Ac553 You Decide Week 6

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Prepare a three page memo (at least 300 words per page) to Mr. Jones addressing the potential sale or merger of these two companies. Address his issues point by point: 1. Outright purchase of Smithon stock: a. Should Mr. Jones purchase the stock of Smith outright, leaving Smithon intact? What about issuing debt in his Johnson Services company to pay for the Smith Company-would that raise debt to equity issues? Mr. Jones will need to evaluate the existing stocks portfolio for Smithon Widgets before resorting to outright purchase of stock even if it was indicated that the company is profitable. He needs to investigate further the reason of the absence of a single majority shareholder from the existing thirty shareholders and how it operated in that condition. Issuing debt by Johnson Services Company to pay for the Smithon Company will certainly raise debt to equity issues. If a lot of debt is used to finance increased operations then it will incur a high debt to equity ratio, the company could potentially generate more earnings than it would have without this outside financing. If this were to increase earnings by a greater amount than the debt interest cost, then the shareholders benefit as more earnings are being spread among the same amount of shareholders. However, the cost of this debt financing may outweigh the return that the company generates on the debt through investment and business activities and become too much for the company to handle. This can lead to bankruptcy, which would leave shareholders with nothing. The debt/equity ratio also depends on the industry in which the company operates and Smithon Widgets being a manufacturing company the debt equity ratio is normally high. b. Should Mr. Jones convert Smithon to an S corporation and change the fiscal year-end to a calendar year-end? No, Mr. Jones must retain the status of Smithon Widgets as a

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