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Meaning / Definition of

Terms Of Reference

Categories: Business and Management,

A document which describes the objectives, scope and purpose of a project, committee, meeting, etc. See 'agree specification/terms of reference' in the project management section. Separately the acronym BOSCARDET provides a useful example structure for TOR headings/sections: Background, Objectives, Scope, Constraints, Assumptions, Reporting, Dependencies, Estimates, Timescales. Note that this particular structure has no specific heading for costs/budgets, and so care must be taken to include these considerations, logically within ''Constraints' or 'Estimates'. There is no standard universal structure for a Terms of reference document because the situations vary widely in which TOR are used. Responsibility lies with the project manager or leader to ensure all relevant and necessary issues are included in TOR. Local interpretation often produces TOR headings and document structure which may be unique to the particular situation. Where an organization oversees many projects/activities requiring Terms of reference documents it is likely that organizational 'standard' TOR formats are used. Obviously it makes sense to follow such standards where they apply, mindful of the risks of omission, over-complexity, or unnecessary work, which can arise from routinely applying a standard structure.

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Definition / Meaning of

Beta

Categories: Investing and Trading, Stocks,

The measure of an asset's risk in relation to the market (for example, the S&P500) or to an alternative benchmark or factors. Roughly speaking, a security with a beta of 1.5, will have move, on average, 1.5 times the market return. [More precisely, that stock's excess return (over and above a short-term money market rate) is expected to move 1.5 times the market excess return).] according to asset pricing theory, beta represents the type of risk, systematic risk, that cannot be diversified away. When using beta, there are a number of issues that you need to be aware of: (1) betas may change through time; (2) betas may be different depending on the direction of the market (i.e. betas may be greater for down moves in the market rather than up moves); (3) the estimated beta will be biased if the security does not frequently trade; (4) the beta is not necessarily a complete measure of risk (you may need multiple betas). Also, note that the beta is a measure of co-movement, not volatility. It is possible for a security to have a zero beta and higher volatility than the market.

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