FIN 375

Business Finance I

Fall 2008

Ralph Hooper

 

Course Description:  Business Finance I. A course designed to study the acquisition, allocation, and management of funds within the business enterprise.  Course topics include financial goals, funds flow, capital budgeting, asset management, and financing strategies.  Also included is the application of financial theory to decision-making in the areas of financial analysis, planning, forecasting, budgeting, and working capital management.  Problem solving and analysis is performed utilizing Microsoft Excel.  Prerequisites: MATH 103 and ECON 261.

 

Required Textbook: Keown, Martin, Petty, and Scott, Financial Management, 10th Edition, Prentice-Hall, 2005.  ISBN# 0-13-145065-4.

 

Office Hours: M-W-F @ 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. and 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.; and T-TH @ 10:30 a.m. – noon. (Room 127).

                       

 

Email: ralph.hooper@vcsu.edu                                   Phone: 845-7520

 

Grading: Your grade this semester will be determined based on the total points you earn.  Students are allowed, but not required, to form groups to work together on the assignments and quizzes.  The maximum number of students in a group will be determined after the third class meeting and is dependent upon how many students are registered for the class.  Each group will turn in only one work product with the names of all the group members who contributed to completion of the assignment.

 

Quizzes (8 @ 25 points each)

200 points

Assignments (16 @ 25 points each)

400 points

Comprehensive Final Exam

100 points

Class Attendance

  50 points

                                 Total Points

750 points

 

Course Objectives:  Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

1.      Determine a firm’s accounting book value as presented in a balance sheet.

2.      Determine a firm’s profit or loss as reflected by an income statement.

3.      Measure a firm’s free cash flows, both from an asset perspective and a financing perspective.

4.      Calculate a comprehensive set of financial ratios and use them to evaluate the financial health of a company.

5.      Calculate a firm’s sustainable rate of growth and forecast its financing requirements.

6.      Prepare a cash budget.

7.      Define and measure the expected rate of return and risk of an individual investment.

8.      Estimate the value of a bond and determine a bondholder’s expected rate of return.

9.      Calculate a stock’s expected rate of return and estimate the value of preferred and common stock.

10.  Analyze capital projects using net present value and internal rate of return.

 

Class Attendance and Participation:  Students are expected to attend class and be prepared to actively participate. 

 

Ability/Skill Level:  The relevant ability for this class is Technology and the skill and level are Applies/Level 3.

 

Portfolio Project:  There is no project in this class that qualifies for inclusion in the student portfolio required for graduation.

 

Deadlines:  You will encounter deadlines for the rest of your working life.  Therefore, there will be established deadlines for submitting assignments and exams.  Plan and organize your time and pay attention to the deadlines.  If you anticipate missing class, communicate with your group members so you can contribute to completion of the assignments even though you may not be physically present in class on a particular day.