FINANCE 251 : Financial Management

Business and Economics

2024 Semester Two (1245) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Focuses on practical aspects of corporate finance. Topics covered include: concepts of value creation, risk and required rates of return, financial maths, capital budgeting, capital structure and dividend policies.

Course Overview

This is an introductory course in finance that focuses on the practical aspects of corporate finance. The course will cover the mathematics of finance, security valuation, investment and financing decisions, risk and return trade-off, and the fundamentals of international financial management. The goal is to equip students with the basic skills by introducing a set of concepts that are necessary and will be supplemented and extended in FINANCE 261 and the stage three finance courses (e.g., FINANCE 351, FINANCE 361, and FINANCE 362).

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: ACCTG 102, and 15 points from ECON 221, ENGSCI 211, STATS 101, 108

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 2: Sustainability
Capability 3: Knowledge and Practice
Capability 4: Critical Thinking
Capability 5: Solution Seeking
Capability 6: Communication
Capability 7: Collaboration
Capability 8: Ethics and Professionalism
Graduate Profile: Bachelor of Commerce

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Identify economic and social objectives of companies and outline the role of financial management and financial markets in the context of achieving the objectives. (Capability 2.2 and 3.1)
  2. Explain orally and communicate clearly and persuasively key concepts relevant to corporate environmental and social responsibility. (Capability 2.2 and 6.1)
  3. Explain and apply processes and time-value-of-money techniques to determine the value of financial and business assets, and critically analyse the relationship between risk and return in the context of determining cost of capital for asset valuation. (Capability 3.1, 3.2 and 4.1)
  4. Conduct a capital budgeting analysis and apply financial problem-solving and written communication skills to evaluate and communicate long-term investment decisions. (Capability 4.2, 5.1 and 6.2)
  5. Apply teamwork skills and self-management strategies in planning and managing a capital budgeting project. (Capability 7.1 and 8.2)
  6. Explain and communicate clearly and persuasively different working capital management and long-term financing strategies and conduct cost-benefit analysis for making short-term and long-term financing decisions. (Capability 3.2 and 4.1)
  7. Develop simple risk management strategies and explain the complexity of conducting international managerial finance and risk management. (Capability 3.2 and 5.1)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Assignments 25% Group & Individual Coursework
Quizzes 20% Individual Coursework
Presentation 5% Peer Coursework
Final Exam 50% Individual Examination
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Assignments
Quizzes
Presentation
Final Exam

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, you can expect 3 hours of lectures, a 1 hour tutorial, 3 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 3 hours of work on assessment preparation.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

Attendance is expected at scheduled activities including tutorials to complete components of the course.

Lectures will be available as recordings. Other learning activities including tutorials will not be available as recordings.

Exam timetables are normally published online during the mid-semester break of the relevant semester. At that point, you will also learn the mode for each of your exams, e.g., if it will be a remote/online exam, or an on-campus exam.

The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

The recommended textbook is Parrino, Au Yong, Morkel-Kingsbury, James, Mazzola, Murray, Smales & Wei (2020) Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, 4th edition, Wiley: Australia, which is available in hard-copy or e-Text versions. You may also use prior 3rd edition of this textbook.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Student feedback is always welcome as this helps us improve the course.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed for potential plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct, using computerised detection mechanisms.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.

Published on 16/11/2023 03:57 p.m.