Syllabus
BUS 330b Corporate Finance
Spring 2015 Semester
Dr. Steve Sullivan Office: Main Building Room 105 Tel: 888410
Class meets TR 9:00 – 10:15 in Room MB 111
Homepage: http://www.aubg.bg/home/faculty/ssullivan/
Office Hours: TR for 30 minutes after class, or by appointment.
Textbook: Fundamentals of Financial Management, 13th edition; Brigham/Houston; ISBN: 978-0-538-48243-1. Publisher: South-Western/Cengage. The book is available for leasing in the AUBG Bookstore.
Course Description:
This course provides students with an understanding of the fundamentals of corporate finance. This includes knowing what capital funds the business needs, how funds are obtained, and how funds are managed. At the end of the course students should understand and be able to make managerial decisions about capital budgeting, capital structure, how to calculate the cost of capital from various sources, how to manage and minimize the use of working capital, and how to calculate the results of bankruptcy and merger.
Prerequisite: declared BUS major.
Course Goals:
This is one of the required courses to the Business program. The Business program outcomes developed in this course are those which enable a student to:
▪ read, analyze and make recommendations based upon organizational research
▪ use systematic, proactive, progressive and creative problem-solving strategies
▪ use and manage information and technology effectively
▪ develop and use successful team development and decision-making strategies
▪ use quantitative and qualitative procedures for organizing, understanding, and presenting data to aid decision-making
▪ acquire the analytical skills necessary to make effective and efficient business decisions
▪ develop and apply strategic management concepts in a socially acceptable manner
▪ analyze and understand the firm's internal and external business environments
▪ understand and respond positively to global, political, economic, and legal and regulatory aspects of business.
How to Succeed in This Course
1. Understand and embrace your role in the learning process. Class meetings are meant to enlarge, expand, and explain the material in the text. In order to gain the full benefit of the class meetings, you need to be following along in the text. If there are issues in the text or in class you don’t understand, speak up and ask the question. If you can’t bring yourself to speak up in class, ask me in my office hours, or send me an email. You won’t be the only person who can be helped by hearing the question and answer.
2. Pay attention to the syllabus. The dates for all quizzes and exams are already there.
3. Attend class with the intention of coming away understanding something new. Be prepared to benefit from the class discussion. This means having a notebook for this class and some pens or pencils ready to use. Studies of the process of learning find that the act of writing down the important points (even if you already understand them) helps imprint the information in long-term memory.
4. Part of this course is learning the language of finance, and knowing what the terms mean. If you don’t know the meaning of the words coming out of your mouth, there’s a very good chance that whatever you are saying isn’t correct.
5. The material in this course is cumulative – you need to apply the concepts of weeks 2 and 3 to understand the concepts of weeks 4 and 5. You cannot take a “mental vacation” for 3 weeks and expect to catch up.
6. I try not to surprise students. In my other courses, I make available all old quizzes, exams and assignments if students wish to use these for exam preparation. You will not have that luxury for this course. (Boo!) Instead, I will try to distribute “practice exams” before each exam that will be similar to what you might be asked to do on the real exam. (Yea!) If you can answer everything on the practice exam – not because you memorized an answer, but because you know how to arrive at the answer – you should be well-prepared for the real thing.
7. Have fun. I never intend class to be dull drudgery. I think it’s interesting to learn about how a business organization obtains and allocates resources (and money is just an all-purpose resource). Financial decisions are all part of how an organization gathers the resources to carry out its activities, and divides the rewards. It’s not just about numbers, it’s also about thinking, planning, and communicating.
Grade Determination:
Students’ grades will be determined by the following guidelines:
4 quizzes each worth 6% of the final grade (lowest score dropped): 18 points
3 non-cumulative mid-term exams each worth 22% of the final grade: 66 points
class attendance 4 points
homework 12 points ______
100 points
Extras:
Discussion Questions *
In-class exercises *
Company studies *
Through discussion questions, in-class exercises, and company studies, I provide students with the opportunity to add these additional items to the basket of material which constitutes their grade. Adding things to the basket in this way can never hurt one’s grade, and nobody is obligated. Suppose a student earns 75 of the regular 100 points during the semester, but earned another 25 points through the extras. Based on the 75 points alone, she would have 75% of the total points and would likely receive a B for the course. With the extras, she has 100 out of 125 points, or 80% -- which would be on the border between B+ and A-. The opportunity to add extras to your grade determination is during the semester. Once classes end, I won’t consider extra papers, projects, etc.
Grades are assigned according to the student’s total performance as weighted above. Any student whose final weighted average is above 85% will receive an A. Any student whose final weighted average is below 55% will receive an F.
Policy on Academic Integrity:
I expect all AUBG students to uphold academic integrity standards. When a student seeks to obtain a grade that he has not earned, he degrades the degree he seeks, and degrades the degrees of his classmates. No student who I catch cheating on any quiz or exam will be allowed to pass the course. The definition of "cheating" includes knowingly providing unauthorized help to other students on quizzes or exams. All answers on all quizzes and exams must be one’s own work. Collaboration is permitted on in-class exercises, homework, and projects. When in doubt, you can always ask.
It is also a violation of copyright law and of AUBG policy to have or use a photocopied textbook without the permission of the authors. Any such cases will be referred to the Conduct Council.
Incomplete Work:
Grades of "incomplete" are assigned only in the very unusual circumstance when something unexpected prevents a student from completing course requirements according to the normal schedule. When such a case occurs, I require the student to complete the course work as soon as he or she is physically able, not whenever the student feels like it. If the student making the request has a course average less than "C", the request is refused.
Quizzes:
Each quiz will cover material only since the previous quiz or exam. The quiz will consist of 6 multiple choice questions, and will likely be administered at the beginning of the class period. Students who arrive after the quiz has begun will NOT be allowed to take the quiz.
I do not ever, ever, ever give make-up quizzes. If a student is late or absent on the day of the quiz, he or she misses the quiz and receives a grade of zero. I will give 4 quizzes and drop the lowest score. If the student misses one quiz for any reason, then the zero will be the lowest score and dropped. If a second quiz is missed for any reason, the score entered for the second missing quiz is zero and counted.
For me, quizzes serve 2 purposes. Quizzes make it more necessary for students to keep current with reading and class activities, and thus help to prevent students from allowing themselves to fall too far behind. Quizzes also give all students more frequent feedback on how well they understand the course material. It’s better for a student to find out that he/she doesn’t understand the material very well by getting a low quiz score than to find out by getting a low exam score.
Exams:
Each midterm exam covers material assigned in the text, supplemental reading, or covered in class since the previous exam. The learning IS cumulative, there is no way around that. The exams are NOT cumulative – I do not go back to the beginning of the book to find material for exam questions. But if you haven’t mastered the first material, you will be lost on the later material.
If a student misses one or more mid-term exams, the student must contact me as soon as possible when the problem arises. I may request documentation for medical or other conditions that prevent attendance at the exam at the standard time. The make-up will be scheduled as soon as circumstances permit.
Attendance Policy:
I will take attendance from time to time, but not according to any pre-arranged schedule. If a student is absent when attendance is taken, the absence is recorded. No excuse is considered. Students must be in class and ready to begin at the beginning of the class period, and prepared to stay until the end of the class period. The attendance doesn’t count much by itself, and I only need to take attendance often enough to know who is almost always in class and who is frequently missing.
Course Outline:
WARNING! I have outlined the course material by “weeks” – but as you see below there will be 2 class meetings that have to be re-scheduled. Therefore we may fall a bit behind (in calendar terms) depending on when the lost classes are re-rescheduled.
The quiz and exam dates are set in stone!
Week 1: January 20, 22. Chapters 1, 2: Overview of Financial Management, Financial Markets and Institutions
Quiz 1: Thursday, January 20. (Syllabus, first lecture, text chapter 1.)
Week 2: January 27. Chapter 3: Financial Statements, Cash Flow, and Taxes
ATTENTION! No class on January 29 or on February 3. I will be in the USA for the Board meeting. We will make up the lost classes at times according to the class wishes.
Week 3: February 5. Chapter 4: Analysis of Financial Statements
Week 4: February 10, 12. Chapter 5: Time Value of Money
Quiz 2: Tuesday, February 10
Week 5: February 17, 19. Chapter 6: Interest Rates
Exam 1: Tuesday, February 17.
Week 6: February 24, 26. Chapter 7: Bonds Their Valuation
SPRING BREAK
Week 7: March 10, 12. Chapter 8: Risk and Return
Quiz 3: Thursday, March 12.
Week 8: March 17, 19. Chapter 9: Stocks and Stock Valuation
Week 9: March 24, 26. Chapter 10: The Cost of Capital
Week 10: March 31, April 2. Chapter 11: Capital Budgeting
Week 11: April 7, 9. Chapter 12: Cash Flow Estimation and Risk
Exam 2: Tuesday, April 7.
Week 12: April 14, 16. Chapter 14: Capital Structure and Leverage
Week 13: April 21, 23. Chapter 15: Distributions to Shareholders
Quiz 4: Tuesday, April 21.
Week 14: April 28, 30. Chapter 16: Working Capital Management
Midterm 3: Tuesday May 5, 9:00 – 11:00, according to AUBG final exam schedule.
And finally…
This syllabus represents complete and accurate information at the time of writing. Circumstances may require us to change anything in the syllabus as the semester progresses. Some of you know that in addition to teaching this course, I am the Provost of AUBG. It is possible that I might have to be out of Blagoevgrad on some class day during the semester to do some Provost-y thing. If I can’t convince another professor to cover the class for me, we will have a make-up when I return. Changes to our schedule will be communicated to students in class and/or by email.