FIN 374C Financial Planning and Policy for Large Corporations

							                                      FIN 374C / Spring 2006 / Prof. Liz Goldreyer



              FINANCIAL PLANNING AND POLICY FOR LARGE
                       CORPORATIONS (FIN 374C)
                                             SYLLABUS, SPRING 2006

  Information about the course will be posted throughout the semester on Blackboard.

  Instructor               Office            Phone                       E-mail                          Office Hours
 Dr. Liz                                 330-0061 hm*               liz@goldreyer.com                T/TH: 10:30-11:00
 Goldreyer                                                                                           or by appointment
*Please feel free to call me at home since that is where I do most of my work, but please do not call home after 9:00 pm.




Lectures:
                     Section            Days                   Hours                      Location
                      02750          Tue & Thur             11:00-12:30                   UTC 4.124
                      02755          Tue & Thur              12:30-2:00                   UTC 4.124
     Note: Each student is responsible for material presented in the section for which
     she/he has been assigned.

Course Prerequisites: FIN 357

Course Objective:
Students will learn the financial tools needed to make good business decisions. This
course will teach students a structured system of financial analysis that introduces a
degree of objectivity to corporate financial decisions. The course has a corporate focus,
but the skills you develop are relevant in an entrepreneurial or financial investment
setting as well.

Course Materials:
The required textbook is Brigham and Daves, Intermediate Financial Management, 8th
edition, Southwestern.

Course notes, assignments, etc. will be posted on Blackboard. In addition, students are
encouraged to read a periodical that covers events in the financial world. The Wall Street
Journal is one good candidate; more global in outlook is the Financial Times.

Lectures:
Lectures on chapters from the text will often be based on the “Mini Case” at the end of
the chapter. Chapters should be read before class. Also, read the mini cases and think
about the questions posed in it before class. This will give you a conceptual framework
for the material and help your understanding. I will often lecture from a set of power
point slides. Some students prefer to have a “blueprint” of the lecture in front of them for
note taking purposes. To help you with this, I have placed in the notes on blackboard as
mentioned above.


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                          FIN 374C / Spring 2006 / Prof. Liz Goldreyer




Grading:
The grade will be based on the following:

Midterm exam                  35%
Final exam                    35%
Problem sets                  30%

No extra credit will be given to improve the grade.

Web Chapter 28
The review chapter you are assigned at the beginning of the course is not in the book. It
is located in your student cd that is included with your textbook, OR follow the following
steps:

       1. go to www.brigham.swcollege.com (other student resources that may be
          helpful are located here)
       2. click on the picture of our textbook
       3. click on left of page “Student Resources”
       4. under “Web chapters” click “Web chapters download page”
       5. click 28 for chapter 28

Read this chapter for the review of time value of money, risk and return, and stock and
bond values. If you need more of a review, refer to chapters 2 and 3 in the book for risk
and return, chapter 4 for bond valuation, and chapter 5 for stock valuation.

Problems:
I will assign problems during the course. An outline of expected assignments is stated
below. These assignments could change depending on the time it takes to cover the
material. Assignments will be due at the start of class on the due date. Late problem sets
will not be accepted unless accompanied by a valid doctor’s excuse. If you will miss
class on a day that homework is due for reason other than illness, then you should make
arrangements to either turn it in to me early, or have it delivered to my office by the time
your class starts. If you deliver homework to my office, make sure that a secretary
receives it and marks on it the time received. A hard copy is preferred to email, but
exceptions in rare cases may be acceptable.

The problems will mostly consist of spreadsheet problems at the end of chapters in the
text. To access the templates for these, they are in your student cd that is included with
your textbook, OR follow the following steps:

       1. go to www.brigham.swcollege.com (other student resources that may be
          helpful are located here)
       2. click on the picture of our textbook
       3. click on left of page “Student Resources”



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                         FIN 374C / Spring 2006 / Prof. Liz Goldreyer


       4. under “Build a Model Spreadsheet Templates” click “Build a Model
          download page”
       5. click appropriate chapter
       6. Use template to answer questions

The toolkits for the chapter may be helpful for the formulas you need to finish these
problems. They can be accessed on the same website. Instead of step #4 listed above
(clicking on “Build a Model”), click on “Tool Kits download page” which is listed above
the build a model.

Exams:
The midterm exam is March 21st and the final exam is either May 13 9am-12n (for the
11am-12:30pm section) or May 16 9am-12n (for the 12:30-2pm section).

 Attendance to all exams is mandatory.
 You can bring in one 8½” by 11” sheet of paper (front and back) with anything on it
  for the exam.
 The student is responsible for the required readings, lecture content and class
  handouts. Please do the assigned reading prior to each lecture.
 The grades will be assessed on a relative scale, based on the overall class
  performance.
 Regrades must be requested within one week of receiving the corresponding grade.
  The student must submit a written and precise explanation of why he/she thinks that
  the grade should be modified. The instructor will regrade the whole assignment/exam
  and the final mark may go up or down.




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                              FIN 374C / Spring 2006 / Prof. Liz Goldreyer


Course Outline:
(Subject to changes announced in class)

  DATES                                    CHAPTERS                       ASSIGNMENTS
Jan 17,19,24,26        1,Web 28       Introduction, Review*, Spreadsheets Problem 2-14
Jan 31,Feb 2           6              Accounting for Financial Mgmt.       Problem 6-13
Feb 7,9                9              Cost of Capital                      Problem 9-16
Feb 14,16,21           10             Corporate Value and VBM              Problem 10-11
Feb 23,28, Mar 2       11             Capital Budgeting                    Problem 11-18
Mar 7                  12             Capital Budgeting
Mar 9                                 Catch up and review for exam
Mar 13-17                             Spring Break
Mar 21                 Web 28,        MID-TERM EXAM
                       1,6,9-12
Mar 23,28,30           13             Real Options                                   Problem 13-10
Apr 4, 6,11            14             Capital Structure and Dividends                Problem 14-7
Apr 13                 15             Capital Structure and Dividends                Problem 15-8
Apr 18,20              16             Capital Structure and Dividends                Problem 16-11
Apr 25,27,May 2        25             Mergers                                        Problem 25-8
May 4                                 Review, catch-up, guest speaker(?)
11-12:30 section 13-16, 25            FINAL EXAM
Sat., May 13
9am-12n

12:30-2 section 13-16, 25             FINAL EXAM
Tues, May 16
9am-12n

*If the Web Chapter 28 review is not enough for you, please refer to chapters 2 and 3 in the book for risk
and return, chapter 4 for bond valuation, and chapter 5 for stock valuation.




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