ABSTRACT

Capital budgeting is one of the most important areas of financial management. There are several techniques commonly used to evaluate capital budgeting projects namely the payback period, accounting rate of return, present value and internal rate of return and profitability index. Recent studies highlight that financial managers worldwide favor methods such as the internal rate of return (IRR) or non-discounted payback period (PP) models over the net present value (NPV), which is the model academics consider superior. In particular this research focused on small, medium and large businesses and investigated a number of variables and associations relating to capital budgeting practices in businesses in the India. The results revealed that payback period, followed by net present value, appears to be the most used method across the different sizes and sectors of business. It was also found that company used between two to three different types of techniques to evaluate capital budgeting decisions. The findings show that the more complicated methods such as IRR and NPV are most favored by the large businesses as compared to the small businesses. The majority of the respondents believed that project definition was the most important stage in the capital budgeting process. Implementation stage appeared to be the most difficult stage for the manufacturing sector whereas Project definition, Analysis and selection and Implementation were generally rated as being the difficult stages by the retail sector. Project definition and Analysis and selection were found to be the most difficult stages by the service sector. Company uses the cost of bank loan as a basis in capital budgeting and more than two thirds of respondents used nonquantitative techniques to consider risk when making a decision on investing in fixed assets.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT Inventory proportionality is the goal of demand-driven inventory management. The primary optimal outcome is to have the same number of days worth of inventory on hand across all products so that the time of run out of all products would be simultaneous. The secondary goal of inventory proportionality is inventory minimization. By integrating accurate demand forecasting with inventory management, replenishment inventories can be scheduled to arrive just in time to replenish the product destined to run out first, while at the same time balancing out the inventory supply of all products to make their inventories more proportional, and thereby closer to achieving the primary goal. Accurate demand forecasting also allows the desired inventory proportions to be dynamic by determining expected sales out into the future; this allows for inventory to be in proportion to expected short-term sales or consumption rather than to past averages, a much more accurate and optimal outcome. Integrating demand forecasting into inventory management in this way also allows for the prediction of the "can fit" point when inventory storage is limited on a per-product basis. This report was an attempt to find the different inventory management techniques available, and how can they be used in managing inventories of an real organization.

ABSTRACT GOLD COMMODITIES Commodities are now an asset class. For those who want to diversify their portfolios beyond shares, bonds and real estate, commodities are an excellent option. Commodities are one of the easiest investment avenues to understand as they are based on the fundamentals of demand and supply. Historically, prices in commodities futures have been less volatile compared with equity and bonds, thus providing an efficient portfolio diversification option. Brokers helps investors understand the risks and advantages of trading in commodities futures before take they take the big leap. It provides clients with an effective platform to participate and trade in Commodities with both the leading Commodity Exchanges of the country. Gold, on the other hand, is different. Since the beginning of human history, gold had always functioned either as money or as a store of wealth. Today, despite the breakage of its relationship with the US dollar back in 1971, there is limited industrial use for it. Therefore, the common denominator among the non-gold metals does not apply to gold. This means that the dynamics behind the demand for gold and the demand for the other non-gold metals are completely different. Therefore, the market is fundamentally wrong to treat gold as if it is an industrial metal commodity. In the short term, this can result in good buying opportunities for gold when it follows the prices of the other metals downward. In the long term, gold will eventually separate itself from the rest of the metals. We do not know when it will happen, but we are pretty confident it will be within our lifetime, perhaps in the near future. Meanwhile, if you are to buy gold today, please make sure you know the right reason for doing so and buy from a position of financial strength. As Keynes said, The market can remain irrational longer than you remain solvent. My report talks on all these issues as well as calculates the latest trends in the market.

ABSTRACT
Derivatives are risk management instruments, which derive their value from an underlying asset. The underlying asset can be bullion, index, share, bonds, currency, interest etc. SEBI set up a 24-member committee under Chairmanship of Dr.L.C. Gupta to develop the appropriate regulatory framework for derivatives trading in India. The committee submitted its report in March 1998. On May 11, 1998 SEBI accepted the recommendations of the committee and approved the phased introduction of derivatives trading in India beginning with stock index futures. SEBI also approved the suggestive bye-laws recommended by the committee for regulation and control of trading and settlement of derivatives contracts. My study is to know about the investors familiarity and awareness of the derivative market and their profit/loss positions in trading in types of derivatives.

ABSTRACT
Operational management needs to know the causes of off-standard performance in order to improve operations. The knowledge of variances (real result versus budget) will aid control, at least if and when these variances are understood well enough. The only criterion for the calculation of a variance is it usefulness. Of course variances must be calculated immediately After the event and one should act upon them adequately. Budget processes in many cases actually exemplify what is harming companies instead of helping them Jensen,2001,describeswhat is happening in practice. Measuring performance, by whether or not achieving set targets for the period or missing them, is ridiculous. Budgets and targets mean nothing without thorough detailed budgetary control; how should it be conducted Variance analysis, the way it is taught at many schools and universities, in accordance with a wide variety of textbooks, is put to the test. This paper presents a few examples, with quotes from various textbooks and examinations. Problem definitions are quoted literally. Working-outs as explained by famous writers/lecturers/consultants are given where necessary and otherwise they are available at the quoted places in literature. The author's opinion is that these workingouts cannot stand the test. Anyway my opinion is not important, the reader decides. I give my elaboration in full detail, in reaction to the corresponding working-out published in well-known textbooks/examination papers, and may the best one prevail. Of course the elaborations of others and myself have a lot in common, but the discrepancies are at stake. Wrong, incomplete, unclear analyses will lead to mismanagement. In literature a so-called Dutch method is advocated versus what is supposed to be the American way to handle variance analysis i.e. solving the problem of budgeting and budgetary control. The author's opinion is that only one calculating method can be the right one. Only the best integral working-out is the essential base to better (operational) management. Of course variance analysis is but a means to an end. A deeper understanding of the state of the company i.e. Deluxe Plastic Industry is the ultimate goal of all representations in budgeting and budgetary control of this report. Management's task is to find the reasons for the variances and to

take proper action to bring operations into line with the budget. Maybe the variances and trends indicate that the standards need amendment. In this study I have taken Deluxe Plastic Industry to make an analysis of budgets and budgetary control to get an in depth knowledge practically.