Please note this syllabus is a draft. The final syllabus will be distributed the first of class and could be adjusted during the course.

This course covers topics in finance: financial statement analysis, the operations of financial markets and their efficiency, international financial transactions, time value of money, diversification and analysis of risk, valuation of financial assets (stocks and bonds), capital budgeting, capital structure, and an introduction to derivatives. Emphasis is given to both theory and application with particular attention paid to using spreadsheets for building simple financial models, working with a case study, and the writing of brief reports.

Please note that the course is a 300-level course in finance with a prerequisite of one year of accounting (financial and managerial), and a semester each of statistics and macroeconomics which includes college algebra - it is not an "introductory" class.  Students should be prepared to review some of this material as part of the course.  

The course materials are posted on Moodle, our leaning management system, available at http://moodle.johncabot.edu/ .

If you have technical problems at any stage of this process, get in touch with [email protected].

- Understand the measurement of cash flow and its central role in financial analysis.

- Learn how to evaluate firms' decision with simple financial models.

- Learn time value of money concepts and their application to financial problems.

- Learn how to value bonds and make investment decisions analyzing interest rate risk, yield curves, and reinvestment options.

- Understand how to value stocks using the dividend growth models and methods of comparables.

Undertake a captial budeting case to learn capital budgeting concepts – NPV, IRR, MIRR, WACC - and learn to apply risk analysis to capital budgeting decisions using a financial model.

- Review capital market history, understand the risk-return relationship (the CAPM) and the efficient markets hypothesis.

- Learn the basics of portfolio theory and the risk-return tradeoff.

- Learn about international finance to include interest rate parity, purchasing power parity, and international capital budgeting risks.

- Learn about the basics of hedging to include forwards, futures, and options.

- Understand the importance of ethical issues in finance and develop an awareness of the CFA Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.

Attendance at lectures and participation in class discussion is strongly encouraged. Students who miss more than 6 classes normally do not do well in the course.  The final exam is comprehensive so students who miss 6 classes or less will have the option of dropping TWO of the lowest grades of Exams 1, 2, or 3 (Exam 4 cannot be dropped) and shifting the weights to the comprehensive final exam.  The instructor will automatically do this when assigning the final grade.

Students who miss an exam (with a formal excuse from the Dean's Office) will shift the weight to the final exam; you will be given the midterm to take on your own time under exam conditions and it will be informally assess should you wish to check on the progress of your studies.  No make-up exams will be given.  See the University's policies for missed exams and refer to the Associate Dean.

Students must bring (and use) a basic calculator to class that includes the exponential function. During class no electronic devices are allowed unless there is a specific project we are working on which will be indicated by the instructor or if using a tablet to take notes. Cell phones and other electronic devices may not be used during an exam. No eating or drinking in class.