Financial assessment

An experienced candidate toller probably carries the basic insurance required for the industry but contracts are typically dependent upon proof of adequate coverage. Depending on the anticipated contract terms and the financial assessment of both firms, other insurance or bonds may need to be evaluated. These may address business interruption, third party liability, or other identified loss potential. 

Finding a new indication is an obvious opportunity to increase market size by enlarging the potential pool of patients that can benefit from the product. In this case, two pivotal, well-controlled phase IV studies demonstrating efficacy will usually be required, at a minimum. If there is the potential for a new type of clinical hazard to be associated with new disease being studied, then a safety database, of a size that regulators will find acceptable, will be needed for the supplemental application, too. Clearly, whenever such a project is contemplated, then a financial assessment is needed of the balance between the cost of the program, the probability of success and the size of the eventual revenue increment that may or may not justify it. 

Financial assessment of improvements J Steer, Managing Director,... 

So a fundamental issue to be considered is whether the established practice of cost benefit analysis remains appropriate, or whether there is a need to respond to the changing policy environment and to replace it with a new appraisal framework. To examine this issue, and to establish where financial assessment fits in, we first need to consider how conventional cost benefit analysis works. In doing so, we ignore rail projects which have a purely commercial return since ... 

Petroleum economics provides the tools with which to quantify and assess the financial risks involved in field exploration, appraisal and development, and allows a consistent approach with which alternative investments can be compared. The techniques are applied to advise management on the attractiveness of such investment opportunities, to assist in selecting the best options, and to determine how to maximise the value of existing assets. 

Economic evaluation is an assessment of the probable benefit or reward of a proposed course of action, relative to other choices. Although the benefit usually takes the form of a financial return, in environmental management, transportation (qv), health care, and other social areas, the benefit may be a social gain instead. Some method is then developed to translate the social gain into a monetary equivalent. The discussion herein is limited to the financial return expected from some type of production or service activity. 

No single value for a profitability estimate should be accepted without further consideration. An inteUigent consideration of the cumula-tive-cash-flow and cumulative-discounted-cash-flow curves such as those shown in Fig. 9-10, together with experience and good judgment, is the best way of assessing the financial merit of aprojec t. 

Cost of Capital The value of the interest rate of return used in calculating the net present value (NPV) of a project is usually referred to as the cost of capital. It is not a constant value since it depends on the financial structure of the company, the policy of the company toward a particular project, the local method of assessing taxation, and, in some cases, the measure of risk associated with the particular projec t. The last-named fac tor is best dealt with by calculating the entrepreneurs risk allowance inherent in the project i from Eq. (9-108), written in the form... 

Working-Capital Ratios Financial analysts make extensive use of ratios in assessing the economic health of a company. For evaluating the ability of a company to successfully maintain and develop its immediate business activities, analysts apply a current ratio and a quick (or acid-test) ratio, as given by... 

Once the options have been clearly defined it will be necessary to carry out a cost-benefit analysis of each option. This has two main objectives. First, the overall cost of the project will need to be assessed to determine whether or not it is financially viable and, second, to ensure that those who will be required to incur expenditure are fully aware of the commitment needed. The financial benefits to users of the waters for recreation, fisheries, navigation, etc., are relatively easy to determine, but monetary valuation of the environmental benefits such as conservation and general amenity will be more difficult to define. As yet this aspect of the cost-benefit analysis has not been fully developed in the UK. Having determined a range of options and costs for eutrophication control in a particular catchment, consultation on the details of the Action plan with all those involved is needed before any plan can be implemented. 

By the mid-1990s capacity for polyethylene production was about 50 000 000 t.p.a, much greater than for any other type of plastics material. Of this capacity about 40% was for HDPE, 36% for LDPE and about 24% for LLDPE. Since then considerable extra capacity has been or is in the course of being built but at the time of writing financial and economic problems around the world make an accurate assessment of effective capacity both difficult and academic. It is, however, appeirent that the capacity data above is not reflected in consumption of the three main types of material where usage of LLDPE is now of the same order as the other two materials. Some 75% of the HDPE and LLDPE produced is used for film applications and about 60% of HDPE for injection and blow moulding. 

Step 1.1 Getting Ready. A thorough preparation for a P2 audit is a prerequisite for an efficient and cost-effective evaluation. Gaining support for the assessment from top-level management, and for the implementation of results, is particularly important. Otherwise, there will be no real action on recommendations. Early in the process, management needs to accept that, at a bare minimum, the audit is a worthwhile exercise and that resources - human and financial - should be diverted from other activities to the task of auditing. 

Now that you have determined the likely savings in terms of annual process and waste-treatment operating costs associated with each option, consider the necessary investment required to implement each option. Investment can be assessed by looking at the payback period for each option that is, the time taken for a project to recover its financial outlay. A more detailed investment analysis may involve an assessment of the internal rate of return (IRR) and net present value (NPV) of the investment based on discounted cash flows. An analysis of investment risk allows you to rank the options identified. 

The following references will help you develop techniques for applying pollution prevention audits. Use the examples in Chapter 2 as a basis to tailor audit questions and to focus on areas of opportunities. Finally, Chapter 8 will help you in developing the tools needed to assess the financial attractiveness of the pollution prevention opportunities you identify. 

The primary motivation of PSAs is to assess the risk of the plant to the public. The immediate purpose of the RSS was to support the Price-Anderson hearings on liability insurance (i.e., assess the financial exposure of a nuclear power reactor operator) a purpose which, even today, is beyond PSA technology. However, PSA is sufficiently precise to provide relative risk comparisons of reactor designs and sites. These uses of PSA were presented at the Indian Point hearings, and in defense of Shoreham. The PSAs for the high-population-zone plants (Limerick, Zion, and Indian Point) were prepared to show that specific features of these plants compensate for the higher population density relative to plants studied in the RSS. 

Risk iuialysis of accidents serves a dual purpose. It estimates tlie probability tliat iui accident will occur and also assesses the severity of the consequences of an accident. Consequences may include dmnage to tlie surrounding enviromnent, financial loss, injury to life and/or deatli. This Part of the book (Part IV) is primarily concerned witli tlie metliods used to identify liazards and causes and consequences of accidents. Issues dealing witli healtli risks have been explored in die previous Part (III). Risk assessment of accidents provides an effective way to help ensure eidier diat a mishap will not occur or reduces the likelihood of an accident. The result of die risk assessment also allows concerned parties to take precautions to prevent an accident before it happens. 

An ElA can be particularly useful in distinguishing the relative environmental impact of alternative sites, processes and strategies for industrial, rural or urban development. Decision-makers to choose the alternative that will provide maximum economic and social benefits with the minimum of environmental disturbance can then use this essential environmental information, together with financial and political considerations. Guidelines for assessing... 

While the insurance company s security requirements against the risk of theft may go some way towards countering these other vulnerabilities, some of these issues present significantly different security problems and they may require separate assessment and control. This emphasizes the need for a total plan to cover all aspects of security. If planning is piecemeal, some aspect may be overlooked and the benefits (financial and operational) of a totally integrated approach will be lost. 

Contamination of the production vessel leads to serious financial penalties and each step in the inoculum train is monitored for contamination. To reduce the risk of contamination during sampling it is usual to take a sample from the residue left in each vessel after its contents have been transferred to the next reactor. Since these contamination checks are retrospective, a heavy reliance is placed on the growth characteristics of the production organism. Kinetic variables such as growth rate and oxygen consumption rate are also used to assess the quality of the inoculum. 

Proposed financial charges for devices that will not be provided free Environmental Assessment... 

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