In case of limited activity on campus the course will be given completely in distance mode. The learning will be supported by short modules in synchronous mode via MS Teams and actively advised forums.

In-class tests will be taken online via ‘assignments’ @MyLearn. The presentations for the case study have to be provided with an audio commentary comparable with a live presentation.

This course builds on Principles of Finance and examines important issues in corporate finance from the perspective of financial managers who are responsible for making significant financing and investment decisions. You will learn how investment and financing decisions interact to affect the value of the firm and how management can evaluate operating decisions, taking into account taxes and uncertainty.

There are two building blocks: In part 1, you will learn important foundations of valuation and capital structure. In part 2, we investigate the effects of financial distress, managerial incentives, and information. Throughout the course we apply the learned theory on real world problems.

After completing this course the student will have the ability to:

• understand the most important determinants of a firm's financial structure
• understand how the market value of a firm will be affected by financial decisions
• incorporate the effects of time, uncertainty, taxes, and incentives on the present value of firm cash flows

Moreover, the course contributes to students' ability to:

• demonstrate effective team skills in order to contribute appropriately to the production of a group output
• work and communicate effectively alone and in a team situation and to function as a valuable and cooperative team member
• structure complex problems

Full attendance is compulsory. This means that students should take part in all projects and all online test.

The material builds on Principles of Finance and selected chapters from Corporate Finance by Berk and DeMarzo. Please make sure that you brush up on the material you covered in Principles of Finance and read the relevant chapters in Berk and DeMarzo. In the first class we will summarize the knowledge needed from the Principles of Finance by rushing through the chapters 1 to 13 from Corporate Finance by Berk and DeMarzo.

An important part of the course is to apply what we learned. I will form teams in which you analyze a company of your choice. This analysis is divided into 4 projects.

For all projects of the case study each team has to prepare a presentation which last exactly 10 minutes. Findings and presentations have to be uploaded in time under ‘assignments’ @MyLearn.

Grades will be based on:

• Case study (=analyzing a company) divided into 4 projects (4 times 15 points)
• 4 online tests (4 times 10 points)

stefan.bogner@wu.ac.at

Meeting by appointment via email.