Corporate Finance

This course provides students with a survey and analysis of problems facing the financial manager, with an emphasis on the role of finance in the creation of value in corporations. Although it focusses on for-profit corporations, these lessons are also applicable to other forms of business, such as partnerships and non-profit corporations. The course begins with discussions of the forms of business organizations, the main financial statements, and a thorough explication of the time value of money. These are applied to valuation of debt and equity securities, and capital projects. Students will explore the implications of corporate financing needs for the availability of investment securities to investors, and the risks and returns they face. Students will apply basic valuation techniques to problems of corporate valuation and long-term corporate planning, and multinational financial management. The course concludes with an analysis of enterprise risk management, in which students take a view of the overall firm, assess risk on an enterprise basis, and develop an understanding of what are appropriate, versus inappropriate, approaches to firm-wide risk management.