Basic knowledge of each financial statement’s main contents and purpose, knowledge of basic financial ratios
Basic financial mathematics (compounding and discounting)
Some knowledge of traditional securities (main characteristics of stocks and bonds)
At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
Identify the information relevant to the financial analysis of a project, apply the main valuation tools to a project, discuss the main sources of risk and their impact on the cost of capital of a project, identify the actual financing policy of a company, explain the different elements relevant to the determination of an optimal capital structure, explain the effect of distribution policy on stock prices.
This is a FIRST COURSE in Corporate Finance. It covers the fundamental principles of:
– Investment decisions: decision rules (NPV, IRR, payback period), relevant cash flow computation, risk and the discount rate, difficulties associated with international projects, exercises and cases.
– Financing and the cost of capital: the impact of debt on the risk and cost of equity, observing financing on the cash flow statement, measuring the capital structure, real life examples.
– Is there an optimal capital structure? Securities as a risk-sharing device, the cost of capital in perfect markets, the impact of taxes, financial distress costs and other costs, exercises.
– Distributions to shareholders: dividends, buy-backs, real life examples.
– Oral presentations and wrap-up.
