15-21 Balancing a Budget

Companies are not the only entities that must create budgets. Cities, states, and other governmental agencies must also prepare budgets, but unlike corporations, they can raise or lower taxes to help balance their budgets. Raising taxes is not always politically popular. Lowering taxes helps get a politician votes, but it is not always fiscally prudent. What would you do if you were just hired to close a $4 billion budget deficit for New York City? Find out by playing Balance: Gotham Gazette’s Budget Game (search for it on Google).

15-22 Successful Social Funding

Suppose you want to start a business and have decided to finance it with funds raised on a crowdfunding website. Research two or three different crowdfunding sites. What are the similarities and differences between them? Which site would you choose, and why?

15-23 Exploring Career Possibilities

Visit job search sites, such as Monster.com, and find postings for financial managers and accountants. What are the job specifications and requirements? What companies are advertising the openings? Are these careers you are interested in pursuing? Why or why not?

15-24 Securing Financing

Go to the website of a local bank and research its options for short-term business financing. What are the terms of its small business loans and lines of credit? Does it offer other commercial financing options, such as factoring? If you were going to open a small business, how would you go about financing it, based on what you’ve learned?

15-25 Analyzing the Competition Using Ratios

Using MSN Money (under Guided Research, Research Wizard, Comparison) or Yahoo! Finance (choose a specific company, then Competitors), pick an industry (such as telecommunication services) and then two companies within the industry (such as Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile) and do a ratio comparison similar to what was done in the chapter with Nike and Under Armour. Write a summary citing your conclusions from the analysis.