Course Outline: Page 1 of 3
Course Outline: Page 1 of 3
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to basic principles of finance. These are the basic knowledge for either a career
in corporate finance or further education in the area of investments, real estate, banking, and insurance. It is also an excellent primer
for non-finance majors wanting to familiarize with the world of finance. The primary goal of this course is to impart the knowledge to
allow you to intelligently solve practical business problems. To achieve this goal, it is crucial that you have a sound understanding of
finance theory.
The course introduces analytical techniques for evaluating personal and business investment and financing decisions, including
coverage of the context and environment in which these decisions are made. Students learn financial jargon and the basic concepts,
principles, tools, and techniques of finance such as time value of money, risk and return, analysis of financial statements, securities
valuation, and capital budgeting. The idea is to develop a broad appreciation of the field of finance and its role in corporate value
maximization. Regardless of your chosen future specialization, this course will help you make personal financial decisions such as
investing into the stock market or buying a house.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
1 Describe the major components of a financial system [i.e. Financial Institutions, Financial Markets, financial Instruments,
Financial Services and Money] and how their operations affect financial and real assets.
2 Evaluate financial decisions using concepts and techniques of the time value of money and risk and return.
3 Understand the concept of valuing financial assets and be able to value bonds and equities.
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
LO# Learning Outcome Statement
LO1 Explain the Goal of Financial Management and the conflicts of interest between managers and owners.
LO2 Understand and Analyze the Financial Statements of a company.
LO3 Compute future/ present value and rate of return on investment that involve single/ multiple cash flows.
LO4 Know the important types of bonds and understand the determinants of bond yields.
LO5 Recognize how stock prices depend on future dividends and be able to compute stock prices.
COURSE CONTENTS
Session Topic
Introduction and Syllabus Discussion
1 What is Finance?
Why Study Finance?
An Overview of Financial Management, Financial Markets and Institutions
• Identify the key financial decisions facing the financial manager of any business firm.
• Explain why maximizing the current value of the firm’s stock is the appropriate goal.
• Explain the links between stock price, intrinsic value, and executive compensation
• Discuss how agency conflicts affect the goal of maximizing stockholder value.
2 • Explain why ethics is an appropriate topic in the study of corporate finance.
• Identify the different types of financial markets and financial institutions, andexplain how these markets and institutions
enhance capital allocation.
• Explain how the stock market operates, and list the distinctions between thedifferent types of stock markets.
• Discuss the importance of market efficiency, and explain why some marketsare more efficient than others.
• Develop a simple understanding of behavioral finance.
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Course Outline
Financial Statements, Cash Flow, and Taxes
• Discuss generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and their importance to the economy.
• Explain the balance sheet identity and why a balance sheet must balance.
• Describe how market-value balance sheets differ from book-value balance sheets.
3 • Identify the basic equation for the income statement and the information it provides.
• Understand the calculation of cash flows from operating, investing, and financing activities required in the statement of
cash flows.
• Estimate a firm’s free cash flow and explain why free cash flow has such animportant effect on firm value.
• Discuss the difference between average and marginal tax rates.
Analysis of Financial Statements
• Explain the three perspectives from which financial statements can be viewed.
• Describe common-size financial statements, explain why they are used, and be able to prepare and use them to analyze
4 the historical performance of a firm.
• List the five groups of ratios and identify, calculate, and interpret the key ratios in each group and Discuss each ratio’s
relationship to the balance sheet and income statement.
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