Finance 3504 Syllabus Fall 2014 
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
_________________________________________________________________
Course: Finance 3504 - Intermediate Corporate Finance
Instructor: Steven Casper (scasper@temple.edu)
Office Hours: TTh11:00 – 12:15; T 2:00 – 4:00
Office and Phone: A435; 609-273-3347 (cell)
Teaching Assistant: Jacky Akpan (jacky.akpan@temple.edu)
Office: 434
Office Hours: MW 2:00 - 4:00
Course Description: This course has three objectives:
Teach critical thinking and problem analysis skills
Ensure understanding of the course material
Provide hands-on experience with Excel
It will cover three broad areas of study:
Financial statements analysis and forecasting, and free cash flow valuation of the firm
Capital budgeting
Cost of capital, leverage and capital structure policy
You will demonstrate your proficiency in each area via three exams and three case analyses (using Excel). This course provides an intensive introduction to corporate financial decision-making and will prepare you for subsequent courses in the finance major. By the end of the course you should be able to:
1. Understand the information provided by financial statements and know how to compute and interpret important financial ratios
2. Forecast financial statements, estimate free cash flows, determine enterprise value and the value of stocks based on free cash flow
3. Compute net present value and understand why it is the best decision criterion
4. Understand how to determine the relevant cash flows for various types of capital investments
5. Understand how to determine the firm’s overall cost of capital
6. Understand capital structure theories as well as real world factors that affect capital structure decisions
7. Compute the value of the unlevered and levered firm, and understand the effects of leverage on the value created by a project
Textbook: Fundamentals of Corporate Finance 10th edition, Ross, Westerfield and Jordan; McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Connect: The 9 homework
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
_________________________________________________________________
Course: Finance 3504 - Intermediate Corporate Finance
Instructor: Steven Casper (scasper@temple.edu)
Office Hours: TTh11:00 – 12:15; T 2:00 – 4:00
Office and Phone: A435; 609-273-3347 (cell)
Teaching Assistant: Jacky Akpan (jacky.akpan@temple.edu)
Office: 434
Office Hours: MW 2:00 - 4:00
Course Description: This course has three objectives:
Teach critical thinking and problem analysis skills
Ensure understanding of the course material
Provide hands-on experience with Excel
It will cover three broad areas of study:
Financial statements analysis and forecasting, and free cash flow valuation of the firm
Capital budgeting
Cost of capital, leverage and capital structure policy
You will demonstrate your proficiency in each area via three exams and three case analyses (using Excel). This course provides an intensive introduction to corporate financial decision-making and will prepare you for subsequent courses in the finance major. By the end of the course you should be able to:
1. Understand the information provided by financial statements and know how to compute and interpret important financial ratios
2. Forecast financial statements, estimate free cash flows, determine enterprise value and the value of stocks based on free cash flow
3. Compute net present value and understand why it is the best decision criterion
4. Understand how to determine the relevant cash flows for various types of capital investments
5. Understand how to determine the firm’s overall cost of capital
6. Understand capital structure theories as well as real world factors that affect capital structure decisions
7. Compute the value of the unlevered and levered firm, and understand the effects of leverage on the value created by a project
Textbook: Fundamentals of Corporate Finance 10th edition, Ross, Westerfield and Jordan; McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Connect: The 9 homework