Postgraduate Course: Corporate Finance (CMSE11678)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course provides an introduction to the core concepts and skills in corporate finance. It considers the main financial decision facing a company, reviews current academic thinking on how these decisions are made and introduces analytical tools that can assist in financial decision-making. |
| Course description |
The Corporate Finance course is designed to provide students with a fundamental knowledge and understanding of corporate finance. This course introduces concepts in corporate finance such as the discounted cash flows, the cost of capital and its uses, and the main ideas relating to real options, debt policy, dividend policy, and raising equity.
Outline content
The course covers some key aspects of corporate finance principles and theory. These include key corporate finance topics such as the financial evaluation of investment decisions (capital budgeting), the cost of capital, how firms raise finance and the sources of finance, the capital structure decision and the dividend policy.
Student learning experience
The course is taught using a variety of methods to enhance engagement and facilitate learning. The course has a quantitative slant and is designed to give a theoretical introduction to corporate finance decisions and policies. Students are given exercises from previous sessions for discussion in tutorial groups. The course organiser will also provide feedback via electronic and other means.
The tutorial sessions provide students with the necessary material to understand corporate finance fundamentals. Sessions will be made up of discussions, exercises and mini-cases, designed to help students apply concepts and theories to various situations and rely on empirical evidence and observation to understand aspects of corporate finance principles and theory.
Weekly classes enhance the lecture experience by providing students with opportunities to engage in numerical and problem-solving exercises, during which they receive constructive feedback. Additionally, both directed and independent reading activities contribute to deepening their understanding of the material.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
168 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
100 %,
Coursework
0 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% Class test (Individual) - Assesses all course Learning Outcomes |
| Feedback |
Formative: Feedback will be provided throughout the course.
Summative: Feedback will be provided on the assessment within agreed deadlines.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the core concepts and methods of analysis in corporate finance.
- Demonstrate an understanding and application of discounted cash flow analysis to value projects, including effect of gearing, estimation of the cost of capital, and assessment of the credibility of a valuation.
- Demonstrate an understanding of currency risk and interest-rate risk, and the use of financial products to manage these risks.
- Demonstrate an understanding of real options, and simple valuations of real options.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the main theories to explain a company's gearing, capital structure, and dividend policies, as well as the valuation principles.
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Reading List
Main textbook:
Brealey, R.A., Myers, S.C. & Allen, F., Principles of Corporate Finance, 13th edition, 2020, McGraw-Hill.
Other textbooks:
Berk, J. & DeMarzo, P., Corporate Finance, 4th edition, 2017, Pearsons.
Damodaran, A. (2015) Applied Corporate Finance, 5th Edition, New York, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Hillier, D., Ross, S.A., Jaffe, J. & Jordan, B.D., Corporate finance, 3rd European edition, 2016, McGraw-Hill. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Be self-motivated; curious; show initiative; set, achieve and surpass goals; as well as demonstrating adaptability, capable of handling complexity and ambiguity, with a willingness to learn; as well as being able to demonstrate the use digital and other tools to carry out tasks effectively, productively, and with attention to quality. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Kalsoom Jaffar
Tel:
Email: Kalsoom.Jaffar@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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