Course Description
This course will focus on basic finance. Major emphasis is placed on financial statements and ratio analysis, working capital management, capital budgeting. stocks and bonds evaluation, and financial planning and forecasting. (3 credits)
Prerequisite
- ACC 101: Financial Accounting
- BUS 201: Business Statistics (Recommended)
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:
- Analyze and evaluate financial performance
- Create and control the financial planning process
- Determine the viability of a capital expenditure
- Evaluate the risks associated with an investment decision
- Develop a cost effective working capital strategy
- Create an optimum capital structure
- Evaluate securities valuation
Course Activities and Grading
| Assignments | Weight |
|---|---|
Discussions (Weeks 1-7) | 10% |
Quizzes (Weeks 1-7) | 42% |
MyFinanceLab Homework Assignments (Weeks 1-7) | 28% |
Comprehensive Final Exam (Week 8) | 20% |
Total | 100% |
Required Textbooks
(Available through Charter Oak State College's online bookstore)
- Zutter, Chad. Principles of Managerial Finance & MyFinance Student Access Code Card. 15th ed. Prentice Hall, Inc. 2019. ISBN-13: 9780134830209 [Looseleaf Version]
- Students are required to have access to MyFinanceLab, a Pearson Publishing homework manager. The textbook must be purchased "New Only" to obtain an access code required for the course.
Additional Required Materials
(Not available through bookstore)
- Financial Calculator
There will be three (3) deliverables (or requirements) each week: (1) weekly quiz on BlackBoard; (2) Weekly Assignment on MyFinanceLab* and (3) weekly BlackBoard Discussion Board requirements -- a minimum of three high-quality responses in each of the weekly threaded discussion topics on a minimum of three separate days per week, beginning no later than Wednesday.
*Note: You will need to purchase the access code for MyFinanceLab. You can purchase the textbook shrink wrapped with the MyFinanceLab access code. Alternatively, you can purchase the MyFinanceLab access code separately.
Course Schedule
| Week | SLOs | Readings and Exercises | Assignments |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Topics: Managerial Finance, Financial Institutions and Markets, Financial Statements and Ratio Analysis
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2 | 1,2 | Topics: Cash Flow and Financial Planning / Time Value of Money
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3 | 4,7 | Topics: Interest Rates, Bond and Stock Valuation
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4 | 3,4,7 | Topics: Risk and Return, CAPM and the Cost of Capital
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5 | 3,4 | Topics: Capital Budgeting: Techniques and Cash Flows
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6 | 1,6 | Topics: Leverage, Capital Structure and Payout Policy
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7 | 5 | Topic: Working Capital, Current Asset Management and Current Liabilities Management
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8 | 1-7 | Topic: Comprehensive Final Exam
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Additional Information
Discussions: A successful student in online education is one who takes an active role in the learning process. Therefore, this class includes a variety of activities to enhance your learning experience throughout the course. One ongoing activity involves participation in the weekly discussion forums, which counts 10% of your overall average in the course. You can earn a maximum of 100 on each weekly discussion grade. At the end of the semester, your discussion grades will be averaged and that average will enter the calculation of your final grade with a weight of 10%. Your weekly discussion grade will be based on frequency of comments as well as the quality of your comments. You are expected to post (respond) a minimum of three high-quality responses in each of the weekly threaded discussion topics on a minimum of three separate days per week, beginning no later than Wednesday.
Quality is defined as the content of the student’s contributions. Examples of quality posts include:
- providing additional information to the discussion;
- elaborating on previous comments from others;
- presenting explanations of concepts or methods to help fellow students;
- presenting reasons for or against a topic in a persuasive fashion;
- sharing your own personal experiences that relate to the topic; and
- providing a URL and explanation for an area researched on the Internet.
Quizzes: Each week there will be a quiz that will test your knowledge of concepts we covered that week. Each quiz will consist of 10-20 multiple choice questions and will count 3% of the grade.
MyFinanceLab Homework Assignments: To work the homework problems for this course, you will need access to MyfFinanceLab. You can acquire access by (1) purchasing a new textbook that is shrink wrapped with the access code to MyFinanceLab, or (2) purchase the access code (along with a copy of the eBook) on the myfinancelab.com website. To register, you will need the course id that will be provided by your instructor at the beginning of the semester.
Final Exam: The final exam will be comprehensive and will cover chapters 1 through 15. There will be 50 multiple choice questions on the final.
COSC Accessibility Statement
Charter Oak State College encourages students with disabilities, including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, or psychiatric disabilities, to discuss appropriate accommodations with the Office of Accessibility Services at OAS@charteroak.edu.
COSC Policies, Course Policies, Academic Support Services and Resources
Students are responsible for knowing all Charter Oak State College (COSC) institutional policies, course-specific policies, procedures, and available academic support services and resources. Please see COSC Policies for COSC institutional policies, and see also specific policies related to this course. See COSC Resources for information regarding available academic support services and resources.