Variant 11 Write any 10 terms with definitions on topics covered. What are leasing operations? Write a detailed answer of 8-10 sentences. What is follow-the-leader pricing in the enterprises? Head of the Department «State Finance» prof

2. The utilities sector refers to a category of companies that provide basic amenities, such as water, sewage services, electricity, dams, and natural gas. Although utilities earn profits, they are part of the public service landscape and are therefore heavily regulated. Investors typically treat utilities as long-term holdings and use them to inject steady income in their portfolios.

3. Modernization - is a technical improvement of fixed assets in order to eliminate obsolescence and improve technical and economic indicators to the level of the latest equipment.

4. Cash and cash equivalents refers to the line item on the balance sheet that reports the value of a company's assets that are cash or can be converted into cash immediately. Cash equivalents include bank accounts and marketable securities, which are debt securities with maturities of less than 90 days.1 However, oftentimes cash equivalents do not include equity or stock holdings because they can fluctuate in value.

5. The market price is the current price at which an asset or service can be bought or sold. The market price of an asset or service is determined by the forces of supply and demand. The price at which quantity supplied equals quantity demanded is the market price.

6. Financial instruments - are any contracts under which there is a simultaneous increase in the financial assets of one firm and the financial liabilities of another, or these are various forms of short and long-term investment, which are traded in the financial market. 

7. A speculator utilizes strategies and typically a shorter time frame in an attempt to outperform traditional longer-term investors. Speculators take on risk, especially with respect to anticipating future price movements, in the hope of making gains that are large enough to offset the risk.

8. Leverage results from using borrowed capital as a funding source when investing to expand the firm's asset base and generate returns on risk capital. Leverage is an investment strategy of using borrowed money—specifically, the use of various financial instruments or borrowed capital—to increase the potential return of an investment. Leverage can also refer to the amount of debt a firm uses to finance assets.

9. Return on equity (ROE) is a measure of financial performance calculated by dividing net income by shareholders' equity. Because shareholders' equity is equal to a company’s assets minus its debt, ROE is considered the return on net assets. ROE is considered a measure of the profitability of a corporation in relation to stockholders’ equity.

10. For corporations, shareholder equity (SE), also referred to as shareholders' equity and stockholders' equity, is the corporation's owners' residual claim on assets after debts have been paid. Equity is equal to a firm's total assets minus its total liabilities.