Corporate Finance

Master 2023/2024

Type: Compulsory course (Finance)

Area of studies: Finance and Credit

Delivered by: Department of Finance

Where: St.Petersburg School of Economics and Management

When: 1 year, 2, 3 module

Mode of studies: offline

Open to: students of all HSE University campuses

Instructors: Varvara Nazarova, Витман Егор Денисович

Master’s programme: Finance

Language: English

ECTS credits: 6

Contact hours: 68

Full Syllabus

Abstract

The key aim of the course is to provide students with knowledge and skills in taking corporate financial and investment decisions, develop analytic instruments to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of such decisions, elaborate models of corporate finance and financial strategy.

Learning Objectives

To make clear the principles of financial management.
To provide tools for analysis of a company’s business environment and its impact at investments and financial decisions.
To create the knowledge and understanding of key corporate finance concepts.
To develop the skills in investment and financial decisions assessment and toolkit for their evaluation.
To develop the understanding of the impact of financial decisions at corporate efficiency.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Students are able to analyze principles of decision-making, to determine the key interests of major stakeholders, to analyse the structure of assets, liabilities and cash flows of a company, to evaluate the efficiency of financial decisions.
Students are able to apply CAPM to estimate cost of equity in different frameworks; to calculate the value of stock using DDM; to calculate the cost of debt; to evaluate different types of bonds; to assess the corporate debt; to calculate value of convertible bond and common shares.
Students are able to calculate WACC for a corporation and an investment project.
Students are able to define the FCFE and amount of dividends, to be paid, to optimize the payout policy.
Students are able to define the sustainable growth rate of a corporation, to calculate the corporate need for external funding.
Students are able to develop capital budget.
Students are able to implement principles of value-based management in financial decisions.
Students have skills to match financial decisions and a company’s strategy, to analyse investments, to set financial objectives, to apply tools of working capital management; to be prepared for taking ethical and reasonable, data-driven financial and investment decisions, timely and in a persuasive manner.
Students know basic concepts of corporate finance, key financial and non-financial stakeholders, the role of financial and non-financial institutions in a company’s funding, models of asset pricing, capital structure decisions and payout decisions.
Students understand capital structure theories, make decisions on capital structure.
Students understand how to consider capital budgeting constraints at project analysis.
Students understand pinciples of portfolio approach, derivation of CAPM, its constraints; alternative models principles, principles of stock valuation, principles of bonds valuation.
Students understand principles of cash flows analysis, financial modeling; the concept of corporate sustainable growth.
Students understand principles of corporate goals and strategy forming, corporate financial policy, the role of financial manager at capital markets, principles of corporate investment and financial decision-taking.
Students understand principles of dividend decisions, the relationship between payouts and companies’ value.
Students understand the concept of WACC and its role as a barrier cost of capital.
Students understand to consider strategic intents in financial decisions.

Course Contents

Goals and Government of the Firm
Financial analysis and financial modeling. Growth management
Investment Decision Taking
Risk and return
Calculation of cost of capital
Capital Structure Decisions
Payout policy
Value-based management and strategic financial decisions
Strategic financial decisions and their reflection in companies’ efficiency (business game)

Assessment Elements

Home Assignments
Detailed analysis of the company, development of the company's financial strategy
Midterm Test 1
Analysis of the proposed case, search for a solution, discussion of the results
Midterm Test 2
Test on the topics learnt. The test includes open-ended questions, problem solving and answers to test questions
In-class Activities
Exam
The exam includes test questions, solving at least 2 problems and solving a case study. The exam includes all the topics covered in the course.

Interim Assessment

2023/2024 3rd module
0.5 * Exam + 0.2 * Home Assignments + 0.05 * In-class Activities + 0.05 * In-class Activities + 0.1 * Midterm Test 1 + 0.1 * Midterm Test 2

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Vernimmen, P. (2017). Corporate Finance : Theory and Practice (Vol. Fifth edition). Hoboken: Wiley. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1606902

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Jensen, M. C. (2010). Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 22(1), 32–42. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6622.2010.00259.x

Course Syllabus