Modulbeschreibung

This intermediate course in Corporate Finance Management focuses on essential financial decisions and tools that corporations use to create value. The course combines theory and practice, covering topics such as capital budgeting, corporate financing, financial statement analysis, and risk management. The course will incorporate real-world examples and cases to illustrate financial decision-making.

The main goals of the course include:

• To provide a comprehensive understanding of the financial decision making process within a company.
• Provide students with practical tools for evaluating and optimising a company's financial performance.
• Link theoretical corporate finance concepts to real-world applications in the financial markets.
• Develop analytical skills in financial risk management and investment decisions.

• Introduction to Financial Accounting
• Basic Principles of Economics
• Business Mathematics and Statistics

• Group Assignment and Presentation (Case study analysis and recommendations): 45%
• Final written Exam 55%

Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

• Conduct financial statement analysis to assess a firm's financial health.
• Apply valuation methods to determine the worth of investments and corporations.
• Make informed capital budgeting and investment decisions.
• Evaluate optimal capital structure decisions and dividend policies.
• Identify and manage various financial risks using appropriate financial instruments.
• Understand mergers and acquisitions from a financial perspective.

1: Introduction to Corporate Finance and Financial Management

• Overview of corporate finance roles
• Introduction to Swiss financial markets and institutions

2: Financial Statement Analysis

• Reading and interpreting financial statements
• Ratio analysis for performance evaluation
• Introduction to cash flow statements

3: Time Value of Money

• Present value and future value concepts
• Discounted cash flow (DCF) applications in capital budgeting
• Solving time value of money problems

4: Valuation of Bonds and Stocks

• Valuation techniques for bonds and equities
• Dividend Discount Model (DDM)
• Bond pricing and yield calculations

5: Risk and Return

• Introduction to risk-return trade-offs
• Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)

6: Cost of Capital

• Calculating Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)
• Implications of WACC on investment decisions
• Estimating the cost of equity and debt

7: Capital Budgeting Decisions

• Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
• Payback period, profitability index, and capital rationing
• Evaluating long-term projects

8: Capital Structure Decisions

• Optimal capital structure theory
• Trade-off theory and pecking order theory
• Effects of leverage on firm value

9: Financing Decisions

• Debt vs. equity financing
• Overview of short-term and long-term financing sources
• Role of financial markets in raising capital

10: Dividend Policy

• Theories of dividend policy (Miller-Modigliani, bird-in-the-hand, etc.)
• Dividends vs. share buybacks
• Impact of dividend policy on shareholder value

11: Corporate Governance and Financial Engineering

• Financing Aspects and Corporate Governance
• Introduction to Financial Risk Management
• Case study

12: Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)

• Valuation and financing of M&A transactions
• Impact of M&A on corporate value
• Buyouts and Restructuring

13: Working Capital Management

• Management of current assets and liabilities
• Cash conversion cycle and liquidity management
• Financing of working capital

14: Presentations and Wrap-up

• Presentations of the Group Assignment
• Summary

Front-of-class teaching, group work, case studies, exercises in class

Mandatory Literature:

• Corporate Finance: Theory and Practice by Pierre Vernimmen, Pascal Quiry, Maurizio Dal-locchio, Yann Le Fur, and Antonio Salvi, 6th ord 5th Edition, Wiley
• Slides, Cases and Exercises
• Further documentations and reader