Course Overview 

This is the Introductory Finance Class at most universities.  It is targeted largely at Corporate Finance, but also serves as an introduction to the world of finance for both those who work in Finance or other fields. 
    
Syllabus

Syllabus
Tentative Outline

here is the link to the text's main web page for students .  It has quite a few useful pages of notes and online quizzes.  I am sure the quizzes will help also for tests! 

Notes: 
These notes are constant works in process.  They will likely be updated repeatedly though out the year.  For that reason you should make a practice of printing them just before the class if at all possible. (note: each topic also has links within the chapters). 

Introduction

Why study finance, What is Finance?, more on the organizational forms and still more if you are interested: Business Organizations

     Financial Intermediaries-Intermediaries lower transaction costs. 
Financial Intermediary Market Share Data
Markets
Mutual funds

Accounting and Finance
   --more advanced notes on Accounting and on EVA

More accounting and Finance (Ratios)
Excel assignment

Hint: on some computers I have not figured out why some do and some do not), when opening Excel files from the web you will be asked for a password.  These do not need a password.  Just try again and either hit cancel or just OK (leave password and name  blank).  It will eventually open. 
 

Time Value of Money

An introduction to the Time Value of Money ,
Simple vs Compound Interest
Present Value 

         The Excel Present value worksheet we used in class to price bonds. (works best with Internet Explorer) 

What is NPV and why is it so important?

Future Values

Smoking example

Haven't had enough time value of money notes?  Try these from TeachmeFinance . 

What is a bond? Types of bonds and pricing of bonds

What influences interest rates?

Introduction to Pricing Stocks (i.e. equity Valuation)

More on stock valuation

Capital market history, history of returns, Risk and return etc,

geometric vs arithmetic averages, Market Indicies, the Dow

Market efficiency  more on market efficiency from Dean LaBaron , advantages of mutual funds.

(chapter 12)

Test 1 --chapters 1-8, 12.
 

More on market efficiency

Risk and return 
Introduction to portfolio math 

What is Risk? 
Why do Risk and Return go together? 
What are the Types of risk? 

Notes on CAPM
more notes on CAPM . 
    CAPM Questions and Test help 

Cost of capital-- WACC example

Capital Structure 
          Smith and Masulis tables

Dividends  and Buybacks

Derivatives--forwards, futures, and options--introduction only...will cover in more detail in 610.

Corporate Governance 

Corporate Governance has been on the front page of all major papers and has attracted much attention in academic world as well.  It boils down to conflicts within the Nexus.  Generally this focuses on manager and shareholder conflicts. 

Here are a few notes on the topic from past newsletters, a speech by Alan Greenspan on the topic, an  independent study paper by Joe Haller (former SBU MBA student) and a class project on the topic from Andy Bubbs (current SBU student).

Does governance matter? Definitely, but it is often difficult to measure how much it matters. For instance looking at studies that show separate CEO-Chair positions are often driven by multiple factors and the choice is somewhat endogenous. 

However there is much evidence suggests that governance matters.  Looking at cross listing literature, Nofsinger and Weaver (2003) report that that one reason firms cross list (especially to the US) is to increased investor protections--Caveat, this is not universally held. Additionally, there is much other international evidence (where the difference between strong and weak governance is more pronounced than in the US) that shows that governance does matter. 

Adelphia--This is a case that Carol Fischer and I have writen  This was part of the class discussion on Corporate Govenance.. 

Write-up , Powerpoint Presentation

Raising capital 

 Final Exam