6 F Basic Banking Guide A to Z

6 F Basic Banking Guide A to Z

F

Face value

The value printed on the face of a share, bond, or other financial instrument.

Facility letter

Intimation in writing to the customer from the bank, that such and such financial facilities are approved.

Facsimile

An exact copy or reproduction, as of a document

Feasibility report

A feasibility report is prepared to provide an overview of the primary issues related to a business idea or financial accommodation. It is a study, to determine whether the business idea will be productive / profitable or not? Feasibility basically provides, market analysis which is necessary in order to determine the project�s viability. This information provides the basis for the financial facilities to be sectioned for the business plan. 

A feasibility report covers three major areas: 

a. Market issues 

b. Technical issues 

c. Financial issues 

Fidelity clause

This is a clause in banker�s insurance policy which protects banks against losses (such as embezzlement or theft by employees) that are not generally covered under normal theft or burglary policies. It is a blanket bond (applying to all employees). 

Final accounts

Accounts made at the end of a companys financial year. The final accounts consist on manufacturing account,  trading account, profit and loss account, and  profit and loss appropriation account. A trading firms final accounts will include all of the above except the manufacturing account. 

Final dividend

Dividend declared at the end of the financial year.

Financial statement

These reports shows how a firm has used the funds of shareholders and lenders, and what is its current financial position. The three basic financial statements are the balance sheet, which shows companys assets, liabilities, and net worth on a stated date; income statement which shows how the net income of the company is arrived at over a stated period, and cash flow statement, which shows the inflows and outflows of cash during a stated period.

Financial year

Accounting period that can start on any day of a calendar year but has twelve consecutive months at the end of which account books are closed, profit or loss is computed, and financial reports are prepared . it may or may not match with calendar year.

First in first out (FIFO)

This is a method of inventory accounting in which the oldest remaining items are assumed to have been the sold first. In a period of rising prices, this method shall result into a controlled inventory, a lower cost of goods sold, a higher gross profit and vice versa.

Fiscal year

Twelve months period which is covered by the government in yearly budget. It is also called a tax year. In Pakistan it starts from 1st of July and ends on 30th June.

Fixed assets

Any asset expected to be in use for, more than one year is considered a fixed asset. On a balance sheet, these assets are shown at their book value i.e. purchase price less depreciation.

Fixed charge

Charge (mortgage or lien) on a specific fixed-asset to secure financial facilities. In case of limited company, the banks also registers  charge against the asset with the registrar which remains in force until the loan is repaid. 

Fixed charges

Expenses such as rent, interest, and insurance salaries.etc, which are not related with the actual production/output.

Fixed cost

Cost that remains almost unchanged irrespective of the production level or sales revenue of the company, such as depreciation, insurance, rent, salaries, etc.

Fixed deposit

Fixed deposits is an arrangements where a specific amount of money is placed on deposit under the name of the account holder for a fixed period .Profit is paid as per terms and conditions govern with the account.  Banks offer different deposit products which fall under fixed deposit category.

Fixed loan

A loan repayable of a predefined future date. 

Fixture

Items that are attached to a  property in a manner that it becomes a part of that property. Fixtures are sold and transferred with the real property, even if they are not mentioned in the sale deed. 

Float

The amounts of collected funds remain in the bank, against which no cheque or claim is lodged. The time that elapses between the days a cheque is deposited and the day it is presented for payment to the bank or financial institution on which it is drawn. 

Floating assets

Assets which continuously change in quantity or in value, e.g. accounts receivable, cash, stocks, etc.

Floating charge

Charge on an asset that changes in quantity and/or value from time to time such as an inventory, to secure the repayment of financial facilities.

Floating rate

Any mark-up/ profit rate that changes on the movement of an outside indicator, such as the KIBOR rate. For example, a rate set at " KIBOR plus 2%". This means that the rate on the loan will always be 2% higher than the KIBOR rate, which changes regularly to take into account changes in the inflation rate. 

Floor limit

A floor limit is the amount of money above which credit or debit card transactions must be authorized. It also refers to the minimum profit rate to be charged r recovered.

FOB

The FOB stands for "Free On Board", which means that the seller shall pay for transportation of the goods to the port of shipment, plus loading costs only. The buyer shall pay cost of marine freight  transport, insurance, unloading, and transportation from the arrival port to the final destination.

Forced Sale Value (FSV)

It refers to the value which fully reflects the possibility of price fluctuations and can currently be obtained by selling the mortgaged / pledged assets in a forced / distressed sale conditions.

Foreclosure

The foreclosure is the legal proceedings initiated by a the bank to repossess the collateral for loan that is in default. It is a legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to repay the loan when the loan is in default.

Foreign bill for collection

Collection of a bill payable in other country (abroad)

Foreign currency

Any currency other than the local currency which is used in settling international transactions. Also called foreign exchange.

Foreign currency account

Accounts other than Pak Rupees are Foreign Currency accounts. Foreign currency account can be opened only in those branches that have been permitted by SBP to deal in Foreign Exchange. Rules related to foreign currencies are given in SBP�s Foreign Exchange Manual chapter VI. All CDD/KYC and AML rules and regulations applicable to Pak rupees accounts are applicable to Foreign Currency Accounts.

Foreign draft

A draft issued by or drawn on a foreign country. 

Foreign exchange

Any currency other than the local currency which is used in settling international transactions. Also called foreign currency.

Foreign trade

Trade with the other countries is called Foreign trade. It is important to the economy because of the countrys need to import a variety of products which are not locally produced. Pakistan had a deficit on its balance of trade each year from 1973.

FOREX

This is the abbreviation of foreign exchange and also used fot foreign exchange market.

Forfeit

To subject to seizing as a forfeit

Forfeiture

The loss of rights to an asset outlined in a legal contract if a borrower  fails to fulfill obligations of the contract signed.

Forged cheque

A cheque on which the drawers signature has been forged. 

Forged currency

This is counterfeit currency that is produced without the legal sanction of the state or government.

Forged signature

Signing in place of some un-authorized person for execution of a document. if someone forges a signature on a cheque, the person whose signature was forged is not then bound to honor the cheque, and the bank does not have to pay it. If a bank pays a cheque with forged signatures, it has to make good any loss that the payment causes the customer. It does not matter how good the forgery is; a skilful forgery is no more valid than a crude one. 

Forgery

The fraudulent signing or alteration of anothers name to an instrument such as a legal document, or cheque  with the intention to deceive or defraud other. 

Forward exchange

Financial transaction involving the exchange of currency to be completed at a future date.

Forward rate

Currency price agreed for delivery on a future date. If that date lies within two business days, it is a spot transaction, otherwise it is a forward exchange transaction.

Franchise

Privilege granted to make or market a good or service under a patented process or trademarked name, and Business operating under such privilege .e.g. franchise of KFC.

Franking machine

A machine that automatically postal stamps envelops passing through it and computes the total charge. 

Fraud

A unlawful deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain.

Fraudulent

Any thing gained by fraud.

Fraudulent conveyance

Transfer of property by a debtor, with the intention and purpose of moving it outside the reach of creditors existing or future claims. 

Free port

Free trade area of an entire port such as Hong Kong, Dubai, Panama, and Singapore, where imported goods may be stored duty-free pending re-export.

Free trade

Unrestricted interchange of goods and services (but not of capital or labor) without by high  duties/ tariffs, and quotas. Under a GATT (now WTO) treaty signed by 124 nations including Pakistan in 1995, tariffs will be systematically cut during a fixed timeframe.

Free trade area 

This is a group of countries that have agreed to eliminate tariffs, quotas and preferences on most (if not all) goods and services traded between them.

Freight

Charges paid for carriage or transportation of goods by air, land, or sea.

Freight forwarder

Companies specialized in arranging storage and shipping of goods . they generally provides full range of services including inland transportation, preparation of shipping documents, warehousing, negotiating freight charges, insurance, and filing of insurance claims incase of any eventuality. Freight forwarders generally ship under their own bills of lading or air waybills called house bill of lading or house air waybill

Fringe benefit

Compensation in addition to direct wages or salaries, such as company car, Petrol and medical reimbursement, pension schemes, subsidized meals. Some fringe benefits are regarded part of a taxable income.

Frozen account

Bank account from which no funds can be withdrawn because of some definite / legal reason. A deceased account is automatically frozen until its legal process for release of funds is completed. 

Fully paid share

Shares whose full par value has been received by the issuing company. In Pakistan shares are generally issued against full par value not in part/ installment.

Funds based liability

It refers to the liabilities which effects the financial resources of a company, http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/accounts-receivable-A-R.html. Any change in these immediately reflected in the companys financial position. 

Fund flow statement

This is the statement is also called cash flow statement. It summaries actual or anticipated incomings and outgoings of cash in a company over an accounting period. The cash flow statements is used as the basis for budgeting and business-planning. The accounting data is presented in three main portions sales of goods or services activities, purchase / investing activities and Financing-activities (borrowings, or sale of common stock). While sanctioning facilities to a firm banks   closely examine the cash flow to assess ability of the company to repay the loan. 

Funding

Arrangement of financial resources to finance a business or project. Generally, this term is used when a company requires cash from its own internal reserves, or from external resource such as banks.

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A F E A R 2 Cons Review Made by a F E A R Fan

A F E A R 2 Cons Review Made by a F E A R Fan

With the PC horror shooter F.E.A.R. 3 being released to the rest of the world this June 24 (UK release according to the games� Wikipedia page), I�ve decided to release a rundown of disappointing aspects in the horror series� second chapter. These are:

• The sound effects of some of the weapons
  
• The anemic special effects
  
• The sub-par AI
  
• The odd design choices (levels and Replica armor)

[UPDATE: I�m not located in the North America region but oddly enough, the F.E.A.R. 3 Steam page reports that the game is �available now.�]

I�m a hardcore fan of the PC first-person shooter series---I�ve bought all the games in the series including the DLC. I even finished the first F.E.A.R. game without using SloMO---while on Extreme Difficulty. And while I�m not a walking encyclopedia when it comes to F.E.A.R. lore, I am very familiar with the nuances of the first F.E.A.R. game.

Playing at Extreme Difficulty with no SloMo

The full review after the jump.

One of these is the excellent sound effects for all of the weapons in the game, something which PC game sequel failed to replicate.

Cardboard Audio

�WTH?!!� was what I uttered when I first used F.E.A.R. 2�s Andra FD-99 submachine gun. The thing was had such an anemic sound effect that it reminds me of a sheet of thick cardboard being ripped apart every time I hear its muffled reports. Compare the Andra�s sound effects with that of the Sumak RPL Submachinegun�s (from the first PC game) and you�ll see what I mean. The latter---even with its low firepower---still felt satisfying to fire; the former caused me to grimace every time I used it.

Gun Fu

John Woo films heavily influenced the first game. In fact, lead designer Craig Hubbard has been quoted as saying �[Our plans are] to make combat as intense as the tea house shootout at the beginning of John Woos Hard-Boiled.�

I don�t know where this went.

F.E.A.R. 2 has been regarded mostly as a solid shooter, but it doesn�t give you the sense of chaos that the first game conveyed to its gamers. Sure, things still explode and disintegrate in impressive ways in F.E.A.R. 2 but the level design and most of the ranges that firefights take place in are too large to suck in the player in a maelstrom of body parts, wood chips, powdered concrete, and flying sheaves of paper that the first game was able to bombard gamers with.

While certainly the large fighting grounds are a very welcome addition after the first game�s claustrophobic (and monotonous) office environs, the devs should have made steps to emulate F.E.A.R.�s particle-heavy firefights.


Level Design and AI

The level design and AI too, don�t seem to mesh well. Back in 2005, I liked watching the replicas try to outflank and outmaneuver me by running from cover to cover, taking lengthy routes in the hopes of pulling off a sneak attack, and crawling through tight spaces. In F.E.A.R. 2 these aren�t evident. Perhaps they dumbed down the AI or the level design just didn�t present opportunities for the more advanced tactics I listed above. Whatever the reason, this dearth of emergent behavior takes down F.E.A.R. 2 several notches.

The way the levels were constructed also took a hit. Though the sequel exhibits graphics that are way beyond the original game�s, F.E.A.R. 2 is basically one gigantic corridor crawl. The first PC game had some limited backtracking involved and it took you along convoluted paths. The sequel for the most part had some levels that are relatively uninspired.

The last two aspects are what bother me most.


Replica Design - F.E.A.R. 1 vs F.E.A.R. 2

With both events in F.E.A.R. 1 and 2 occurring almost at the same time, why do vastly different-looking Replica soldiers appear in the original and the sequel? The ones who laid siege to the Armacham HQ, the Perseus compound, and the Origin facility look significantly inferior to those who patrol the facilities in F.E.A.R. 2 (the Bio-Research Facility, the Wade Elementary School, etc). This design scheme that the F.E.A.R. 2 clones exhibit whaled away at what little suspension of disbelief I had encased myself in. These clones are supposed to be owned and created by the same company so the wildly deviating armor and weapon designs, for me, come out as unrealistic, even surreal.

Maybe because they�re Variant VIIs, some might argue. But the developers should have peppered the sequel�s levels with the older clones here and there. As it is, sometimes I felt I was playing a game from a different series, something that�s definitely unflattering.

Fast forward to today and the folks who developed F.E.A.R. 3 may have realized this belatedly, having reinstated some of the original clones:

Taken from IGNs F.E.A.R. 3 screenshots section

Combat Chatter

And what happened to the combat chatter? Monolith developers were into something when they---intentionally or not---emulated Halo�s combat chatter. In that Microsoft game, the Covenant grunts gave me the feeling that I was a one mean SOB every time they whimpered or shrilled �He�s everywhere!!� In the first F.E.A.R. game some of the combat chatter was not unlike Halo�s. The military clones would have fits of panic and scream �We need reinforcements!!�, �He took out the heavy!!�, or simply refuse to follow orders from their superiors when it�s clear you outclassed them. There you were, facing squads of supersoldiers yet every time you instill panic and fear into them. It was very satisfying.

In the sequel to the PC game, this doesn�t happen. The Variant VIIs are too stiff in their comms, calmly relaying to their comrades the changes in the battlefield. Some might argue that the clones patrolling the Harbinger facility are improved versions. The point is valid. Yet, I couldn�t help but feel as if I�ve purchased a heavy metal LP and then found out that my favorite band has transitioned into alternative music.

I don�t know what happened there. They nailed it right the first time but then proceeded to pry loose most of the nails that would have forged the series into one kick ass, cohesive whole.

Here�s hoping that when I fire up F.E.A.R. 3, the devs have rectified the mistakes they�ve made with the sequel and bring back the series to its award-winning roots.

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A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE OF CLASH F CLANS

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE OF CLASH F CLANS

Clash of Clans is a surprisingly complex and immersive game. Although played on a mobile platform, some play Clash on the same level as one would play a competitive console game! Supercell manages to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars every month from its players; you probably dont want to dish out that much cash on a game, as there are other ways to earn resources and go big. If youre new and want to get a head start or a grip on the game, youre in luck.

Attacking and Farming

If youre a fairly new player, you probably havent heard of the term "Farming". When you farm, you raid with the sole purpose of gaining resources; trophies are not a priority and are usually disregarded. Farmers typically keep their resource storages inside of their base and their town hall outside of their base. This is because most players will attack your town hall to gain trophies and ignore the resources; this gives you a free shield. Farming is the most efficient way to earn resources and, when you reach a higher level, is pretty much the only way to actively play without spending money on gems.

There are multiple trophy levels at which players typically farm. Lower level players usually stay around 1000-1200, where higher level players who need dark elixir stay around 1500. Farmers stay below their potential trophy count because, rather than being attacked by players higher and equal to their level, they will be attacked by lower levels with weaker troops.

When farming, its recommended to use archers, barbarians, and goblins. Some use 10-15 giants and a healer as well, but that costs much more to create. I personally use 200 archers and sometimes mix in barbarians and goblins; this is because I usually target players who have all their resources in their collectors (inactive players). It makes for an easy raid and a quick getaway, and the troops take little time and cost little to nothing to train (especially compared to the elixir you walk away with). I typically get 100,000-300,000 gold/elixir per raid.

Base Building and Maxing

A good base, depending on town hall level, usually consists of resources spread around the middle and mortars in the center. If you have three mortars available, place them in a triangle formation close to the center/in the center. Mortars are centrally important because they do tons of splash damage and have a lot of range; the closer to the center they are, the more coverage of your base they have.

Archer towers, cannons, air defenses and teslas should be, for the most part, evenly spread around your base. Wizard towers should also be evenly placed, however ideally they should be closer to the center than other defenses. The clan castle should be in the very center (or at least close to the center) of your base. Why is this? The clan castle has huge range and, when filled, has the most DPS out of every single defense. Be sure to always request archers, and always donate!

This is a picture of my base layout. As you can see, I have my clan castle very close to the center and the mortars in a triangle formation. My collectors and army camps are along the edge of my outer walls.

Spoiler (Click to View)

Many people try to rush to upgrade their town hall as soon as possible; this is a horrible idea. Sure, you get more defenses and upgrade options, however if you upgrade too fast you wont be able to keep up with your the upgrades and youll fall behind. The higher town hall level you are, the less resources you can find; if you pace yourself, players with higher town hall levels wont be able to steal as many resources from you and in turn youll be able to steal more resources from higher level town hall players. Its fine to upgrade your town hall to, say, level 6 without maxing out most of your upgrades, but once you hit six you should focus on upgrading to almost max before upgrading your town hall again.

Trophy Hunting or Farming?

Many players focus on raiding for trophies rather than raiding for resources. This is fun for a while, however once you reach a certain level it becomes very hard to upgrade without farming resources. The higher level you are, the more resources upgrades will cost. Theres nothing really wrong with trophy hunting, but farmers have a general advantage over trophy hunters because they gain resources easily and dont have to worry as much about resources being stolen (because of the free shields given after your town hall is destroyed).

When youve farmed your fill, built a solid base, and decide to test your limits, you might want to try trophy hunting. Most players trophy hunt for a week or two in order to reach the highest trophy count possible, and then go back to farming to upgrade and try again. There are whole clans that rotate between trophy hunting and farming, and when they have hunting periods many break into the top 100.

Depending on your trophy level, youll need to make use of certain strategies to climb the trophy ladder. You can typically climb all the way up to 1700-1900 trophies just by picking off town halls that are placed outside base walls. To break into crystal league, though, youll need an actual raiding strategy. Popular armies in crystal include mass Hog Riders, Giants with Healers/healing spells and support troops (archers, barbs, wizards), and mass Minions and Balloons, otherwise known as Balloonion. Experiment with different raiding strategies and figure out what works best for you; consider elixir cost and training time. Youtube is a great source for looking up various raiding strategies.

Upgrading

It may be hard sometimes deciding what to upgrade first. I prefer to upgrade my mortars and wizard towers and then move on to teslas. After that, I go for archers and cannons and upgrade air defense last (air defense isnt as important since Im in a fairly low trophy level while farming).

My priorities are Mortars > Wizard Towers > Teslas > Archers, Cannons > Air defense
Of course, as a lower level youll also need to decide when to upgrade your collectors, clan castle, spell factory, etc. I personally would max out the clan castle ASAP and upgrade the collectors and miscellaneous buildings at leisure.

For troop upgrades, I typically prioritize archers and barbarians. For farmers, the most important upgrades would be archers, goblins, barbarians, and giants. You should always upgrade the troops you use most and try to max them out.

Thus concludes my guide; if I missed anything or if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

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