FIN 300 CLASS

College of Continuous Professional Education - California State University Long Beach

FIN 300 Business Finance, Winter 2016 (Dec. 17 – Jan. 15, 2016)

Instructor: Chen, Xiaoying (Cindy)

Office: CBA 417

Phones: 562-985-5072

E-mail: [email protected]

I. Course Description:

Integration of computer applications and management information systems in (1) Time Value of Money, Risk, Valuation, Cost of Capital; (2) Capital Budgeting; (3) Long-Term Financing Decisions; (4) Working Capital Policy and Management; (5) Financial Analysis and Planning; (6) International Finance; (7) Special topics including Mergers, Acquisition and Bankruptcy.

For most students, this is the introductory graduate course in Finance. It is intended to provide students with the basic concepts and tools needed to understand the financial aspects of business management. Many topics covered in this course can be helpful to students in dealing with typical situations of adult life, such as financing a house or an automobile, making personal investment decisions, and planning for retirement or children’s college education.

II. Course Structure:

The class is a 4-week online course. The lectures are pre-recorded and you will be required to read the textbook and watch the videos. Additionally, there are problems (Learn Smart Practices and Chapter Quizzes) that you will take online, testing the effectiveness of your learning. You need access to a computer and will need to purchase the Connect Plus feature of the text book.

The material we will be learning is exactly the same as any section of FIN300, just the method of learning will be different. We are excited to include you in this course and have been working very hard to develop video lectures and online exercises to give you the opportunity to succeed. But, you should be aware that this class will require real commitment from you. It will be impossible to succeed in this course without being diligent about doing exercises.

III. Course Materials

Textbook - Essentials of Corporate Finance, 8th Edition (With Connect Plus), by Ross, Westerfield, and Jordan (McGraw-Hill Irwin).

ISBN-13: 978-0077736538  ISBN-10: 0077736532  

ISBN (the bundle in 49er bookstore): 1-259-65921-6

Connect Plus Access Card Registration web address:

http://connect.mheducation.com/class/c-chen-winter-2016

Calculator -

· YOU MUST HAVE A FINANCIAL CALCULATOR TO GET THROUGH THE COURSE. A financial calculator is an essential and required tool in this course.

Since there are various financial calculators sold in the market, an instructor is not able to explain or demonstrate the use of each type of calculator. I strongly recommend that you purchase the Texas Instruments BAII Plus calculator.  That is the calculator that I use personally.  One warning is necessary about these calculators: They come with pre-set defaults that are usually designed for real estate agents.  These defaults must be manually reset to solve the more general problems we cover in this course.  

IV. Study Guide

1. Read assigned chapters by ebook

2. Watch lecture videos on Beachboard.

3. Take LearnSmart Practices

4. Take Chapter Exercises, check answers and review solutions.

5. Take Chapter Quizzes.

LearnSmart is an adaptive learning system designed to help students learn faster, study more efficiently, and retain more knowledge for greater success. Make an honest attempt to assess your confidence level. Doing so allows LearnSmart to more accurately direct you to the materials you need to study. It is strongly recommended completing all passive learning activities before you work on LearnSmart – such as reading the chapter, watching videos available on Beachboard. You can increase your score by going through the same practice set multiple times, always being as honest as possible when rating yourself. In essence, the more you learn, the better the score. For more information about LearnSmart, please see the document “LearnSmart Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)” on Beachboard.

Chapter Exercises and Chapter Quizzes are selected questions from the textbook’s end-of-chapter problems. They are the same question set with different values.

For example, there is one question in the Exercise for Chapter 2, “Draiman, Inc., has sales of $795,000…” which is question #2 in the textbook on p.45. Then, there will be a question in the Quiz for Chapter 2, with the same statement “Draiman, Inc., has sales of” but with different values. Therefore, after you submit your exercises, be sure to check answers and understand solutions, which will enable you to improve the performance on your quizzes. Quizzes are timed assignments – once you begin a “timed assignment,”

the timer will not stop if you exit the assignment. Even though the button “stop” is offered in Connect Plus interface, it doesn’t really pause the time, so you have to complete the assigned quiz all at once (60 minutes).

V. Course Evaluation

LearnSmart Practices (5 pts*10 chapters, drop the lowest) 45

Chapter Quizzes (10 pts*10 chapters, drop the lowest) 90

Final Exam 15

TOTAL 150

The course covers ten chapters, in four modules- Working with Financial Statements (Chap. 2 and 3); Time Value of Money (Chap. 4 and 5); Interest Rates and Bond Valuation, Equity Markets and Stock Valuation, Risk and Return (Chap. 6, 7 and 11); Making Capital Budgeting Decision (Chap. 8, 9 and 12).

There are ten LearnSmart Practices, ten Chapter Quizzes and one cumulative final exam. You are allowed to drop the lowest LearnSmart Practice and the lowest Chapter Quiz, so excuses for technical problems or internet dis-connections won’t be considered. Plan ahead, and don’t wait for the last minute to work on your assessments.

All assignments for this course will be submitted electronically through Connect Plus including the final exam. Assignments must be submitted by the given deadline. Students are expected to participate in all online activities as listed on the course calendar. If you find that you have any trouble keeping up with assignments or other aspects of the course, make sure you let your instructor know as early as possible. As you will find, building rapport and effective relationships are key to becoming an effective professional. Make sure that you are proactive in informing your instructor when difficulties arise.

At the end of the semester I will sum the points you earned on all the components and assign grades strictly based on the following scale:

A=90%-100%

B=80%-89%

C=70%-79%

D=60%-69%

:

F=Below 60%

“Strictly” means that I won’t bump up any edgy points to a higher letter grade. I don’t assign any extra work or give extra credit to individual students, so please don’t ask.

VI. Communication Strategy

ANNOUNCEMENTS -

Announcements will be posted on Beachboard. Please make certain to check them regularly, as they will contain any important information about upcoming assignments or class concerns.

EMAILS and FORUMS -

As an exercise in professional communication and self-representation, all emails and discussion board postings must follow traditional writing standards.

Question & Answer forum: The purpose of the Question & Answer Forum is for you to have a place to ask course-related questions throughout the semester. For example, you might have questions about assignments, due dates, or requirements. When appropriate, please feel free to post your thoughts to questions posted by other students as well.

Emails: Personal matters should be discussed through email. If you have a concern and send me a message, you can expect a response within two days. When submitting messages, please do the following:

 Please be sure to identify the course number with your name in the subject line of your email (i.e., "TOM FIN 501").

 Send email to my personal email account not over BEACHBOARD

 Do not send messages asking general information about the class, please post those in the FORUM.

ONLINE OFFICE HOUR: 2 hours by Email/Q&A on certain pre-announced dates.

VII. University Policy:

· Institutional Academic Policy

http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/research/our/information/policies/cheating/

· Instructor’s Interpretation of the University withdrawal policy in the class

· Standards of appropriate online behavior will be maintained

· Disability:

· Notify the instructor in advance of the need for accommodation of a University verified disability

http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/students/dss/policies_and_forms/verification_policy.htm

DATE	ASSIGNMENTS	TOPICS	CHAPTERS
NOW	Register the class and purchase online package. Purchase a financial calculator. Check the course homepage on Beachboard. Take warm-up exercises before the 4-week online course with bonus points！	Start kit	Finance Prep Courses and Chapter 1
Dec. 17- 24	Read chapters 2 and 3 of the textbook. Go over relevant PPT and watch videos. Complete assigned problems in Connect Plus (Learn Smart Practices and Chapter Quizzes )	Working with Financial Statements	2, 3
Dec. 25- 31	Read chapters 4 and 5 of the textbook. Go over relevant PPT and watch videos. Complete assigned problems in Connect Plus (Learn Smart Practices and Chapter Quizzes )	Time Value of Money	4, 5
Jan. 1- 7	Read chapters 6, 7 and 11 of the textbook. Go over relevant PPT and watch videos. Complete assigned problems in Connect Plus (Learn Smart Practices and Chapter Quizzes )	Interest Rates and Bond Valuation, Equity Markets and Stock Valuation, Risk and Return	6, 7, 11
Jan. 8-14	Read chapters 8, 9 and 12 of the textbook. Go over relevant PPT and watch videos. Complete assigned problems in Connect Plus (Learn Smart Practices and Chapter Quizzes )	Making Capital Budgeting Decision	8, 9, 12

VIII. Course Outline