IB236-15 Finance 2: Corporate Finance
Introductory description
This is an elective module available for WBS and non-WBS students.
Students will understand principles underlying financial decision making by corporations. They will develop a solid understanding of financing and investment decisions; options, futures, forwards, warrants and convertibles; valuation techniques for investment appraisals. Some new corporate finance topics are introduced such as mergers and acquisitions, real options, and corporate risk management.
Module aims
- Make students critically aware of the key financial decisions taken by firms.
- Develop in students a sound understanding of the main theories and models of Corporate Finance.
- Make students aware of key empirical tests of those models, and their implications.
- Provide students with structured opportunities to practise using the key tools and techniques of Corporate Finance.
- Prepare students for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Finance.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
- Cost of Capital
- Risky debt
- Capital Structure
- Payout Policy
- Company valuation
- Options
- International Corporate Finance
- Initial Public Offerings
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Critically assess the factors that determine the optimal investment, financing and payout decisions of a firm.
- Compute the cost of capital of a firm under alternative assumptions.
- Use alternative methods for valuing firms to gain important insights into value drivers.
- Discuss the main motives for mergers and acquisitions.
- Identify the reasons why firms raise capital.
- Explain key theoretical models and the assumptions that underpin those models, and reflect critically on the limitations of those models.
- Interpret empirical evidence.
- Solve numerical problems and analyse case-study information.
- Communicate complex ideas effectively.
Indicative reading list
Hiller D, Ross SA, Westerfield RW, Jaffe J & Jordan BD, Corporate Finance, (4th edition, McGraw-Hill 2016).
Berk J & DeMarzo P, Corporate Finance, (2nd edition, Pearson 2010).
Subject specific skills
Discuss topical issues about the theory and practice of Corporate Finance.
Construct spreadsheets to value the equity and debt in a firm’s capital structure, and test the robustness of those values to changes in key inputs.
Explain and interpret corporate financial information from the financial press.
Use web-based resources to retrieve, process and interpret corporate financial data.
Transferable skills
Solve structured numerical problems.
Write informed critiques of important topics in Corporate Finance theory.
Analyse case studies and formulate arguments to support a particular solution.
Study time
Type | Required |
---|---|
Lectures | 10 sessions of 1 hour (7%) |
Seminars | 9 sessions of 1 hour (6%) |
Online learning (independent) | 10 sessions of 1 hour (7%) |
Private study | 48 hours (32%) |
Assessment | 73 hours (49%) |
Total | 150 hours |
Private study description
Private Study.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group D3
Weighting | Study time | |
---|---|---|
Participation | 10% | 8 hours |
In-person Examination | 90% | 65 hours |
|
Assessment group R3
Weighting | Study time | |
---|---|---|
In-person Examination - Resit | 100% | |
Exam
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Feedback on assessment
Feedback will be provided via my.wbs.
Pre-requisites
To take this module, you must have passed:
Anti-requisite modules
If you take this module, you cannot also take:
- IB254-15 Principles of Finance 2
There is currently no information about the courses for which this module is core or optional.