only key element that should be considered, but the MFIs costs should also be focused upon. Some country studies give evidence that there is a trade-off between social and financial bottom line, serving the poorest and being financially viable, since transaction costs for smaller loans are higher than transaction costs for larger loans (Paxton, Graham, and Thraen, 2000). However, Christen (2001) in his study about commercialized and transformed MFIs in Latin America made a conclusion that mission drift has not occurred. Despite the ongoing debates and interest on mission drift, only few studies have been conducted to investigate the issue. There is a lack of cross-country studies with a large number of MFIs involved in order to receive extensive results and findings. C. Bruck writes in the New Yorker article about these debates: Since relatively few rigorous studies on the impact of microfinance have been completed, ideology tends to dominate (Bruck, 2006). Important empirical evidence on scaling up was made by Hishigsuren (2007) in India. The study concludes that when measured by depth and scale of outreach to poor clients, MFI shows no evidence of mission drift. At the same time it shows that up-scaling MFI is able to achieve greater cost efficiency. Another finding of this study (Hishigsuren, 2007) indicates that mission drift is not a result of well-planned decisions by the board of directors or management. The analysis of 39 transformed MFI by Fernando (2004) concludes that these MFIs did not lose sight of the mission but on contrary even improved their financial performance. The cross-country study by Cull et al. (2007) uses a sample of 124 MFIs in 49 countries addressing the issue of mission drift. They found that even the MFIs might follow vigorous financial goals, they still can be dedicated to their social mission. The paper of Mersland and Strom (2009) investigates mission drift while taking into account average loan size, le nding methodology, gender and market served by the MFI. So far it is the largest cross-country study on mission drift. Mersland and Strom found ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦no evidence of mission drift in the industry as a whole (Mersland and Strom, 2009, p. 29). However, this study on the observation of 379 MFIs reveals that the mission drift may occur if a MFI is cost inefficient and seeks higher financial returns, so MFIs attention should be made on reducing its costs first. Almost all studies on mission drift, including the ones mentioned above, used average loan size as a proxy for the empirical analysis to measure to degree of outreach of the MFI, assuming that the increase of the size of the average loan means serving better off client thus leads to mission drift of the MFI (Bhatt and Tang, 2001; Cull et al., 2007; Schreiner, 2002). However, this MFIs focus on wealthier clients, that cost less, might be driven by profit-motivated donors. Therefore, drifting away from the mission is the way MFI sees to attract more financial sources (Gosh and Van Tassel, 2008). Gosh and Van Tassel (2008) tried to investigate mission drift issue using poverty gap ratio approach and came to the conclusion that providing larger loans lowers the actual poverty reduction per dollar spent on one side, but the MFI is not necessarily forsaking its social mission on the other side. Thereby, the concern about financial sustainability of the MFIS has led to commercialization, transformation and scaling-up, which in turn suspected of being in the way of reaching further outreach and cause on mission drift. The process of commercialization and scaling-up, which most of the most involve interfere with large donors, may indeed tend to an increase in the average loan size and the tendency to lend to better off clients, wealthier people. However, Armendriz de Aghion and Szafarz (2009) argue that mission drift is not only driven by transaction cost minimization: Instead, poverty-oriented microfinance institutions could potentially deviate from their mission by extending larger loans neither because of progressive lending nor because of cross-subsidization, but because of the interplay between their own mission, the cost differentials between poor and unbanked wealthier clients, and region-specific characteristics pertaining to the heterogeneity of their clientele (Armen driz de Aghion and Szafarz, 2009). Additionally, such factors as strategy and portfolio maturity (Christen, 2000) may indeed increase the amount of the loan size without MFIs necessarily drifting from their poverty alleviation mission. According to the literature review and empirical analysis mentioned above, one can come to the conclusion that mission drift is indeed a relevant concern for some MFIs, but not necessarily for all. Though this statement may sound unconvincing, it is in fact essential to understand that institutional factors may also affect how well a MFI is able to reach both social and financial goals. Lending methodology, individual lending or group lending, cost structure and operating and country environment, market where a MFI is operation, urban or rural, are among these factors. Therefore, a wider perspective into the development of the microfinance sector is needed in order to deviate from mission drift. Going Public versus Mission Drift. Microfinance Best Practices? Recently microfinance institutions have begun to attract private investments and gone public (capital market). Is the microfinance sector losing vision of its mission to help poor and alleviate poverty? To which extent growth and development of the industry really help poor people? The initial public offering (IPO) of the Banco Compartamos in 2007, the largest MFI in Mexico, awoke tremendously number of debates. Especially MFI has been criticized for charging very high interest rates to its clients (sometimes even 100% for some products). At what level are interest rates excessive, even for a MFI?   This is the question at the heart of the Compartamos debate. Surprisingly, but most of the literature publications on mission drift do not take into consideration interest rate issue. Cull et al. (2008), Gonzalez and Rosenberg (2006) argue that NGOs charge higher interest rates than commercial (regulated) MFIs, explaining it that NGOs have higher costs while serving poorer clients than commercial MFIs. But maybe the situation is like this just because these types of microfinance institutions are funded by profit-oriented donors? No doubts that interest rate should be considered as a part of comprehensive view of mission drift (Ashta and Hudon, 2009). However, we should not to forget that interest rate charged for clients might be relatively high due to country environment and monopoly power. This is what is happening in Mexico, where interest rates are higher than in other countries, but Compartamos co-founder and executive vice-president, Carlos Danel, says that this is because the loans are typically much smaller, than elsewhere: We could push people to borrow bigger loans, but we dont believe in doing that [ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦] In the four years since weve gone public [2007] our rates have gone down 10%, and we offer by far the lowest rates in the Mexican market. Taking the company public raises the bar in terms of performance, transparency and accountability. (Evans, 2010) Nevertheless, it should be noticed that even through the IPO of Compartamos generated almost USD 450 million gains, there was no additional money raised to finance portfolio growth. Two third of this money, around USD 300 million, went to the three NGOs and development agencies, and one third (around USD 150 million) went to private individuals (Ashta, 2009). Although there has already been other IPOs in microfinance industry before (Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) proceed IPO in 2003 and was listed on the Jakarta, Singapore and other stock exchanges; Equity Bank Kenya in 2006, on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and Network Microfinance Bank in Pakistan, a much smaller organization), nowhere had been generated so high profits, therefore there was no much discussion about it. Where this can lead microfinance industry? Largest MFI in India, SKS Microfinance, recently has announced it plans to go public and sell shares on the India stock exchange in IPO. This will be the first microfinance IPO in India and beyond any doubt this is the hot topic these days to discuss. SKS Microfinance is planning to raise more than USD 250 million through the sale of equity shares (the Economic Times, 2010). A number of other MFIs, including Spandana, Share Microfin, Bandhan, BASIX and Equitas, may also have plans to go public based on the success of SKSs IPO (Deepika Thapliyal, 2010). This news has caused debates on whether a public company can prevent financial objectives from  displacing the social goals, to put it simple, whether MFI will drift their mission towards more profit orientation. Mohammad Yunus argued on this topic in an interview with Microfinance Focus (2010): This is coming from the banking side, from the profit maximizing side and I am opposed to that. If they do it, I cannot stop them but I would encourage genuine Microcredit programs.ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦The concern is that when you put an IPO, you are promising your investors that there is a lot of money to be made and this is a wrong message. Poor people should not be shown as an opportunity to make money out of. If you have a new kind of IPO where you can say that you can help people get out of poverty, it is a social business and if you invest here you never get any return from this then it is good. It is clear that it is important to focus on what is really at risk here, not only in India, but around the world, as movement of microfinance going public may continue and after the IPO of SKS. Can microfinance and the capital markets together be focused on poverty alleviation? Can IPO help MFI to serve larger number of people at the lowest sustainable prices and in the quickest possible time? Coming back to Mohammad Yunus statement mentioned above, some can challenge his argument. Microfinance institutions from its very name shows that MFI is actually a financial intermediator that deals all the time with risks and returns, trying to attract funds in order to finance portfolio growth, and with products and services that are similar to the ones offered by the formal financial sector. Therefore similarly the capital funding sources may be obtained from donors, investment companies and funds, including commercial loans, customer deposits, and financial markets. All these options have their opportunities, limitations and risks. For instance, there is always a risk that investors will be more profit-oriented than involved in achieving social objectives by the MFI. Therefore, MFI will tend to obtain higher profits, thus charging higher interest rates for its clients or drifting to better off clients to mitigate its risk of non repayment, mission drift can occur. As it was shown in the first part of this paper, this is not the case for all MFIs. Some practitioners support the idea of an IPO and claim some advantages of the IPO, which can be seen as the following (blogs on www.microfinancefocus.com, www.microfinanceinsights.com, www.devex.com, www.linkedin.com): The raise of the additional capital (not the case of Compartamos IPO). Funding obtained thought is nothing else than just another financial instrument. Reliable long-term source of funding and expanding the loan portfolio, as opposed to commercial bank borrowings and clients deposits that must be reimbursed at maturity. Additionally there is always a risk of unexpected termination of clients deposits, thus leading to a risk of liquidity when tending to finance portfolio only by inner sources (savings). Sometimes, for instance in times of financial crisis even the commercial bank borrowings may be canceled before their maturity, that again trigger the same problems as with savings. Usually the cost of funds obtained through the IPO is lower than the cost of commercial banking sources. Therefore the assumption could be made that interest rates for the loan to microentrepreneurs can be lower. From the financial point of view, the funds raised through the IPO actually is an equity injection for which a MFI is not obliged by the regulations of Central Banks to set the liquidity reserve requirements as it is required for instance for customers deposits, thereby increasing the interest rates charged. Where there are pros, there are always cons, thus criticism against each of the statement above exists on the same blogs, for instance Milford Bateman on his interview to Microfinance Insights (April 2010) says: New regulations and prohibitions on what managers can do with their MFI may well become a reality in the near future, MFIs that have gone through the IPO procedure quickly lose all remaining links with, and concern for, the local community. They become hard-headed, profit-driven businesses providing a product to anyone willing to pay for it: no more, no less. But an IPO does not necessarily mean that poor people are ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦shown as an opportunity to make money out ofÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦. The MFIs profit obtained through the IPO may be distributed as dividends to the respective shareholders or to retain these gains in order to reinvest them in the further development of its activities, serving more poor people and thus increase the outreach and contribute to the process of poverty alleviation. At the same time, other practitioners say that just the fact that microfinance is going towards an IPO is an example in itself of serious mission drift (Bateman, 2010). It is a technique most often deployed under cover of providing more microfinance, but the most important motivation in practice, is actually for an MFIs managers/owners to privately benefit. The gains to the poor are simply not there. (Bateman, 2010). Nevertheless, at this point it is quite early to make any conclusion, as only few MFIs have gone public. Microfinance still remains to be considered as being a social business, even with loads of criticism about IPO, especially the IPO of Compartamos. Thus it is essential to protect social line of the microfinance industry and try to avoid mission drift, trade-off between financial objectives and social objectives at the expense of the poor. In order to obtain successfully both these objectives, a professional board of directors, senior executive management and operational staff with the sound of social mission is needed, who will perform management decision not only driven by profit. Sound social corporate governance is designed to demonstrate the institutional social and development goals (Todd, 2008; Ashta, 2009). Social corporate governance that is properly designed, alleviate the strain between financial and social objectives and may provide a solution to mission drift in the MFI (Todd, 2008). In addition, reliable internal control system, comprehensive financial and risk managemen t systems, including asset and liability management for liquidity, interest rate and foreign currency risks, social performance management are essentially should be taken into account, as being a core of the institution. To make regularly social performance assessment of the MFI, for instance using CERISE tools, might help to be on the sight of the current situation of the institution and therefore to mitigate the risk of mission drift. Conclusion It is obvious that mission drift issue of microfinance has manifold sources and the exclusion of one relatively minor source is not an adequate prescription for mitigating this issue. Commercialization of the MFIs is only one among several ways to mission drift, and not the most threatening. Some studies showed that even the MFIs might follow vigorous financial goals, they still can be dedicated to their social mission. The mission drift may occur if a MFI is cost inefficient and seeks higher financial returns, so rather than concentrating on the issue of commercialization of the MFIs, attention should be made on reducing the costs per client. Mission drift is indeed a relevant concern for some MFIs, but not necessarily for all. Though this statement may sound unconvincing, it is in fact essential to understand that institutional factors may also affect how well a MFI is able to reach both social and financial goals. Absolutely controversial debates occur around the IPO of the MFIs and mission drift related to this issue. Someone claims that just the fact that microfinance is going public is a serious mission drift itself. Others seek positive trends of the IPO on social mission, stating that it is the source of long-term funding and thus might help to achieve greater outreach through expanding the loan portfolio and therefore can be devoted to social mission of the MFI. Nevertheless, it is quite early to make any conclusions as only few MFIs went public. Although mission drift is a very long-debating issue, this paper did not discuss in detail about the normal strategy that should be used by MFIs in order to seek consistency with the social mission for which they have been established by its donors. There is no saying which the right focus is and which one is not. This can be a future discussion. There is certainly room and demand for different institutions in the microfinance sector: those focusing on the poorest and perhaps therefore more depending on donations; as well as those moving up-market and serving a better-off clients with the support of commercial funds and investors. The fact that the latter ones are able to serve large numbers of people should not be avoided. One more issue is needed to be emphasized social corporate governance and management of the MFI. Social corporate governance that is properly designed, alleviate the strain between financial and social objectives and may provide a solution to mission drift in the MFI. Through a sound and comprehensive social corporate governance policy, the respective investors and donors will also have the responsibility in relation to social mission and ethical questions, for instance the interest rates charged for the MFIs clients, in order to get the assurance that a MFI is not drifting from its social mission.

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

2014 Plan Performance Rankings Q4

Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance. The top-performing 529 plans In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The lower the "percentile," the better the ranking. For more details, please view our methodology. Here are our 529 performance rankings as of December 31, 2014. We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners). One-year performance ranking Rank State Plan Percentile 1 Tennessee TNStars College Savings 529 Program 18.80 Plan Details 2 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 22.60 3 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 23.12 Plan Details 4 Louisiana START Saving Program 25.18 Plan Details 5 Colorado Direct Portfolio College Savings Plan 26.95 Enroll Now 6 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 27.43 Enroll Now 7 Vermont Vermont Higher Education Investment Plan 28.59 Plan Details 8 California The ScholarShare College Savings Plan 30.75 Plan Details 9 Missouri MOST - Missouri's 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 30.94 10 Iowa College Savings Iowa 31.11 Enroll Now See the full list of one-year direct-sold rankings. Click "Next Page" below to see 3 year rankings. Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance. The top-performing 529 plans In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The lower the "percentile," the better the ranking. For more details on our methodology. Here are our 529 performance rankings as of December 31, 2014. We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners). Three-year performance ranking Rank State Plan Percentile 1 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 20.40 Enroll Now 2 California The ScholarShare College Savings Plan 26.90 Plan Details 3 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 29.80 4 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 30.02 5 Maine NextGen College Investing Plan -- Client Direct Series 30.49 Enroll Now 6 Alaska T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan 33.24 7 West Virginia SMART529 WV Direct College Savings Plan 34.69 Plan Details 8 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 35.24 Plan Details 9 South Carolina Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 35.35 Enroll Now 10 Ohio Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan 37.20 Enroll Now See the full list of three-year direct-sold rankings. Click "Next Page" below to see 5 year rankings. Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance. The top-performing 529 plans In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The lower the "percentile," the better the ranking. For more details on our methodology. Here are our 529 performance rankings as of December 31, 2014. We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners). Five-year performance ranking Rank State Plan Percentile 1 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 27.66 2 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 27.91 3 Maine NextGen College Investing Plan -- Client Direct Series 29.35 Enroll Now 4 Utah Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) 31.70 Plan Details 5 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 31.76 Enroll Now 6 Alaska T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan 31.88 7 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 32.82 Plan Details 8 Louisiana START Saving Program 34.33 Plan Details 9 Florida Florida 529 Savings Plan 35.56 Plan Details 10 South Carolina Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 37.88 Enroll Now See the full list of five-year direct-sold rankings. Click "Next Page" below to see 10 year rankings. Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance. The top-performing 529 plans In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The lower the "percentile," the better the ranking. For more details on our methodology. Here are our 529 performance rankings as of December 31, 2014. We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners). Ten-year performance ranking Rank State Plan Percentile 1 Utah Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) 21.71 Plan Details 2 Louisiana START Saving Program 31.84 Plan Details 3 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 33.03 4 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 33.28 5 Alaska T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan 37.94 6 Ohio Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan 39.02 Enroll Now 7 Nevada USAA 529 College Savings Plan 39.49 Plan Details 8 Florida Florida 529 Savings Plan 40.17 Plan Details 9 Iowa College Savings Iowa 42.89 Enroll Now 10 Colorado Direct Portfolio College Savings Plan 43.35 Enroll Now See the full list of ten-year direct-sold rankings. For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners. How to rank 529 plan performance Ranking over 3,000 investment options is no easy task, considering the wide variety of options found in 529 savings plans, and it requires a special methodology. Step one: We select specific portfolios from each 529 plan that can be compared on an apples-to-apples basis to portfolios in other 529 plans, based on their allocation among stocks, bonds and short-term instruments (money market and guaranteed investments). We've set up seven different asset-allocation categories ranging from 100 percent equity to 100 percent short-term. Step two: Within each of the seven categories, we compare historical performance of the selected portfolios and assign each plan a percentile ranking between one (best) and 100 (worst). Separate rankings are developed for one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year performances. Step three: We take the average of each 529 plan's percentile rankings in the seven asset-allocation categories to produce a combined or "composite" percentile ranking. We then produce reports showing how the 529 plans rank against each other in their composite percentile rankings. Note: We currently produce these composite rankings for one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year performances. For a more in-depth explanation of our methodology, please read our white paper. See the one-year direct-sold, three-year direct-sold, five-year direct-sold and ten-year direct-sold rankings. More information Links to our full report on the composite rankings for this quarter are provided below for the direct-sold 529 plans. Only our Premium subscribers have access to composite rankings for advisor-sold 529 plans, to the underlying data supporting the rankings and to separate one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year rankings for each of the seven different asset-allocation categories. In addition, subscribers can easily look up the historical performance for every 529 portfolio in every available share class by using our Fee and Performance Lookup Tool. Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance. The top-performing 529 plans In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The lower the "percentile," the better the ranking. For more details, please view our methodology. Here are our 529 performance rankings as of December 31, 2014. We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners). One-year performance ranking Rank State Plan Percentile 1 Tennessee TNStars College Savings 529 Program 18.80 Plan Details 2 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 22.60 3 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 23.12 Plan Details 4 Louisiana START Saving Program 25.18 Plan Details 5 Colorado Direct Portfolio College Savings Plan 26.95 Enroll Now 6 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 27.43 Enroll Now 7 Vermont Vermont Higher Education Investment Plan 28.59 Plan Details 8 California The ScholarShare College Savings Plan 30.75 Plan Details 9 Missouri MOST - Missouri's 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 30.94 10 Iowa College Savings Iowa 31.11 Enroll Now See the full list of one-year direct-sold rankings. Click "Next Page" below to see 3 year rankings. Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance. The top-performing 529 plans In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The lower the "percentile," the better the ranking. For more details on our methodology. Here are our 529 performance rankings as of December 31, 2014. We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners). Three-year performance ranking Rank State Plan Percentile 1 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 20.40 Enroll Now 2 California The ScholarShare College Savings Plan 26.90 Plan Details 3 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 29.80 4 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 30.02 5 Maine NextGen College Investing Plan -- Client Direct Series 30.49 Enroll Now 6 Alaska T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan 33.24 7 West Virginia SMART529 WV Direct College Savings Plan 34.69 Plan Details 8 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 35.24 Plan Details 9 South Carolina Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 35.35 Enroll Now 10 Ohio Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan 37.20 Enroll Now See the full list of three-year direct-sold rankings. Click "Next Page" below to see 5 year rankings. Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance. The top-performing 529 plans In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The lower the "percentile," the better the ranking. For more details on our methodology. Here are our 529 performance rankings as of December 31, 2014. We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners). Five-year performance ranking Rank State Plan Percentile 1 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 27.66 2 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 27.91 3 Maine NextGen College Investing Plan -- Client Direct Series 29.35 Enroll Now 4 Utah Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) 31.70 Plan Details 5 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 31.76 Enroll Now 6 Alaska T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan 31.88 7 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 32.82 Plan Details 8 Louisiana START Saving Program 34.33 Plan Details 9 Florida Florida 529 Savings Plan 35.56 Plan Details 10 South Carolina Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 37.88 Enroll Now See the full list of five-year direct-sold rankings. Click "Next Page" below to see 10 year rankings. Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance. The top-performing 529 plans In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The lower the "percentile," the better the ranking. For more details on our methodology. Here are our 529 performance rankings as of December 31, 2014. We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners). Ten-year performance ranking Rank State Plan Percentile 1 Utah Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) 21.71 Plan Details 2 Louisiana START Saving Program 31.84 Plan Details 3 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 33.03 4 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 33.28 5 Alaska T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan 37.94 6 Ohio Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan 39.02 Enroll Now 7 Nevada USAA 529 College Savings Plan 39.49 Plan Details 8 Florida Florida 529 Savings Plan 40.17 Plan Details 9 Iowa College Savings Iowa 42.89 Enroll Now 10 Colorado Direct Portfolio College Savings Plan 43.35 Enroll Now See the full list of ten-year direct-sold rankings. For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners. How to rank 529 plan performance Ranking over 3,000 investment options is no easy task, considering the wide variety of options found in 529 savings plans, and it requires a special methodology. Step one: We select specific portfolios from each 529 plan that can be compared on an apples-to-apples basis to portfolios in other 529 plans, based on their allocation among stocks, bonds and short-term instruments (money market and guaranteed investments). We've set up seven different asset-allocation categories ranging from 100 percent equity to 100 percent short-term. Step two: Within each of the seven categories, we compare historical performance of the selected portfolios and assign each plan a percentile ranking between one (best) and 100 (worst). Separate rankings are developed for one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year performances. Step three: We take the average of each 529 plan's percentile rankings in the seven asset-allocation categories to produce a combined or "composite" percentile ranking. We then produce reports showing how the 529 plans rank against each other in their composite percentile rankings. Note: We currently produce these composite rankings for one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year performances. For a more in-depth explanation of our methodology, please read our white paper. See the one-year direct-sold, three-year direct-sold, five-year direct-sold and ten-year direct-sold rankings. More information Links to our full report on the composite rankings for this quarter are provided below for the direct-sold 529 plans. Only our Premium subscribers have access to composite rankings for advisor-sold 529 plans, to the underlying data supporting the rankings and to separate one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year rankings for each of the seven different asset-allocation categories. In addition, subscribers can easily look up the historical performance for every 529 portfolio in every available share class by using our Fee and Performance Lookup Tool.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

DATA AND MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES WITHIN THE ECONOMY - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1311 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Economics Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? We form our variables using data derived from the financial statements contained in the Stock Exchange and companys websites. Our sample consists of all Oil and Gas Marketing companies listed with Stock Exchange. Following Table will make you understand about the Variables, Determinants, Measures and their references using the same measure. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "DATA AND MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES WITHIN THE ECONOMY" essay for you Create order Determinants Measures used Some refrence using the same measures LEV(Leverage) Total Liability Equity Total Assets WaliullahMuhammad Nishat (2008), NikolaosEriotisDimitriosVasiliou and Zoe Ventoura-Neokosmidi(2007,Rajan and Zingales(1995), Shah and Hijaz(2004), SZ(Size) Log of sale Titman and Wassels(1988), DebabrataDatta and BabitaAgarwal (2007), Raul Seppa(2008) PF(Profitability) EBT Total Assets DebabrataDatta and BabitaAgarwal(2007), Rajan and Zingales(1995) DBT_EQT(Debt to Equity Ratio) Total Liability Common Equity Ali Basharat (Lecturer) Air University Islamabad. CR(Current Ratio) Current Assets Current Liability Ali Basharat (Lecturer) Air University Islamabad. TAN(Tangibility) Fixed Assets Total Assets Attaullah Shah and Safiullah Khan( 2007),Titman and Wessels (1988),Rajan and Zingales(1995),Fama and French (2000) In order to comment on the capital structure of Oil and Gas firms in the perspective of the Pakistan economy, it is desirable to take into consideration all the sectors of the economy. Few of them are directly and indirectly keeping in mind this requirement we select five companies, as under this index all the major companies of important segments of the economy are listed. The source of our data is SEC Prowess data base. DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT VARIABLES We have taken six variables out of which leverage is taken as a dependent variable. We take the total Debt (Total Liability) to total asset ratio as proxy for Leverage (dependent variable). For potential determinants of leverage, we study five independent variables namely Tangibility, Size, Profitability, Debt to Equity ratio and Current ratio. Explanation of Variables: In their cross-sectional study of the determinants of capital structure, Rajan and Zingales(1995)examine the extent to which, ath the level of the individual firm, leverage may be explained by for key factors, namely, market-to-book ratio i.e. growth, size, profitability, and tangibility. Their regression analysis differ slightly across countries, they appear to uncover some fairly strong conclusion. But our study of capital structure follows the framework of RajanZingles(1995) Shah Hijazi(2005), NikolaosEriotis Zoe Ventoura(2007) and Jeam-Laurent Viviani(2008)that use tangibility of assets, Firm size, Profitabllity. But in our study we have also used two more variable that measure more reasonably leverage of firm i.e Debt to Equity ratio and Current Ratio. DEPENDENT VARIABLE Measure of Leverage (LG) In the literature the term Leverage can be interpreted in different ways. The specific choice of the term leverage depends on the objective of the research. We take leverage as the ratio of total liability to net total assets. Net total assets are the total assets excluding all the fictitious assets and revaluation reserves and debit balance of profit and loss account. One question that arises in this context is whether one should take the book value or the market value of debt. Thies and Klock (1992) and Fama and French (2000) support the consideration of book value of leverage. As the market value of debt is dependent on so many exogenous factors, which are outside the control of an organization, book value better reflects the true value of the firms leverage. So, we take book value of debt (total liability proxy) as well as of net total assets. Leverage refers to the percentage of assets financed by debt. Previous research studies have used different measures of leverage. Frank and Goyal (2003b) state that the difference between a debt ratio based on market value and one based on book values is that the former tends to regard the firms future situation whereas the later reflects the past situation. Fama and French (2002) point out some inconsistencies arising from the use of two different ratios. According to them, both theories (Pecking Order and Static Tradeoff) apply to the debt book value, and there are doubts if the predictions may be extended to the debt market value. Following the previous studies on non-financial Pakistans listed firms by Shah Hijazi (2005) we used the book value measure of leverage. One more consideration in defining the appropriate measure of leverage is to take total debt or only long term debt as a percentage of total assets. Though capital structure theories consider long term debt as a proxy for financial leverage, we use the measure of total debt because in Pakistan firms have mostly short term financing as the average firm size is small. This makes access to capital market difficult in terms of cost and technical difficulties (shah and Hijazi 2005). In Pakistan firms usually prefer short-term borrowing, the reason being that commercial banks are the major lenders and they do not encourage long term loans. Up to 1994 firms did not rely on market based debt; in mid-1994 the government amended the company law to permit companies to raise debt directly from the market in the form of TFC (Term Finance Certificates) Booth et.al. (995) had also mentioned this point that developing countries including Pakistan prefer short term financing than long term financing. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES Tangibility of Assets (TG) Titman and Wessels (1988), Rajan and Zingales (1995) and Fama and French (2000) support the importance of the tangibility (ratio of fixed to total assets) for leverage. The value of collateral of fixed assets for the gearing level of the firm is manifested by the tangibility of that firm. However, the direction in which it influences the level of leverage is not clear by any of these studies. Galai and Masulis (1976), Jensen and Meckling (1976) and Myers (1977) in their papers present the argument that stockholders of levered firms are prone to overinvest that gives rise to the classical conflict between shareholders and bondholders. But if the debt is secured against the fixed assets, the firm is restricted to use the borrowed funds for the same project for which it has borrowed. By this fact, creditors get an improved guarantee of repayment, and thus the chances of recovery are higher. Since this does not happen without collateralization of the fixed assets, the proportion of debt increases with the availability of more fixed assets in the balance sheet of the firm. Hence, the trade-off theory predicts a positive relationship between the tangibility and leverage in any firm. In contrast, the agency cost model predicts a negative relationship of tangibility with leverage in any firm [Grossman and Hart (1982)]. We calculate tangibility by finding out the ratio of the total fixed assets (gross fixed assets excluding intangible assets) and 30 days average market capitalization of the firm. Hypothesis 1: A firm with higher percentage of fixed assets will have higher debt ratio Size (SZ) Titman and Wessels (1988) argue in their paper about the negative relationship between sizes and probability of bankruptcy. Accordingly, trade-off theory predicts an inverse relation between size and bankruptcy and hence positive relationship between size and leverage. On the other hand if we take size as a proxy for information asymmetry then large firms tend to disclose more information about their plans as they are closely watched by the capital Market analysts. So the information asymmetry between the insiders and investors in the capital market is less for large firm. Accordingly, the pecking-order theory predicts a negative relationship between size and leverage. We take natural logarithm of sales as the proxy of size, following Titman and Wessels (1988). Profitability (PF) According to the trade-off theory, there is a positive relationship between profitability and leverage. As the profit of the firm increases, its capacity of bearing the interest cost rises. Secondly, the bankruptcy cost of the larger firm is also less than that of small firm. Third reason is that as the profit of firms increases they feel greater need to have tax shield. So the level of leverage in the capital structure also increases. On the contrary, pecking-order theory