levo

Business Finance and Accounts

Choosing an appropriate source of finance

  • 3 things to know
  • AS Unit 2

Overview

How a firm's legal structure limits its choice of finance, how the choice of finance affects a business's stakeholders and why heavy borrowing threatens survival in a downturn.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

State four factors a business should weigh when choosing a source of finance.

Key term

Why would an overdraft be the wrong way to fund a £500,000 factory?

Key term

Explain how a firm's legal structure limits its choice of finance.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    State four factors a business should weigh when choosing a source of finance.

    Model answer

    The amount of money needed, the length of time it is needed for, the cost of the finance, and the effect on ownership and control.

  2. 2

    Explain the principle of matching a source of finance to the use of the money.

    Model answer

    Long-term assets should be funded from long-term finance and short-term needs from short-term finance, so that repayments fall due as the asset generates income.

  3. 3

    Why would an overdraft be the wrong way to fund a £500,000 factory?

    Model answer

    An overdraft is short-term and repayable on demand, whereas a factory takes many years to pay for itself.

  4. 4

    Explain how a firm's legal structure limits its choice of finance.

    Model answer

    A sole trader or ordinary partnership cannot issue shares, so it must rely on personal capital, loans and other borrowing.

  5. 5

    Why is finance more expensive for a start-up than for an established plc?

    Model answer

    The start-up has no trading record and is judged riskier, so lenders charge a higher rate of interest to compensate for the greater chance of default.

  6. 6

    Explain how a high level of existing borrowing affects a new application for finance.

    Model answer

    The business is already highly geared, so lenders see a greater risk of default and may refuse the application or charge a higher rate.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Enterprise and Starting a Business
Markets and Market Research
Marketing
People in Business

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Gross profit = − cost of sales.
revenueprofitexpenses

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AShort-term disruption depresses the early figures.
BThe benefits build up as people become proficient.
CAn early judgement is usually too harsh.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Need means something essential for survival, such as food, water or shelter.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Business Finance and Accounts, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.