Corporate finance is the area of finance dealing with the sources of funding and

the capital structure of corporations and the actions that managers take to inc
rease the value of the firm to the shareholders, as well as the tools and analys
is used to allocate financial resources. The primary goal of corporate finance i
s to maximize or increase shareholder value.[1] Although it is in principle diff
erent from managerial finance which studies the financial management of all firm
s, rather than corporations alone, the main concepts in the study of corporate f
inance are applicable to the financial problems of all kinds of firms.
Investment analysis (or capital budgeting) is concerned with the setting of crit
eria about which value-adding projects should receive investment funding, and wh
ether to finance that investment with equity or debt capital. Working capital ma
nagement is the management of the company's monetary funds that deal with the sh
ort-term operating balance of current assets and current liabilities; the focus
here is on managing cash, inventories, and short-term borrowing and lending (suc
h as the terms on credit extended to customers).[citation needed]
The terms corporate finance and corporate financier are also associated with inv
estment banking. The typical role of an investment bank is to evaluate the compa
ny's financial needs and raise the appropriate type of capital that best fits th
ose needs. Thus, the terms corporate finance and corporate financier may be associat
ed with transactions in which capital is raised in order to create, develop, gro
w or acquire businesses.