• Define and discuss key concepts from theories and models introduced and discussed in the course from an economic and sociological perspective.
• Apply the correct quantitative financial techniques to a given issue.
• Calculate and perform the analysis from the perspective of a chief financial officer in decision-making.
• Critically understand how financial managers attempt to create shareholder wealth maximization and manage risk and return, as well as the challenges involved in doing so.
• Demonstrate an ability to analyse financial statements using ratio analysis.
• Describe and explain the financial concepts relating to: financial planning, capital budgeting, cash flows, and capital structure, the challenges of valuation under uncertainty and the social mechanisms that financial actors turn to.
• Understanding the Valuation process for Bonds and Stocks with specific reference to securities analysts, as well the sociological processes that explain analyst’s output.
• Develop the ability to solve problems related to: time value of money, security valuation, risk and return, capital budgeting, cost of capital, financial planning and capital structure.
• Ultimately, the course’s emphasis lies on themes relevant to the practical application of core Corporate Finance concepts, with the interpretive, sociological angle providing additional context.

This course combines an overview of the principles of corporate finance and the sociology of financial markets, and is designed for undergraduate students who have no prior knowledge of corporate finance and have taken at least one course in management or a sociology-related material. Importance is placed on techniques related to investment decisions and financial decisions made by companies, but also on the social mechanisms that managers turn to in practice. Financial managers in corporations work with other managers to identify investment opportunities, to analyse and value the opportunities and to decide whether and how much to invest, as well as decide how to raise the money to finance corporation’s investments. 
Therefore, we start with an introduction of what a corporation is, and describe the role of a corporation’s financial manager from the perspective of economic theory and sociological theory. We then proceed with how to measure corporate performance (value added, efficiency, profitability etc.), since corporations claim to maximize their current market value. 
Since companies invest in a lot of things such as tangible or intangible assets, the decision on capital outlays is among the most significant a firm will have to make. In introducing decision making on capital expenditure, first the students will be exposed to “time value of money” calculations but this is combined with the challenges of calculating financial value when the future is unknown, and then proceed to the fundamentals of valuation of bonds and stocks, emphasizing present value techniques as well as the social relations among analysts and their impact on valuation. These techniques will be also useful during capital budgeting decisions, which involve comparing the different investment criteria in the presence of capital shortage. After careful grounding in valuation practice and theory, the concepts of the cost of capital and capital structure will be examined, covering risk-return analysis in capital budgeting.

Class 1: Role of the Financial Manager & Review of Preliminary 
Assignment.

Class 2: Financialization and The Rise of CFOs.

Class 3: Financial Statements and Ratio Analysis

Class 4: Cash Flow and Financial Planning

Class 5: Time Value of Money

Class 6: Risk and Return

Class 7: Bond Valuation

feedback activity: Quiz & Survey

Class 8: Stock Valuation

Class 9: Valuation under Uncertainty.

Class 10: Cost of Capital

Class 11: Communication with Investors.

Class 12: Capital Budgeting Techniques

Class 13: Capital Budgeting Cash Flows

Class 14: Estimating Cash Flow

Main Text Book

Corporate Finance, by Stephen A. Ross, Randolph W. Westerfield and Jeffrey Jaffe (RWJ), 10^th edition, McGraw-Hill 2013.

Regular reading of the Financial Times is strongly recommended and will be highlighted throughout the course.

Articles

Zuckerman, E.W., 2000. Focusing the corporate product: Securities analysts and de-diversification. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45(3), pp.591-619.

Zorn, D.M., 2004. Here a chief, there a chief: The rise of the CFO in the American firm. American Sociological Review, 69(3), pp.345-364.

Beunza, D. and Garud, R., 2007. Calculators, lemmings or frame‐makers? The intermediary role of securities analysts. The sociological review, 55(s2), pp.13-39.

Davis, G.F., 2009. Managed by the markets: How finance re-shaped America. Oxford University Press.

Krippner, G.R., 2005. The financialization of the American economy. Socio-economic review, 3(2), pp.173-208.