Corporate Finance

Catalog description

This course is an introduction to the role of finance, the operating environment of the firm, analysis of financial statements, the term structure of interest rates and yield curves. It has been said that to really understand a business, one must understand the financial numbers. This course, building upon a basic understanding of accounting, serves as the springboard for understanding the financial health of a corporation. Central to this understanding is the concept of cash flow, where it comes from and what affects it. While knowledge of accrual accounting is important, one pays bills from cash, not receivables. Preparing financial statements, something learned in accounting, is not the same as understanding what they are telling us. This course provides the initial building blocks for understanding the financial strengths and weaknesses of a corporation.