Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with sources of funding, the capital structure of corporations, the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources. A primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize or increase shareholder value.
Correspondingly, corporate finance comprises two main sub-disciplines. Capital budgeting is concerned with the setting of criteria about which value-adding projects should receive investment funding, and whether to finance that investment with equity or debt capital. Working capital management is the management of the company's monetary funds that deal with the short-term operating balance of current assets and current liabilities; the focus here is on managing cash, inventories, and short-term borrowing and lending (such as the terms on credit extended to customers).
The terms corporate finance and corporate financier are also associated with investment banking advisory services. This are advisory services in the following field of activities:
In Switzerland, a solid advisory industry has developed around the disciplines of corporate finance. Players in this market can be divided into large investment banks, which are also able to provide financing for larger deals, universal banks with investment banking activities, investment banking boutiques, which have placement capabilities for small and medium-sized capital market transactions, but very often do not offer actual financing, and some established advisory boutiques that comprehensively advise medium-sized companies as specialists in transactions.
In recent years, relatively clear structures have emerged in the corporate finance industry in Switzerland and most relevant players are members of the SECA.
SECA offers these members the opportunity to continuously develop and exchange experiences in the form of events on subject-specific topics and case studies as well as publications.
