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Introduction to Finance, FIN300 Syllabus Fall 2018 Step 1: Read this document in its entirety very carefully—you will be tested on it. Step 2: Watch “This Week in FIN300” and “Next Big Things” on our Canvas course main page. It will always keep you up to date on your upcoming course obligations. You can access Canvas from https://canvas.wisc.edu. Step 3: Check the website daily for course announcements and new discussion threads. Step 4: Check your email daily for updates and information. The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary. Instructor: Mark J. Laplante, Ph.D. Teaching Assistants: Emma Ebert, Liam Narozanik, Trang Nguyen, and Michael Warecki Business Learning Center Assistants: Michael Bauder and Derek Wiitala All of the teaching assistants are either graduate students in Finance or Economics, and I am completely confident in their ability to answer all student content questions. The goal of this course is to equip students with the essential tools to make solid financial decisions in business. Competition, whether in the marketplace, on the athletic field, or in the classroom typically drives the participants to higher levels of performance than they would otherwise achieve. As such, this finance course is an intellectual competition between students. All grades are determined competitively, so it is essential that all students understand the rules of the game. This syllabus makes explicit all the policies of this course, and it is your responsibility to be completely familiar with all of them. The policies of this course reflect one paramount goal—to maintain an absolutely fair competitive environment in which you can achieve the highest possible performance. All rules contained herein will be applied to all students equally and without exception. Course Description: The basic concepts and analytical tools of finance in both corporate finance and investments. Topics include risk and return, financial institutions, efficient markets, valuation theory, capital budgeting, portfolio theory, cost of capital, and capital structure. Prerequisites: Econ 101 or alternatively AAE 215. Pre or Corequisites: Acct 100. Students who elect to take Acct 100 concurrently with FIN300 must carefully read and understand Chapters Two and Three of the required text. It is an operating assumption throughout the course that you know this basic accounting material. Stat I, which is one of the following: Gen Bus 303, Econ 310, Stat 201, 301, 309, 311, 324 or 371. Math 309 or 431. Psych 210. A list of accounting and statistics topics that I expect you to know are contained in the Prerequisite Appendix toward the end of this document. Credits: FIN300 is a three-credit course delivered over a fifteen-week semester. You fulfill the credits through weekly face-to-face lectures by the instructor (2.5 hours) and discussion sessions (50 minutes) with the teaching assistants. Also, you should expect no less than five hours of out-of-class work per week to prepare for the exams. Learning Outcomes: The goal for finance majors is to develop a strong foundation for their major coursework. The goal for non-finance majors is to develop a set of financial tools that will be useful for future employment and daily life. Here are the learning outcomes all students are expected to achieve: 1. Students will apply discounted cash flow analysis in a variety of contexts and determine the appropriate discount rate for these calculations.2. Students will calculate and interpret the effect of leverage on firms’ cost of debt, cost of equity, and overall company cost of capital under different assumptions. 3. Students will characterize an efficient market and explain the implications of market efficiency for investors and corporations. 4. Students will characterize different types of securities (including stocks, bonds, and derivatives) and identify the key features of each. 5. Students will compute present and future values under different compounding assumptions. 6. Students will demonstrate a command of the Capital Asset Pricing Model, including its strengths and weaknesses and its use in computing expected returns. 7. Students will demonstrate the power of diversification and the risk-return tradeoff quantitatively. 8. Students will solve capital budgeting problems using appropriate decision rules, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of the available approaches. Lecture: Lecture 001 Tuesday & Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 9:15 1100 Grainger Hall Lecture 002 Tuesday & Thursday 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 1100 Grainger Hall Electronics in Lecture: It is the Wisconsin School of Business policy that students are not permitted to use personal electronic technology such as computers, cell phones, mp3 players, recording devices or other handheld devices during class periods unless specifically permitted by the course instructor. We believe that classroom use of such technology can serve as a distraction for the user, classmates, and the instructor, and can hinder instruction and learning. In establishing restrictions, instructors are expected to make reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. The School recognizes the right of each instructor to determine if and how personal electronic devices are to be used in the classroom. Given WSoB policy, there are no laptops allowed during the FIN300 lectures. The only electronic devices permitted are phones or other handheld devices being used to record the lecture. That’s it. Discussion: Each student is registered for a Friday discussion section. Attendance is not required, but it is strongly encouraged. The teaching assistants will lead the discussion sections. The main purpose of these discussion sections is to allow students to ask questions about the material covered in lecture during the week and go over additional problems. The discussion sessions are a terrific resource that you should utilize. 301 8:50 a.m. to 9:40 1195 Grainger Trang 302 9:55 a.m. to 10:45 1195 Grainger Trang 303 1:20 p.m. to 2:10 1195 Grainger Emma 304 2:25 p.m. to 3:15 1195 Grainger Emma 305 8:50 a.m. to 9:40 1295 Grainger Mike W. 306 9:55 a.m. to 10:45 1295 Grainger Mike W. 307 1:20 p.m. to 2:10 1295 Grainger Liam 308 2:25 p.m. to 3:15 1295 Grainger Liam Business Learning Center (BLC): The BLC


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UW-Madison FINANCE 300 - Syllabus

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