Introduction

Today’s dynamic work environment requires leaders who can consistently innovate, make data-driven decisions, and inspire others to perform. Whether you are interested in policy or management, learn ways to spark change wherever you go. This course is designed to help you recognize potential threats and opportunities impacting your organizations and use these insights to create and implement successful financial strategies. This introductory, graduate-level course will provide a market-oriented framework for analyzing the major types of financial decisions made by corporations. You will learn to:

• Develop a strategic short-term plan for your organization and optimize capital management
• Gain knowledge of long-term financing and valuing equities, capital cost, and structure
• Recognize the time-value of money, risk, and reward
• Understand the decision-making process for raising and allocating capital

We focus on two basic decisions: the investment decision, (to what projects should funds be allocated), and the financing decision, (where should the funds be obtained). As the course progresses, we will cover such topics as: discounted cash flow valuation, bond valuation, stock valuation, cost of capital determination, and the decision criteria to apply to project evaluation.

Prerequisite: Financial Decision Making (FIN 515), Financial Statement Analysis (FIN 510), and Managerial Economics (FIN 616) or equivalent courses. If you do not meet the prerequisites, please be aware you will be at a significant disadvantage and will have to work much harder to complete the course in a satisfactory manner.