COURSE OBJECTIVES:
The primary objective of this course is to provide the student with the theoretical background and analytical tools necessary to sound financial decision-making. This course will have a quantitative/theoretical orientation and will emphasize issues of relevance to corporations rather than to financial institutions. This course seeks to equip students with basic tools for making corporate investment decisions, understanding the treasury function, raising capital in markets and understanding the corporate governance function.

EXPECTED STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students should expect to develop analytical and quantitative skills for financial decision-making in this course. After successfully completing this course, students are expected to be able to apply theoretical and applied analytical techniques to solve a variety of types of financial problems using market, accounting statement and other financial data. Students should expect to be able to analyze and interpret financial data and apply statistical and other tools to evaluate and forecast outcomes.


PREREQUISITES:
MGMT 6020 or permission of the instructor.

REQUIRED TEXT:

No textbook is required. The instructor will make a course pack available to students at http://www.rpi.edu/~tealj2/6030coursepack.htm. The following optional textbook should be available through the Institute bookstore:

Berk, Jonathan. and Peter DeMarzo (2007).  Corporate Finance, Pearson/Addison Wesley.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING POLICY:
The grade for the course will be based on performance in three activities: a mid-term exam, a final exam and a project. Overall grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the following percentage system:

Mid-term Exam.............40 points                                            Project..........................20 points                                            Final Exam....................40 points                                            Total...........................100 points                                                                                                                                                       In addition, readings and problems will be assigned periodically for classroom discussion. Students' participation in such may be used to determine borderline grades.Students may opt not to complete the project as described on the course web page. In this event, the course grade will be determined by weighting both the first and the second exam grades equally, with each comprising 50% of the course grade. Nonetheless, students are encouraged to complete the project by March 1. This will ensure that the student receives a partial assessment of performance in the course by the mid-point of the semester. It will also relieve the student of some of the course work burden that is likely to be encountered towards the end of the semester. However, understanding that some students may prefer not to meet this deadline, projects will be accepted until the last meeting of the class prior to the second exam. Obviously, students submitting their projects at the end of the term will not receive mid-semester evaluations of their projects.            The grade for the course will be based on performance in three activities: a mid-term exam, a final exam and a project (if completed). The project will either be a problem set, paper or other relevant project to complete outside of class on an individual basis. The instructor will discuss this assignment with each student; it is likely that each student’s project will be different. This format and details of this project will be determined based on agreement between the course instructor and the individual student. Project ideas and discussions are provided on the course web site, and the proposed project topic (and team members, if any) must be finalized by April 7. Two exams will be given, one on March 10 and the second on May 5.

92 or more points......A  90 to 91 points..........A- 88 to 89 points..........B+ 82 to 87 points..........B  80 to 81 points..........B- 78 to 79 points..........C+ 72 to 77 points..........C  70 to 71 points..........C- 68 to 69 points..........D+  60 to 69 points..........D  Fewer than 70 points.F

QUANTITATIVE CONTENT OF COURSE:

This course will provide a sampling of the mathematical and statistical models used for theoretical, empirical and applied finance. Such models permit a deeper and easier understanding of most types of financial problems. However, it is necessary that students feel comfortable working with such models. The ability to work with secondary school level algebra and elementary statistics will be quite sufficient for this course. The prerequisite courses offered in this program provide coverage of more material than is required for this course; however, having taken such courses will be useful only if you can still work with the material. In particular, students should be comfortable:

 

            Performing basic algebraic manipulations
            Working with means, variances and correlation coefficients
            Working with exponential functions

 

Please resolve any difficulties you might experience early in the term. The instructor has provided reviews of this prerequisite material in the lecture notes for the course and will be happy to assist you with any remedial work that you might require.

STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Student-teacher relationships are built on trust. For example, students must trust that teachers have made appropriate decisions about the structure and content of the courses they teach, and teachers must trust that the assignments that students turn in are their own. Acts, which violate this trust, undermine the educational process. The Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities defines various forms of Academic Dishonesty and you should make yourself familiar with these. In this class, all assignments, including exams that are turned in for a grade must represent the student’s own work. In cases where help was received, or teamwork was allowed, a notation on the assignment should indicate your collaboration. Submission of any assignment that is in violation of this policy will result in a grade of “F” for the course. If you have any question concerning this policy before submitting an assignment, please ask for clarification.

 

BUCKLEY AMENDMENT

“The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (Buckley Amendment) guarantees privacy to students, particularly in the areas of grades and performance.”