FIN-101
(3 credits)
This course is a part of:
Paralegal Associate's Degree Program
This is an introductory course in Finance for students who have no prior background in Economics or Finance. The approach used will be mostly non-quantitative, but some arithmetic calculations will be used in case examples to strengthen students’ understanding. Students will learn the basic concepts and tools used in Finance that will help them understand how firms make decisions in financial management issues. Students will also learn how financial assets are priced, and how firms manage their financial capital in the short and long term.
At the end of the course, students should have acquired basic analytical tools useful for making sound investment decisions.
Course Objectives
At the completion of this course, the student will have acquired knowledge and understanding of:
- The key financial issues facing a manager in making financial and investment decisions.
- Time value of money and the concept of discounting.
- Financial statements, cash flow, and taxes.
- The evaluation of company performance based on their financial statements.
- The role of financial markets and institutions.
- Determination of interest rates and the role of interest rates in financial markets.
- Bonds and their valuation.
- The pricing of bonds.
- The relationship between risk and rates of return.
- Stocks and their valuation.
- The pricing of stocks.
- Computing and using cost of capital in financial analysis.
- The basics of capital budgeting and investment decisions in the long-term.
- Cash flow analysis and risk analysis.
- Capital structure and leverage: the optimal allocation of resources in various types of financial assets.
- Dividend policy: distributions to shareholders, dividends and share repurchase.
- Working capital management, financial planning and forecasting, multinational financial management.