What is Finance, Personal Finance, and Corporate Finance?
Finance
Finance is the science of funds management. The general areas of finance are business finance, personal finance, and public finance. Finance includes saving money and often includes lending money. The field of finance deals with the concepts of time, money, and risk and how they are interrelated. It also deals with how money is spent and budgeted. In short, An transaction that provides funds for a business
Personal financial decisions may involve paying for education, financing durable goods such as real estate and cars, buying insurance, e.g. health and property insurance, investing and saving for retirement.
Personal financial decisions may also involve paying for a loan, or debt obligations.
Corporate Finance
Any financial or monetary activity that deals with a company and its money. Managerial or corporate finance is the task of providing the funds for a corporation's activities. It generally involves balancing risk and profitability, while attempting to maximize an entity's wealth and the value of its stock
Long term funds are provided by ownership equity and long-term credit, often in the form of bonds. The balance between these elements forms the company's capital structure. Short-term funding or working capital is mostly provided by banks extending a line of credit.
Another business decision concerning finance is investment, or fund management. One of the core functions of responsible corporate finance is to make wise use of the financial resources available to the company.
