TERMINAL VALUE Definition

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TERMINAL VALUE, when used in a discounted cash flow valuation, the cash flow is projected for each year into the future for a certain number of years, after which unique annual cash flows cannot be forecasted with reasonable accuracy. At that point, rather than attempting to forecast the varying cash flow for each individual year, one uses a single value representing the discounted value of all subsequent cash flows. This single value is referred to as the terminal value. When a firms cash flows grow at a "constant" rate forever, the present value of those cash flows can be written as: Value = Expected Cash Flow Next Period / (r - g)where, r = Discount rate (Cost of Equity or Cost of Capital) g = Expected growth rate. This "constant" growth rate is called a stable growth rate and cannot be higher than the growth rate of the economy in which the firm operates. While companies can maintain high growth rates for extended periods, they will all approach "stable growth" at some point in time. When they do approach stable growth, the valuation formula above can be used to estimate the "terminal value" of all cash flows beyond.

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SAMPLE SIZE is the number of population items selected when a sample is drawn from a population.

ASSOCIATED CREDIT is where a charitable or a not for profit entity (a university for example) may acknowledge the efforts of persons, other than the legal donor(s), who were instrumental in facilitating or providing for a gift by providing 'soft' (or associated) credit for gifts. Associated credit allows the entity to acknowledge these efforts without compromising the entity's legal obligation to record the gift according to IRS regulations. Associated credit is given for donor recognition purposes, allowing their names to be listed in publications such as the "Report to Contributors" and other donor recognition publications. For example an individual may write a corporate gift to a university, i.e. the individual would get the associated credit. Also known as SOFT CREDIT.

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