This course will provide a market-oriented framework for analyzing the major types of financial decisions made by corporations. Lectures and readings will provide an introduction to present value techniques, capital budgeting principles, asset valuation, the operation and efficiency of financial markets, the financial decisions of firms, and derivatives.
About the Course
PART OF THE WHARTON FOUNDATION SERIES
This course is part of the Wharton foundation series in the MOOC format. This course serves as an introduction to business finance (corporate financial management and investments) for graduate level business school students preparing for upper-level course work. The primary objective is to provide a framework, concepts, and tools for analyzing financial decisions based on fundamental principles of modern financial theory.
Course Syllabus
Week 1: The Objective Function for Corporations
Week 2: Calculating Present Values
Week 3: The Valuation of Bonds and Stocks, A Comparison of Investment Criteria
Week 4: Practical Aspects of the NPV Rule
Week 5: Measuring Risk, Statistics Review, A Theory of Asset Pricing: Introduction, Mean-Standard Deviation Analysis, Diversification and Beta
Week 6: Capital Budgeting and the Capital Asset Pricing Model