Definition of Fallacy of Composition

Fallacy of Composition

The incorrect conclusion that something that is true for an individual is necessarily true for the economy as a whole.

Composition

Voluntary arrangement to restructure a firm's debt, under which payment is reduced.

Affirmative covenant

A bond covenant that specifies certain actions the firm must take.

All-or-none underwriting

An arrangement whereby a security issue is canceled if the underwriter is unable
to re-sell the entire issue.

Balance of payments

A statistical compilation formulated by a sovereign nation of all economic transactions
between residents of that nation and residents of all other nations during a stipulated period of time, usually a
calendar year.

Break-even lease payment

The lease payment at which a party to a prospective lease is indifferent between
entering and not entering into the lease arrangement.

Break-even payment rate

The prepayment rate of a MBS coupon that will produce the same CFY as that of
a predetermined benchmark MBS coupon. Used to identify for coupons higher than the benchmark coupon
the prepayment rate that will produce the same CFY as that of the benchmark coupon; and for coupons lower
than the benchmark coupon the lowest prepayment rate that will do so.

Clearing House Automated Payments System (CHAPS)

A computerized clearing system for sterling funds
that began operations in 1984. It includes 14 member banks, nearly 450 participating banks, and is one of the
clearing companies within the structure of the Association for payment Clearing Services (APACS).

Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS)

An international wire transfer system for high-value
payments operated by a group of major banks.

Completion undertaking

An undertaking either (1) to complete a project such that it meets certain specified
performance criteria on or before a certain specified date or (2) to repay project debt if the completion test
cannot be met.

Confirmation

he written statement that follows any "trade" in the securities markets. Confirmation is issued
immediately after a trade is executed. It spells out settlement date, terms, commission, etc.

Cost company arrangement

arrangement whereby the shareholders of a project receive output free of
charge but agree to pay all operating and financing charges of the project.

Coupon payments

A bond's interest payments.

Date of payment

Date dividend checks are mailed.

Debt/equity ratio

Indicator of financial leverage. Compares assets provided by creditors to assets provided
by shareholders. Determined by dividing long-term debt by common stockholder equity.

Debt

Money borrowed.

Debt capacity

Ability to borrow. The amount a firm can borrow up to the point where the firm value no
longer increases.

Debt displacement

The amount of borrowing that leasing displaces. firms that do a lot of leasing will be
forced to cut back on borrowing.

Debt instrument

An asset requiring fixed dollar payments, such as a government or corporate bond.

Debt leverage

The amplification of the return earned on equity when an investment or firm is financed
partially with borrowed money.

Debt limitation

A bond covenant that restricts in some way the firm's ability to incur additional indebtedness.

Debt market

The market for trading debt instruments.

Debt ratio

Total debt divided by total assets.

Debt relief

Reducing the principal and/or interest payments on LDC loans.

Debt securities

IOUs created through loan-type transactions - commercial paper, bank CDs, bills, bonds, and
other instruments.

Debt service

Interest payment plus repayments of principal to creditors, that is, retirement of debt.

Debt service parity approach

An analysis wherein the alternatives under consideration will provide the firm
with the exact same schedule of after-tax debt payments (including both interest and principal).

Debt-service coverage ratio

Earnings before interest and income taxes plus one-third rental charges, divided
by interest expense plus one-third rental charges plus the quantity of principal repayments divided by one
minus the tax rate.

Debt swap

A set of transactions (also called a debt-equity swap) in which a firm buys a country's dollar bank
debt at a discount and swaps this debt with the central bank for local currency that it can use to acquire local
equity.

Debtor in possession

A firm that is continuing to operate under Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

Debtor-in-possession financing

New debt obtained by a firm during the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

Delivery versus payment

A transaction in which the buyer's payment for securities is due at the time of
delivery (usually to a bank acting as agent for the buyer) upon receipt of the securities. The payment may be
made by bank wire, check, or direct credit to an account.

FHA prepayment experience

The percentage of loans in a pool of mortgages outstanding at the origination
anniversary, based on annual statistical historic survival rates for FHA-insured mortgages.

Firm

Refers to an order to buy or sell that can be executed without confirmation for some fixed period. Also,
a synonym for company.

Firm commitment underwriting

An undewriting in which an investment banking firm commits to buy the
entire issue and assumes all financial responsibility for any unsold shares.

Firm's net value of debt

Total firm value minus total firm debt.

Firm-specific risk

See:diversifiable risk or unsystematic risk.

Funded debt

debt maturing after more than one year.

Graduated-payment mortgages (GPMs)

A type of stepped-payment loan in which the borrower's payments
are initially lower than those on a comparable level-rate mortgage. The payments are gradually increased over
a predetermined period (usually 3,5, or 7 years) and then are fixed at a level-pay schedule which will be
higher than the level-pay amortization of a level-pay mortgage originated at the same time. The difference
between what the borrower actually pays and the amount required to fully amortize the mortgage is added to
the unpaid principal balance.

Interest payments

Contractual debt payments based on the coupon rate of interest and the principal amount.

Interest rate on debt

The firm's cost of debt capital.

Intrinsic value of a firm

The present value of a firm's expected future net cash flows discounted by the
required rate of return.

Involuntary liquidation preference

A premium that must be paid to preferred or preference stockholders if
the issuer of the stock is forced into inVoluntary liquidation.

Junior debt (subordinate debt)

debt whose holders have a claim on the firm's assets only after senior
debtholder's claims have been satisfied. Subordinated debt.

Lag response of prepayments

There is typically a lag of about three months between the time the weighted
average coupon of an MBS pool has crossed the threshold for refinancing and an acceleration in prepayment
speed is observed.

Long-term debt

An obligation having a maturity of more than one year from the date it was issued. Also
called funded debt.

Long-term debt/capitalization

Indicator of financial leverage. Shows long-term debt as a proportion of the
capital available. Determined by dividing long-term debt by the sum of long-term debt, preferred stock and
common stockholder equity.

Long-term debt ratio

The ratio of long-term debt to total capitalization.

Long-term debt to equity ratio

A capitalization ratio comparing long-term debt to shareholders' equity.

Neglected firm effect

The tendency of firms that are neglected by security analysts to outperform firms that
are the subject of considerable attention.

Original issue discount debt (OID debt)

debt that is initially offered at a price below par.

Payment date

The date on which each shareholder of record will be sent a check for the declared dividend.

Payment float

Company-written checks that have not yet cleared.

Payments netting

Reducing fund transfers between affiliates to only a netted amount. Netting can be done on
a bilateral basis (between pairs of affiliates), or on a multi-lateral basis (taking all affiliates together).

Payments pattern

escribes the lagged collection pattern of receivables, for instance the probability that a
72-day-old account will still be unpaid when it is 73-days-old.

Payment-In-Kind (PIK)

bond A bond that gives the issuer an option (during an initial period) either to make
coupon payments in cash or in the form of additional bonds.

Prepayment speed

Also called speed, the estimated rate at which mortgagors pay off their loans ahead of
schedule, critical in assessing the value of mortgage pass-through securities.

Prepayments

payments made in excess of scheduled mortgage principal repayments.

Production payment financing

A method of nonrecourse asset-based financing in which a specified
percentage of revenue realized from the sale of the project's output is used to pay debt service.

Retail investors, individual investors

Small investors who commit capital for their personal account.

Secured debt

debt that, in the event of default, has first claim on specified assets.

Senior debt

debt that, in the event of bankruptcy, must be repaid before subordinated debt receives any payment.

Single-payment bond

A bond that will make only one payment of principal and interest.

Small-firm effect

The tendency of small firms (in terms of total market capitalization) to outperform the
stock market (consisting of both large and small firms).

Structured debt

debt that has been customized for the buyer, often by incorporating unusual options.

Subordinated debt

debt over which senior debt takes priority. In the event of bankruptcy, subordinated
debtholders receive payment only after senior debt claims are paid in full.

Target firm

A firm that is the object of a takeover by another firm.

Target zone arrangement

A monetary system under which countries pledge to maintain their exchange rates
within a specific margin around agreed-upon, fixed central exchange rates.

Total debt to equity ratio

A capitalization ratio comparing current liabilities plus long-term debt to
shareholders' equity.

Trade debt

Accounts payable.

True interest cost

For a security such as commercial paper that is sold on a discount basis, the coupon rate
required to provide an identical return assuming a coupon-bearing instrument of like maturity that pays
interest in arrears.

True lease

A contract that qualifies as a valid lease agreement under the Internal Revenue code.

Underfunded pension plan

A pension plan that has a negative surplus (i.e., liabilities exceed assets).

Underinvestment problem

The mirror image of the asset substitution problem, wherein stockholders refuse
to invest in low-risk assets to avoid shifting wealth from themselves to the debtholders.
underlying
The "something" that the parties agree to exchange in a derivative contract.

Underlying asset

The asset that an option gives the option holder the right to buy or to sell.

Underlying security

Options: the security subject to being purchased or sold upon exercise of an option
contract. For example, IBM stock is the underlying security to IBM options. Depository receipts: The class,
series and number of the foreign shares represented by the depository receipt.

Underperform

When a security is expected to appreciate at a slower rate than the overall market.

Underpricing

Issue of securities below their market value.

Underwrite

To guarantee, as to guarantee the issuer of securities a specified price by entering into a purchase
and sale agreement. To bring securities to market.

Underwriter

A party that guarantees the proceeds to the firm from a security sale, thereby in effect taking
ownership of the securities. Or, stated differently, a firm, usually an investment bank, that buys an issue of
securities from a company and resells it to investors.

Underwriting

Acting as the underwriter in a purchase and sale.

Underwriting fee

The portion of the gross underwriting spread that compensates the securities firms that
underwrite a public offering for their underwriting risk.

Underwriting income

For an insurance company, the difference between the premiums earned and the costs
of settling claims.

Underwriting syndicate

A group of investment banks that work together to sell new security offerings to
investors. The underwriting syndicate is led by the lead underwriter. See also: lead underwriter.
underwritten offering
A purchase and sale.

Unfunded debt

debt maturing within one year (short-term debt). See: funded debt.

Unsecured debt

debt that does not identify specific assets that can be taken over by the debtholder in case of default.

Whole life insurance

A contract with both insurance and investment components: (1) It pays off a stated
amount upon the death of the insured, and (2) it accumulates a cash value that the policyholder can redeem or
borrow against.

Wholesale mortgage banking

The purchasing of loans originated by others, with the servicing rights
released to the buyer.

Zero prepayment

assumption The assumption of payment of scheduled principal and interest with no payments.

RATIO OF DEBT TO STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

A ratio that shows which group—creditors or stockholders—has the biggest stake in or the most control of a company:
(Total liabilities) / (Stockholders’ equity)

Debt

Borrowings from financiers.

Debtors

Sales to customers who have bought goods or services on credit but who have not yet paid their debt.

Prepayment

A payment made in advance of when it is treated as an expense for profit purposes.

Bad debts

The amount of accounts receivable that is not expected to be collected.

Payment date

The date established for the payment of a declared dividend.

bad debts

Refers to accounts receivable from credit sales to customers
that a business will not be able to collect (or not collect in full). In hindsight,
the business shouldn’t have extended credit to these particular
customers. Since these amounts owed to the business will not be collected,
they are written off. The accounts receivable asset account is
decreased by the estimated amount of uncollectible receivables, and the
bad debts expense account is increased this amount. These write-offs
can be done by the direct write-off method, which means that no
expense is recorded until specific accounts receivable are identified as
uncollectible. Or the allowance method can be used, which is based on
an estimated percent of bad debts from credit sales during the period.
under this method, a contra asset account is created (called allowance
for bad debts) and the balance of this account is deducted from the
accounts receivable asset account.

debt-to-equity ratio

A widely used financial statement ratio to assess the
overall debt load of a business and its capital structure, it equals total liabilities
divided by total owners’ equity. Both numbers for this ratio are
taken from a business’s latest balance sheet. There is no standard, or
generally agreed on, maximum ratio, such as 1:1 or 2:1. Every industry
is different in this regard. Some businesses, such as financial institutions,
have very high debt-to-equity ratios. In contrast, many businesses
use very little debt relative to their owners’ equity.

Cost of Debt

The cost of debt (bonds, loans, etc.) that a company is charged for
borrowing funds. A component of the cost of capital.

Debt Ratio

The percentage of debt that is used in the total capitalization of a
company. It is calculated by dividing the total book value of the
debt by the book value of all assets.

Total Debt to Total Assets Ratio

See debt ratio

dual pricing arrangement

a transfer pricing system that allows
a selling division to record the transfer of goods or
services at one price (e.g., a market or negotiated market
price) and a buying division to record the transfer at another
price (e.g., a cost-based amount)

global economy

an economy characterized by the international
trade of goods and services, the international movement
of labor, and the international flows of capital and information

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