What are the functional areas of financial management?

Answer

The five basic corporate finance functions are described as those functions related to; 1) raising capital to support company operations and investments (aka, financing functions); 2) selecting those projects based on risk and expected return that are the best use of a company's resources (aka, capital budgeting functions); 3) management of company cash flow and balancing the ratio of debt and equity financing to maximize company value (aka, financial management function); 4) developing a company governance structure to encourage ethical behavior and actions that serve the best interests of its stockholders (aka, corporate governance function); and 5) management of risk exposure to maintain optimum risk-return trade-off that maximizes shareholder value (aka, risk management function)