| Activity Ratio : |
Accounting ratios that measure a firm's ability to convert different accounts within their balance sheets into cash or sales. The Asset Turnover Ratio and Inventory Turnover Ratio are good examples. Companies will typically try to turn their production into cash or sales as fast as possible as this will generally lead to higher revenues. |
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| Administrative Notice : |
When CA - SBC is suspended to allow for processing of quarterly decision inputs (or perhaps for system maintenance), the administrator locks the database. Firms will not be able to submit inputs, and are given a notice to that effect. Such locks will last only a very short time (usually only minutes). In rare circumstances, the system might be locked for an extended period when maintenance is required. The CA - SBC Administrator will attempt to warn participants well in advance if possible. |
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| Advertising Expenditure : |
Advertising is one of the required decision inputs for each quarter of the competition. Advertising expenditures attract consumers to your product, thus increasing both demand and sales. Also see the discussion of Sales and Market Attraction. |
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| Amortisation : |
The adjustment of assets over time and the paying off of debt in regular installments over a period of time. Assets with finite lives lose value over time. Thus, investment in Plant & Equipment is amortised each quarter causing a reduction in its value. Continual investment is required to prevent erosion of production capacity. In fact, all decision input values [with the exception of Selling Price, Units Produced and Human Resources (Xtreme only)] are amortised and will show a reduction in impact if spending is not maintained. Also see Amortisation Period. |
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| Amortisation Period : |
The period over which assests, such as machinery, depreicate in value and the period over which a loan (principal plus interest, if any) must be repaid by the borrower. Also see Amortisation. |
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| Asset Turnover Ratio : |
Calculated as Revenue divided by Total Assets, this ratio indicates the relationship between assets and revenue. Firms with low profit margins tend to have high asset turnover, those with high profit margins have low asset turnover - an indication of pricing strategy. This ratio is more useful for growth firms if in fact they are growing revenue in proportion to sales. This ratio is not calculated in CA - SBC but can easily be produced using game outputs. |
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| Assets : |
Economic resource that provides future benefits to a business for carrying out its business activity (eg. land, cash, etc.). See the Financial Statement. |
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| Average Assets : |
Calculated as the sum of the total assets for the last two periods divided by 2. In CA - SBC, the period used is the quarter. |
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| Average Inventory : |
During any period, average inventory is calculated as the average of all preceding ending inventories. |
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