Postgraduate Course: Advanced Corporate Finance (CMSE11083)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | The course considers aspects of financial management, the funding of companies and capital budgeting believed to be of academic interest and practical importance. |
| Course description |
The aims are to introduce students to current thinking and empirical research on the chosen topics and to develop skills of understanding and analysis. The course builds on the corporate finance learned in semester one, and so it assumes some knowledge of discounted cash flow, the cost of capital, and the main ideas relating to debt policy, dividend policy and raising equity. Advanced Corporate Finance adds to students' knowledge mainly by introducing them to empirical research on the topics studied. Research in corporate finance is a social science. Its aim is to understand about value creation and financial decision-making as observed in the corporate sector. Students will learn about the current state of knowledge regarding each topic studied, and they will learn about how research in this field is conducted, through studying the research design of selected papers.
Syllabus
Evidence on gearing
Corporate cash holdings, lines of credit, and debt structure
Evidence on dividend policy and share repurchases
Raising equity: seasoned equity offers
Borrowing: bank lending to companies
Ownership: the role of shareholders
Corporate restructuring: takeovers
Corporate restructuring: buyouts and private equity
A more detailed syllabus and list of readings will be provided separately.
Student Learning Experience
The learning occurs primarily through reading and thinking about the papers or chapters of books recommended, supported by the programme of lectures. In each lecture an overview of each topic will be presented and several papers will be reviewed. You will be expected to read some of the recommended papers, though you do not need to learn or understand everything in them. Some of the papers employ algebra in presenting arguments, and they often use statistical techniques, but you do not need an advanced knowledge of mathematics or statistics to understand the papers selected.
Students are required to write an assessed essay on a research paper of their choice, and deliver an individual presentation based on the essay. The essay and presentation provide practice in communicating about research/thinking in finance. They also enable feedback to be given on the student¿s understanding of the topic, and skills in essay-writing and presentation.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 2,
Formative Assessment Hours 35,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Revision Session Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
87 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
70 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assignment (30%). The assignment will consist of an essay written on an individual basis, and a presentation related to the essay. The presentation will count for 10% and the essay for 20%.
Exam (70%). The exam is at the end of the second semester (date to be announced). It lasts for two hours, and consists of five essay-style questions, of which you should answer three.
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| Feedback |
All students will be given at least one formative feedback or feedforward event for every course they undertake, provided during the semester in which the course is taken and in time to be useful in the completion of summative work on the course. Such feedback may be at course or programme level, but must include input of relevance to each course in the latter case.
For this course specifically students will receive written feedback on the assignment and general feedback on the exam.
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| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Advanced Corporate Finance | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and critically discuss arguments and debates concerning the topics covered
- Know and apply advanced methods of empirical research in corporate finance
- Understand and critically evaluate the financing arrangements of companies
- Critically discuss complex lines of argument and reasoning as found in journal papers in corporate finance
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Reading List
Most readings in the programme are journal papers available in the Library via the electronic journal service, through which students can download full-text copies of papers. The website is: http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/collections/serials/ejintro.shtml
A full list of readings will be provided separately.
The course is not based on a particular text but reference is made to the following texts where possible. Do not worry too much about obtaining the most up-to-date edition; they do not change much from one edition to the next.
Brealey, R.A., Myers, S.C. & Allen, F., Principles of Corporate Finance, McGraw-Hill, 2017.
Berk, J. & DeMarzo, P., Corporate Finance, Pearson, 2014.
These texts cover similar ground and are very good, but there are other good texts.
Another useful resource is the website of Aswath Damodaran:
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/
He writes papers on specific aspects of corporate finance, aimed at students and practitioners.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive skills:
On completion of the module, students should have developed their ability to:
* Understand complex lines of argument and reasoning of the sort found in journal papers in corporate finance;
* Write answers to essay-style questions. |
| Keywords | finAdvancedCorporateFinance |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Seth Armitage
Tel:
Email: Seth.Armitage@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Kelly-Ann De Wet
Tel: (0131 6)50 8071
Email: K.deWet@ed.ac.uk |
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