Questions & Answers
The following are questions posed to me via email by other students
in the class. I thought you may be interested also in these questions
and my reply to them. Also, I have kept questions that were posed
by last year's class since you may see a question that you also have.
Hopefully, you can learn from not only your questions but also questions
that your colleagues not just in this class, but in earlier classes have
had.
April 28, 2000
Question: Preferred Stock- I understand the bond/stock
hybrid concept. I understand that there is a fixed amount to "pay
out" to the holder of this
stock. However, does the holder of this get the guaranteed return,
as well as any increase in the value of the stock? If I buy common
stock at
$10/share, and it goes to $20, I can sell it off. Does preferred
stock increase in this value per share like common stock, or is it a fixed
value
with a fixed percentage return.
Answer: Preferred stock does not carry a guaranteed dividend.
However, it does carry a dividend stated as a percent of the par which
is typically $100. For example, a share of 8% preferred stock would
carry a dividend payment of $8 per share. The price of preferred
will rise and fall along with interest rates in the economy. That
is, if interest in general go up, then the price of a share of preferred
must fall so that the effective yield on the preferred is higher now.
April 28, 2000
Question: The concepts of operating and financial leverage makes
sense. However, when you hear that someone acquired another company
through a "leveraged
buy-out", exactly how does this factor in? Is this referring
to excess available monies through the DOL or DFL, or is it an altogether
different
leverage?
Answer: The term leveraged buyout refers to the
use of debt to acquire a company. Generally, the acquiror will get
short term financing, acquire the target firm, and then, using the assets
of the target firm, issue bonds and then repay the short term loan with
the proceeds from the bond issue. So a leveraged buyout is referring
to a specific type of transaction.
April 27, 2000
Question: Page 12 text, States that the Controller is
responsible for the tax department, does this include the payroll taxes,
as well as corp. PP&E and income taxes?
Answer: The exact breakdown of job responsibilities will
have variation from firm to firm as will the titles but generally speaking,
the answer to the question is yes.
April 27, 2000
Question: Bob Brinker mentioned in a discussion on the
radio the other day that you cannot compare the new NASDAQ with the old
NASDAQ* What does he mean?
Answer: While I did not hear that discussion, I presume
he is talking about the fact that NASDAQ is where a large number of technology
oriented stocks trade and as we all know, those stocks have been quite
volatile with prices zooming up and down. That is why we have
seen days where the DOW (which has more value stocks) will move in opposite
directions from the NASDAQ as people move back and forth between value
and tech stocks.
April 27, 2000
Question: In answering Question 2-6 pg. 69, I feel that
the given information is insufficient to fully answer the question.
I would want to know what forms of assets we are buying with the capital
we are raising (and are we borrowing correctly), as well as the magnitude
of the capital debt in relation to total assets, What will this debt do
to our ratios. Under recession pressures we can have interest rate swings
that can imperil the firms profitability if it has over-extended on credit.
.
Answer: Given the information in question 2-6, your firm must
borrow immediately. If you found yourself in that situation and you
felt that the economy was moving into a recession, then you would likely
feel that interest rates would be falling in the future as the recession
was realized. Consequently, you would wish to borrow short term now
and then refinance later once rates did fall. Certainly, there are
many factors one considers when financing and the type of assets and debt
capacity are part of that, but in this problem, it says you must finance
now. So the answer under these circumstances is as stated.
April 27, 2000
Question: Problem 2-10, the wording of this problem is
confusing, what are they asking for.
Answer: The expectations theory may be used to determine
an implied rate at some point in time in the future. In this problem,
it says that one would be indifferent between a two year investment and
two successive one year investments. Consequently, the two year rate
must equal the average of the two sucessive one year rates. If you
check the solutions, you can follow the math as they do this to arrive
as the rate of interest that would be in effect from t=1 to t-2, i.e.,
the one year rate in effect after one year.
April 27, 2000
Question: I know that corporate to corporate dividends
are subject to the 70% exclusion, but what about interest on corporate
bonds received?
Answer: See pagen the text 68 in the text:
"INTEREST INCOME RECEIVED BY A CORPORATION IS TAXED AS ORDINARY INCOME."
April 27, 2000
Question: On the ROE ratio when they say net income available
to stockholder what exactly do they include here? Is this total net
income after expenses and taxes? What about-retained earnings * Do
we exclude them? When would portions of net income not be available to
the stockholder?
Answer: You might wish to review the basic accounting
statements. Net income available to stockholders is just what it
says. It represents the earnings that belong to the stockholders
after all expenses, taxes, preferred stock dividends, etc. are paid.
That net income available to stockholders belongs to them...the firm will
then make a decision as to what to do with it and they can retain some
or pay some as dividends or whatever conditions warrant at the time.
Note that net income after tax can be different from net income available
to common stockholders. The reason is that, for firms that have preferred
stock outstanding, preferred stock dividends are paid from net income after
tax. Whatever is left after this is the net income available to common
stockholders.
April 27, 2000
Question: Can evaluating a Degree of Leverage be a valid
way to back up the generalizations of ratio analysis that would appear
to indicate that a firm is risky?
Answer: The DOL and the DFL are sometimes included in
a financial analysis as a way of capturing the risk from operations and
the risk from financing. Those measues would complement the information
given in the financial ratios.
May 11, 1999
Question: What is the formula or equation
for the inflation rate? I believe that a 2% annual inflation
rate means that at the end of the year $102 are needed to purchase something
that cost $100 at the beginning of the year. But how is the inflation rate
(i.e. the 2% figure) calculated?
Answer: The inflation rate measures the change in the
cost of some common marketbasket of good and services. There are
a number of different inflation rates that one could use. There is
the commonly quoted consumer price index which captures the rate at which
consumer goods are increasing in price. Then there is the producer price
index as well as a number of other measures for different industrial groups.
The government calculates the inflation rate though the Bureau of Labor
Statistics I believe. I know the various rates are quoted in the
Federal Reserve Bulletins and other government publications.
May 11, 1999
Question: What is the reason for using a tiered
tax structure such as a base of $x up to $y of taxable income and then
z% of the amount over $x?. Is this supposed to provide incentive
for a company to produce in a certain profit range? My state taxes
are tiered and I never understood why.
Answer: Our tax system is a progressive system whereby
the rate increases with levels of taxable income. The logic behind
that is to try and equalize the discomfort from paying taxes. That
is, a 10% rate for someone with taxable income may be equivalent to a 20%
rate for someone with a taxable income of 75,000. Of course, there
are many people who feel that our system of taxation needs a complete overhaul
and some have suggested that a flat tax would be the fairest tax of all.
But that is a debate that will not likely end anytime soon.
April 28, 1999
Questions: During this lecture, you discussed stock
splits. Although I understand all of the reasons you gave that stock
splits do not affect the value of the investment, and the performance of
the company, I still wonder why a company would split its stock.
I assume that there is some expense relative to splitting stock (i.e additional
work for a company's accounting
dept etc). Becasue of this expense, a company must split their
stock with the assumption that this decision will bring in something of
greater value than the resources spent to split the stock. What are
specific examples of this added benefit?
Answer: The only possible benefit is that a split may
bring the trading price down into a range that will attract more investors.
And that is a reason that firm's will give on occasion. But one can
find many examples of stocks that are still traded that would counter that
notion. But some still feel that there is some "optimal" trading
range for the stock. Since shares are sold in lots of 100, a lower
price may make it easier for investors to buy 100 shares and not have the
added brokerage expense of an odd-lot trade. Again though, there
are many shares traded that are very high and one can even look at Berkshire
Hathaway that has a recent share price around $76,900! Obviously
there are not a lot of individuals who will buy but many large institutional
investors may.
April 26, 1999
Question: What reason could cause a firm with good turnover,
low debt, low interest, and high sales in comparison to industry averages
have bad net income compared to industry averages? All of the firm's
ratios are superior to the industry except the profitability ratios.
The sales, inventory turnover, times interest earned, and PE ratios are
all great.
Answer: Think about what goes into each of those ratios
and then other things that do not appear in those ratios but that would
impact net income and the profitability ratios. It could be that
the firm's operating cost and cost of goods sold are higher than the industry
overall or it could be that in the given year they had some non-operating
losses or wrote-off some assets. That is, perhaps they sold some
assets at a loss. Look at the financial statements again and see
if there were any non-operating things that happened.
April 26, 1999
Question: I am having trouble understanding the other
factors that influence interest rates. What is meant by the government
tightening the money supply and how would that cause interest rates to
rise and stabilize inflation? What interest rates are we talking
about here? Both interest rates on loans and on investments?
Answer: The Federal Reserve has primary authority for
the economic condition of our country and the major way in which they do
that is through interest rates. The Federal Reserve Board Open Market
Committee meets monthly to discuss ways to either stimulate the economy
or to slow the economy down. It is a balancing act of maintaining
growth and employment without creating undue inflation. If they wish
to slow the economy down somewhat, the Fed would tighten the money supply.
That means in essence take money out of circulation. They can do this is
several ways such as increasing the rate at which banks borrow from the
Fed as well as the sale of additional U.S. government securities.
That brings money back into the Treasury.
All interest rates will move somewhat together. Remember that
a loan is also an investment to the person who made the loan. So yes, all
rates would be affected.
April 26, 1999
Question: How does an increase in the federal deficit
cause an interest rate increase? What interest rates are we talking
about here?
Answer: An increase in the federal deficit means that
the US government will have to borrow more money by selling Treasury notes,
bills or bonds in the marketplace. In essence then, they will be
competing with the private sector for the funds of investors in the market.
As the demand for borrowed money increases, rates they pay will increase
as will rates then on other private debt such as corporate bonds.
This increase will filter down to all rates. As demand increases
then, lending institutions may also have to increase the rates they pay
on deposits, for example, to attract more funds to meet the increased demand
for funds.
April 26, 1999
Question: On problem 3-5, you came up with a fixed asset
turnover of 10. What about the 159 in depreciation? The only
thing I can think of is that depreciation is already accounted for in the
balance sheet.
Answer: You are correct. The balance sheet will
report net fixed assets. Net fixed assets is equal to gross fixed
assets less any accumulated depreciation over time.
April 19, 1999
Question: I believe that I read that being a member of a board
of directors increases one's personal liability, therefore some lawyers
discourage being a board member. I would assume that board members
would be paid enough to cover their liability risks. How are board members
compensated? Don't some board members of nonprofit firms do it pro
bono?
Answer: Yes, serving on a board of directors does carry
some risk. Remember that the board of a company serves in a fiduciary
relationship with the shareholders. That is, the board is to act
on behalf of the shareholders of the company to make sure that management
does make appropriate decisions and does follow policies of the firm.
Should the board not provide sufficient oversight of management, they would
be subject to litigation for failing to fulfill their responsibility to
the shareholders. There are any number of lawsuits against board members
all the time. Firms will typically carry D&O insurance (Directors
& Officers) to protect against such risk however. Serving on
a nonprofit board can likewise entail risk if the board does not monitor
the activities of the organization's management and policies.
My personal view is that one should certainly be aware of these risk
and if selected to serve on a board, make sure that you do act on behalf
of your shareholders. Serving on a board these days is more than
just some honor bestowed. It takes real work and commitment.
April 19, 1999
Question: Why hasn't the $1 million in interest expense
been included in the income statement in problem 3-13?
Answer: You are right. The solution as posted is
in error. The $1 million should be deducted from EBIT to get EBT
and so forth.
April 19, 1999
Question: In problem 3.3 I don't understand how you got
cash. I tried to do fixed assets first but couldn't without cash.
Answer: Problem 3.3 gives you a set of ratios and you have to complete
the balance sheet. It will be easier to go over this in class rather
than write it all out here so refer to the class for today for a detailed
explanation.
April 19, 1999
Question: In question 3-11, some of these are still giving
me trouble. In part c, why does the current ratio go up with fed
income tax due? Don't both liabilities and assets go down?
Answer: Federal income tax due for the previous year would
appear as accrued taxes payable as a current liability. So when that tax
payable is paid, cash will decrease by the amount of the tax as will the
accrued taxes payable. So the effect on current assets is a decrease
as is the effect on current liabilities. However, that will lead
to an increase in the current ratio. For example suppose a firm had
a current ratio of 80/40 = 2. They paid $10 in accrued taxes payable
so both the numerator and the denominator decreased. CR = 70/30 =
2. 33. So you can see that the current ratio did indeed go up as
a result. If you are ever in doubt about things like this, just make
up a simple example as I have done here.
April 19, 1999
Question: Is there another way to solve problem 3-9.
I think the (1-t) is confusing me because I was trying to take 20% of the
net income ($100,000).
Answer: The question is to find the Times Interest Earned
Ratio. We know that this is found by dividing Earnings Before Interest
& Taxes (EBIT) by Interest (I). But the problem did not give
us the amount of EBIT or the amount of interest so those must be determined.
The problem did include some information that is not necessary to solve
the problem so do not always feel that you need to use every piece of information
given. Evaluate the problem and decide how best to proceed with the info
given. In this case, you can in essence work back up the income statement
from the bottom. That is, we can easily find the net
income after tax by multiplying sales by the net profit margin:
NIAT = $2M x .05 = $100,000
We can find interest by multiplying the amount of debt outstanding
times the rate on the debt:
I = $500,000 x .10 = $50,000
Now remember the format of a simple income statement:
Sales
(Cost of Goods Sold)
=Gross Profit
(Other Operating Expenses)
=Earnings Before Interest & Taxes
(interest)
=Earnings Before Taxes
(taxes)
Net Income After Tax
We know that taxes are paid at the average rate of 20%. That is,
the taxes due would be .20 x EBT.
So NIAT = EBT - [.20 x EBT] = EBT [1 - .20]
Solving now for EBT = NIAT/[1 - .20]
Using the numbers we found earlier: EBT = 100,000/[1-.20] = $125,000
Then working our way back up the income statement, we must add interest
to this to get to EBIT
EBIT = 125,000 + 50,000 = 175,000
Then TIE = 175,000/50,000 = 3.5
April 15, 1999
Question: After watching
the first tape, I did have a question. One of the points of the lecture
was that stock price is the best measure of how a company is doing.
Relative to this, often time compensation of managers is tied to stock
performance in some manner. Does this thinking also apply to the
highly speculative companies like the internet related AOL's and Amazon.com's?
As you know, these companies have experienced tremendous stock price growth
and often times with no reportable profits. Unlike the pharmaceutical
companies that may truly have long return periods due to the lengthy development,
testing, and approval process for new drugs, these internet stocks seem
to be pure speculation. How much of the compensation packages for
these managers is tied to stock price?
Answer: It is true that from a shareholder's perspective
the stock price is the best overall measure of value. That market
capitalization is the total worth of the company. As we mentioned,
many firms do link executive and managerial compensation to some measure
of the firm's stock performance as a way of minimizing any agency problems.
You are right in your comment though that many of today's tech stocks have
enormous swings in their stock price that may have little to do with the
longer term decisions of management. Boards of directors must be
careful in designing compensation packages to make sure that they are truly
rewarding managerial performance and not some anomaly of the market.
Typically, stock related compensation items are in the form of some longer-term
or deferred type arrangements though.
April 14, 1999
Question: The Tuesday, April 13 edition of Wall Street
Journal, Money and Investing section, front page, bottom There is
an article "Buyout Firms See Big Bucks in Some Small Companies. "
The third paragraph from the end of the article says that buyout
firms often leave in place top executives, who no longer have to manage
their companies with an eye on the stock market. To me that seems like
the new owners are telling the old management (who let the stockholders
value go down the drain) that you are doing a good enough job and do not
worry about maximizing EPS. It seems like it is sending the wrong
message. I did notice that the stockprice jumped up whenever the firms
were bought out for some reason. But how will the stock price ever
gain much with leadership that got it in trouble in the first place? I
remember our book talks about differences (such as goal conficts) between
small and big firms on page 25. Is it appropriate to think of a company
that is going public as becoming a large firm and a company that is going
private as going back to a small firm status ? I can understand why a person
that was their own boss and that liked independence would not care as much
about stock value (unless they wanted to sell out) as someone that
had no "independence" ties and was ready to sell whenever they thought
they could make a quick profit. However I do not understand the buyout
firms leaving the old management in place. Could you please comment on
the article ?
Answer: I believe that the article is referring to the
idea that in today's marketplace, where large institutional investors dominate
the activity, many believe that too much attention is focused on the immediate
stock price rather than the long-run position of the firm. You will
see that referred to as "managerial myopia" from time to time. That
is, managers may make short-run decisions just as a quick boost to stock
price since so many investors now are quick to sell if things don't go
their way. But you are right too, if the incumbent management has
not done a good job in maximizing shareholder value, then to keep them
in their position will simply perpetuate the situation. Many
buyout firms are just in the business of doing acquisitions. They
do not really wish to directly operate the companies themselves and will
leave incumbent management in place if they believe they can affect the
direction of the company. Sometimes acquisitions do result in the
top management remaining for a long period of time to avoid too much disruption.
Also, if the firm is smaller, the top management may have expertise that
is not easily purchased by simply hiring new management. I think
your characterization of a company going public as large and one that is
private as small is not necessarily the case. For example, Milliken
& Company, the textile & chemical manufacturer is privately owned,
but yet is a very large company.
April 13, 1999
I received several other questions relating to various accounting transactions
as in Question 3-11 in the textbook. We reviewed that entire question
in class on Monday, April 12 and you will see the discussion when you get
the tape for that class. So I will not type answers to all the questions
I received. If, after reviewing the tape, you still have questions,
feel free to email or call.
April 13, 1999
Question: Won't inflation affect each financial statement
because of its distortion of earnings and physical assets.
Answer: Physical assets are recorded at historic cost
and so the inflated value does not appear on the balance sheet. Earnings
on the other hand will reflect inflation as a firm adjusts its sales price
for inflationary effects.
April 13, 1999
Question: Why do firms with high net profit margins have
low inventory turnover ratios?
Answer: It is just the nature of different industries.
We used the example of motorhomes in class. One sells fewer motorhomes
than a retail grocer sells of canned goods. Consequently, the net
profit on each motorhome will be higher to cover all the costs. Retail
stores generate a lower profit margin but on a much larger number of items
sold.
April 13, 1999
Question: Why isn't the increase in notes payable a source
of cash in question 3-10 and why is the decrease is long term debt a source
of cash instead of a use?
Answer: The increase in notes payable should be a source
of cash and the decrease in long term debt should be a use of cash. The
solution is in error as posted.
April 13, 1999
Question: Why wouldn't the issuance of additional common
stock raise sales and thus raise net income?
Answer: Merely issuing more common stock does not do anything
for sales or net income. A firm will raise additional capital for
the purpose of further investment in the firm and hopefully that investment
will result in either greater efficiency (i.e., lower operating costs)
and/or increased productivity and sales. But the mere issuance of
additional shares does not necessarily reulst in higher sales. It
all depends on how wisely the firm uses the additional capital.
April 13, 1999
Question: Why would equipment purchased raise total current
assets?
Answer: Equipment is classified as long-term or part of
fixed assets, not current assets.
April 13, 1999
Question: Thinking of an increase in cash, securities or accounts
receivable as a use of cash seems counterintuitive. I'm thinking
cash equates to an expenditure. How can a rise in cash be a use?
Answer: I responded to this during the class on Monday,
April 12 so when you receive the tape you will get more of a complete answer.
Basically, one must think of the assets that a firm holds just as you think
of your own personal portfolio of investments. For example, you put
money into a money market mutual fund. That represents an increase in your
investment and hence a use of your funds. Likewise for the corporation,
the assets you mention, cash, A/R, inventory, are all investments and any
increase in those represents a use of funds to support the business.
Keeping cash on hand in the cash account represents a use of funds just
as much as if the firm bought inventory and the inventory account increased.
April 13, 1999
Question: Does Accounts Payable include the portion of
long term liabilities that will be recognized or paid during that year?
Answer: No. The part of any long term debt that
is due within one year would be reflected in an account under the current
liabilities section of the balance usually labeled something like current
portion of long term debt. But that is different from accounts payable
which is from the purchase of supplies, inventory, etc. and is a result
of what is called trade credit.
April 13, 1999
Question: Why aren't additions and reductions in long
term liabilities stated in the cash flows from operations in a given year?
Answer: Changes in long term liabilities represent either
sources or uses of cash from the way in which management chooses to finance
the operations of the business. That is different from operating
cash flow. Operating cash flow is generated by the business itself
from the sale of its products or services.
April 11, 1999
Question: It would seem to me that lower mortgage rates
would attract more capital since more investors would like to get the lowest
interest rate. Why then have you stated in your answer to this problem
(Question 2-2) that high rates would attract capital?
Answer: I think you have confused investors and borrowers.
Investors would prefer a higher rate of return on money they choose to
invest while borrowers certainly prefer a lower mortgage rate. Think
of yourself. If you had funds available to invest, wouldn't you wish
to earn the highest return possible for the level of risk you are willing
to undertake? Remember, the money that mortgage lenders use to make
mortgage loans comes from investors who are hoping to earn a return.
April 11, 1999
Question: Regarding question 2-6, I thought this answer
could vary based on the yield curve. I.E. in contrast to your solution,
if the long term rates were already lower than the short term rates, it
would be better to borrow long term. I guess I was just assuming
that the yield curve had already reversed - would I be wrong for thinking
this way?
Answer: As the solution says, the answer depends upon
one's ability to forecast interest rates. But in the typical recession,
interest rates do fall and so a firm would be wise to just use short-term
money now to get them through until the long-term ratres fall. Then
they could refinance the short-term debt with long-term at a more favorable
long term rate.
April 11, 1999
Question: Regarding question 2-7, wouldn't an increase
in the amount of savings and investment in the economy cause a surplus
of money available and by economic standards cause the price of money to
fall?
Answer: In that question, the text is referring to investment
as capital investment by corporations so when productivity gains occur,
firms invest greater amounts in equipment, facilities, R&D, etc.
So the demand for money will increase as firm's increase their investment
in their infrastructure. As that demand increases, rates will rise
too to attract the additional funds to support the increase in productivity.
April 11, 1999
Question: Since deposits = liabilities and loans equal
assets, how would these be reflected on a bank's balance sheet?
Answer: They would be reflected just as your question
is stated. Loans would appear on the left hand or asset side of the
balance sheet while deposits would appear as liabilities on the right hand
side of the balance sheet.
April 11, 1999
Question: What would cause a yield to look like the one
in problem 2-3?
Answer: The explanation of the slope depends upon which
of
the three theories of the term structure you find most appealing.
As we noted in class, there are advoctates of each approach and the determination
is not an exact science. If you believe the expectations theory,
then it would occur when there is anticipated lower futuire inflation.
That is the scenario given in the numbers in this problem.
April 11, 1999
Question: In problem 2-4, how do we know they didn't carry the
first loss in 1996 backwards instead of forward?
Answer: I am not sure I understand your question.
The loss carryback carryforward provision of the tax code says you
may carry losses back three and forward fifteen years. You must go
back to the third year and then work your way forward which is the way
this problem is done. The loss occurred in 1995 so the company would
recompute its 1992 tax liabilty, its 1993 tax liability, its 1994 tax liability,
etc. Then in 1995, the year of the loss, it would receive a tax refund
of the taxes previously paid in those years. The refund would be
$135,000. Since they still had $200,000 in losses, they could then
go forward and use 150,000 to offset against the 150,000 earned in 1996
which would mean they would then pay no taxes in 1996. That leaves
only 50,000 in losses that they would then offset against the 1997 income
thus reducing taxable income from 150,000 to 100,000.
April 6, 1999
Question: I did problem 2-10 but had a different answer
for the after-tax income because I subtracted the dividends paid from the
after-tax income. They need to come out somewhere and I know it isn't
before taxes. Am I wrong or is the solution wrong?
Answer: After-tax income is the profit that remains for
the owners (shareholders) of a firm after all expenses including taxes
are paid. The after-tax income is not affected by dividends paid
to the common shareholder. The after-tax income or net income after
tax is distributed between dividends and retained earnings. So the
solution as given is correct.
April 6, 1999
Question: I was reading in the WSJ today and came across
this term "diluted share earnings" in a couple of articles. What
exactly do you mean by diluted share earnings?
Answer: Earnings per share is just as the term implies....the
earnings available to the common shareholder divided by the number of shares
outstanding. However, many firms have other shares which may be part
of convertible bonds or convertible preferred stock. That is, those
securities may have the option to be converted into shares of common stock.
In that case, the potential exists for the number of common shares to increase
if those options to convert are taken. Hence, diluted earnings per
share measures what the EPS would be if these various options were exchanged
for shares of common stock. EPS calculated without consideration
of those conversions is called primary EPS with the other measure being
called fully diluted EPS.
April 5, 1999
Several of you have emailed me indicating that you did not receive
the earlier messages I had sent to the class. The class email uses
the Auburn email address that each student is assigned upon enrolling at
Auburn. It is of the format name@mail.auburn.edu. According
to Dr. Gropper, each of you received instructions in the information you
were given upon enrolling at Auburn on accessing that email. If you
are having difficulty with that, I will see who you should contact so you
can get your password to access that. The instructions given below
will allow you to set that email so that any messages will be forwarded
to a preferred email address you might have.
April 5, 1999
Instructions for forwarding your Auburn email to another email service:
I have more than one e-mail account, but I want to read all my messages
together. Can I have all my mail delivered to one place?
One way to have your mail forwarded from your Pine UNIX (mallard) account
is to set up a .forward file. Any mail addressed to your global user
ID@mail.auburn.edu will then be forwarded on to the address(es) listed
in this file. You do not need to register or fill out a form, you can specify
any number of receiving addresses, and you can change the file at any time.
Simply create a file called .forward in your home directory containing
the address(es) you want your mail sent to.
For example, Jane Doe has a mallard account with user ID doejane, so
her e-mail address for that account is doejane@mail.auburn.edu.
She wants to get her e-mail at her home address, which is JaneDoe@mindspring.com.
So she logs in to her mallard account and enters:
pico .forward
On the first line of the (pico editor) blank screen that comes up, she
types JaneDoe@mindspring.com, Ctrl-X (to exit) and Y (Yes to the
question "Save modified buffer?..."). A line at the bottom of the screen
displays "File Name to write : .forward", she presses Enter, and logs out.
A .forward file can be created in any UNIX account, so if you have
accounts on servers other than mallard, you might want to create a
.forward file in each of these, all routing your e-mail to a single destination
address. To deactivate UNIX mail forwarding, simply delete the .forward
file: rm .forward