Corporate Finance

Corporate Finance is an advanced course in corporate finance theory and policy. The aim of the course is to rigorously analyze the major issues affecting the financial policy of a modern corporation, such as the choice of its capital structure, dividend policy, share issuance and repurchase and corporate governance system. We will critically discuss costs and benefits of the strategies available to a firm’s top management to address these issues effectively.

The course provides an introduction to the primary instruments of the derivative securities market. Emphasis will be placed on real-world applications of theoretical (or conceptual) material discussed in class. After developing the ideas of static and dynamic arbitrage, the course applies the basic concepts to different business settings. The course is particularly important for anyone going into finance, but stress will be given to topics that are of relevance for general managers.

Financial Statement Analysis is an applied perspective on analyzing financial statements. There are three main skills students will learn upon completion of this course: earnings management, profitability analysis and statement analysis. The course is designed to be particularly useful for finance-oriented students looking at consulting, corporate finance, entrepreneurship, general management, and investment and marketing careers.

This course provides information for decision making, product-costing, and planning-control-evaluation activities. The course takes the perspective of both the user and the preparer of accounting information. The emphasis is on the fundamental concepts and the strategic importance of accounting data to managerial activity with special consideration given to the underlying accounting procedures and the underlying accounting processes.

The Real Estate Finance and Investments course introduces students to the basic concepts of real estate. This course provides a background on the concepts of urban and spatial economics, analysis of markets, valuation, law, development, capital markets and investment analysis. It also familiarizes students with the vocabulary of real estate and exposes them to real-world decision making processes through a series of case studies. This course is designed to introduce students with an interest in real estate to the real estate asset class, as well as some important aspects of real estate analysis. In addition, the course is designed to incorporate current topics that are relevant to real estate decision makers in all aspects of the industry.

This course will give student a fundamental understanding of tax planning over the life cycle of a firm: starting with deciding which organizational form to use, forming a company and raising capital, operating a company, compensating employees, making distributions to owners, engaging in mergers and acquisitions, expanding across states and countries, and finally liquidating a company or bequeathing it to one’s heirs. We will make extensive use of real transactions to illustrate the impact of tax planning on earnings and cash flow.

Mergers, acquisitions and other types of restructurings have a dramatic impact on most corporations. Managers will -- either directly or indirectly -- face the challenges brought on by these changes in corporate structure. This course overviews the strategic, financial and organizational aspects of merger-related challenges, while providing depth in the area of valuation. The readings, cases, projects and lectures will integrate theory and practice from your finance, strategy, accounting, economics, statistics, and management courses.