FIN523 Financial Management

Akshat Goel -

Course Catalog Description

Introduction

This course aims to give students a critical knowledge and understanding of finance theories and the key issues in (corporate) financial management. Among other things, the course will cover the objectives of financial management, time value of money, investment appraisal techniques under certainty and uncertainty, risk and return, portfolio theory, types of finance and sources of finance that firms use, weighted average cost of capital, capital structure decision and dividend decision. The course will lay some backgrounds which will be developed further at a later stage of the degree programme.


Campus Fall Spring Summer
On Campus X X
Web Campus X X

Instructors

Professor Email Office
Yi Liu
yliu341@stevens.edu Babbio Center Room: 640

More Information

Course Outcomes

Students who complete this course successfully should be able to:

  1. Appraise project investment proposals and critically evaluate the effects of investment decisions of firms on their market values under certainty and uncertainty
  2. Assess the potential impacts of financing and dividend decisions of firms on their costs of capital and market values. The students should also have critical knowledge and understanding of the capital structure and dividend policy literatures.
  3. Evaluate the potential impact of dividend policies of firms on their market values. They should also have a critical knowledge and understanding of the dividend policy literature.
  4. Apply portfolio theory (to construct the optimal portfolio) and know its strengths and limitations.

Course Resources

Textbook

Key Textbook:

  • Richard Brealey, Stewart Myers and Franklin Allen, Principles of Corporate Finance, 12th edition, 2016, McGraw-Hill, ISBN: 9780077151560.

Other Recommended Textbooks:

  • David Hillier, Iain Clacher, Stephen A. Ross, Randolph W. Westerfield, Bradford Jordan, Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, 3 rd edition, 2017, McGraw-Hill, ISBN: 9780077178239.
  • Stephen A. Ross, Randolph W. Westerfield, Jeffrey Jaffe, Bradford Jordan, Corporate Finance: Core Principles & Applications, 4th edition, 2014, McGraw-Hill, ISBN: 9780077861650.

Grading

Grading Policies

Weights
1 Individual Homework 50%
2 Individual Mid-Term Project 25%
3 In-Class Final Exam 25%

Lecture Outline

Topic Assignments
Week 1 THE OBJECTIVES OF CORPORATION AND THE TIME VALUE OF MONEY HW#1 (due Jan 28)
Week 2 MAKING CAPITAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS HW#2 (due Feb 4)
Week 3 BONDS VALUATION HW#3 (due Feb 11)
Week 4 STOCK VALUATION HW#4 (due Feb 18)
Week 5 INTRODUCTION TO RISK AND RETURN HW#5 (due Mar 4)
Week 6 PORTFOLIO THEORY AND THE CAPITAL ASSET PRICING MODEL HW#6 (due Mar 11)
Week 7 THE WEIGHTED AVERAGE COST OF CAPITAL AND PROJECT ANALYSIS HW#7 (due Apr 1)
Week 8 CORPORATE FINANCING - PART 1: OVERVIEW AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE HW#8 (due Apr 8)
Week 9 CORPORATE FINANCING - PART 2: HOW MUCH SHOULD A CORPORATION BORROW? HW#9 (due Apr 15)
Week 10 PAYOUT POLICY HW#10 (due Apr 22)
Week 11 EXTENDED CONTENT (FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT UNDER INFORMATION ASYMMETRY) Bonus Question (due May 6)
Week 12 Module Review
Week 13 In-Class Final Exam