Syllabus and Course Outline
FIN3309 (Online) – Summer 2024
Introduction To Finance
Baylor University – Department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate
GENERAL COURSE OBJECTIVE: This course introduces students to important managerial/corporate finance topics including but not limited to: Financial Statements, Cash Flow Valuation, Equity Valuation, Bond Valuation, Capital Budgeting and Financial Decision Making, Risk and Return, and Long-Term Financing. This course focuses on understanding both conceptual intuition and quantitative analysis. Though this course is specifically targeted to non-finance majors, developing the skills necessary to make good financial decisions should benefit you greatly both in your career and in your personal life. As such, I encourage you to put forth your best effort in this class and looking forward to partnering with you along the way.
REQUIRED CLASS MATERIALS: This course will be utilizing the textbook Essentials of Corporate Finance 11th edition by Ross, Westerfield, and Jordan with CONNECT Access, ISBN 9781265412470. The McGraw-Hill CONNECT software package is essential to the course, so please follow the link below and watch the informational video. You will want to log into your CANVAS account to follow along.
Connect First Day of Class canvas | McGraw Hill (mheducation.com)
CALCULATOR: A financial calculator is required for this course. I recommend using the Texas Instruments BAII-Plus and will be teaching from this calculator. You may use another financial calculator if you wish, but I will not provide instruction on how to use it. Graphing calculators and other programmable calculators are not allowed in this course and their use will result in academic misconduct consequences.
There exist two versions of the BAII-Plus Calculator, a regular version, and the more expensive Professional version. Either is fine. The BA-II Plus APP, installed on a cell phone or tablet is NOT ALLOWED and will be considered academic misconduct.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING GRADES: Much emphasis is placed on grades and in many ways that is quite appropriate. However, it is a mistake to allow one’s grades, be they good, or bad, or in between, to determine his or her value as a person. As a Christian faculty member, it is my belief that our value is derived directly from the fact that we are awesomely and wonderfully made, created in God’s image, and loved by Jesus Christ. So, what role do grades play in this course? Grades are simply a reflection (admittedly imperfect) of your understanding of the course material.
As students often find their value in their grades, they also misperceive the professor to be their judge: “this professor gave me a good or bad grade and so they must be judging me as superior or inferior.” To be clear, I have little to no input on student grades. My role in the grading process is to simply organize the assignments and assessments you turn in, grade them according to the appropriate predetermined rubric, and then complete the necessary mathematics to arrive at the appropriate grade. To be clear, I do not determine your grade, your performance determines your grade. My role is to simply enter that grade into the University system so that it is attached to your transcript.
Paul states in Romans 8:38 that [he is] convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. Ultimately, you can rest assured that grades are not the exception to this statement.
GRADING POLICY: Grades will be determined as follows:
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Letter Grade:
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Interpretation: Assignment and assessment scores suggest the student has…
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A (90%-100%)
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…an excellent understanding of course materials that greatly surpasses expectations.
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B+ (87%-89%)
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B (80%-86%)
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…an above average understanding of course materials that surpasses expectations.
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C+ (77%-79%)
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C (70%-76%)
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…an average understanding of course materials that meets expectations.
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D (60%-69%)
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…a below average understanding of course materials that just meets expectations.
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F (0%-59%)
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…little to no understanding of course materials and has not met expectations.
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GRADE SOURCE:
· Reading Assignments: 7.5 points each, 75 total points
· Discussion Board Assignments: 5 points each, 25 total points
· Homework Assignments: 40 points each, 120 total points
· Vocabulary Quizzes: 40 points each, 120 total points
· Exams: 150 points each, 450 total points
Total Points: 790 points
GRADE BREAKDOWN:
GRADE DISCUSSION:
At the end of the semester grades will be calculated the following way: student points will be totaled, and that sum will be divided by 790. The resulting percentage determines the student’s grade. Students should not ask for any sort of extra credit assignment to increase their grade; such requests will not be granted. I may voluntarily offer extra credit assignments to the entire class, but such opportunities will be rare. Do not rely on CANVAS to accurately calculate your grade – if you wish you know your current grade please email me to confirm.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENTS: I care about each of my students tremendously and greatly want them to be successful in all that they do. In many cases students erroneously gauge whether a professor cares about them based on his or her willingness to offer extensions and/or excuse submissions for whatever reason(s). I offer very few extensions or exceptions to the course policies discussed below, not because I care less about my students, but because I know that such relaxations generally fail to properly prepare them for their ultimate goals. Additionally, I strive to maintain a fair classroom environment, and doing so can be difficult in the face of various exemptions and exceptions. Ultimately, if students know the submission dates in advance and can prepare for such dates in advance, then any exception to the stated policies will occur only in extraordinary circumstances.
READING ASSIGNMENTS: To encourage reading the text, you will have a CONNECT reading assignment alongside each chapter. Each assignment is estimated to take between 45 and 60 minutes in addition to reading the text. No late reading assignments will be accepted – NO EXCEPTIONS. Reading assignments do not need to be completed in a single sitting. To stay on track with due dates, you should expect to complete roughly one reading assignment daily. The course calendar, provided on CANVAS, clearly displays all due dates.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS: Each exam has a homework problem set associated with it. The assignments are completed within CONNECT and accessed via CANVAS. I suggest you complete the assignments as you read the material. Each assignment contains questions from multiple chapters. You do not have to complete the assignments in a single sitting. Questions that require you to enter significant text, like an essay question or short answer question, are graded on completion, not content. You will have the ability to submit each assignment twice should you desire to correct your first attempt. You will not be provided the solutions to the assignments. Late homework assignments will receive a 25% late penalty, whether a minute late or a week late. Late homework assignments will not be accepted after 07/09/2024.
DISCUSSION BOARD ASSIGNMENTS: Students will be expected to search YouTube (for a finance-related video) or Reddit r/wallstreetbets and create a discussion board post explaining what the video/thread was about, why you chose it, and whether or not you agree with the video’s/thread’s general premise/message. YOU MUST ALSO comment on the postings of two additional students to receive credit for the assignment. This assignment will occur weekly and is accessible via CANVAS. These discussion board assignments have a deadline. Late submissions will not be accepted. IMPORTANT: Posting a discussion but failing to comment on at least two other student submissions will result in zero points awarded. PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK AND MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE COMMENTED ON TWO STUDENT SUBMISSIONS BEFORE THE DEADLINE.
VOCABULARY QUIZZES: Each exam has a vocabulary quiz associated with it. In many ways learning finance is like learning a new language. Just like a foreign language course has vocabulary quizzes, this course will have vocabulary quizzes, and just like a foreign language course, spelling matters! Each quiz will be part matching and part fill-in-the-blank (FIB). For the FIB questions, you will be provided the correct definition and be asked to provide the appropriate term. Spelling Matters! Yes, even if you miss just a single letter. You will be expected to input the vocabulary term exactly as it is presented to you in the vocabulary term lists. The quizzes will not be case-sensitive. In those instances where special characters are included (think parentheses and hyphens), then you should also expect to include those characters correctly. Note: While I recognize that being held to correct spelling may be frustrating, it does require you to study the terms more carefully, thereby encouraging you to learn them better. Late submissions will not be accepted.
EXAMINATIONS: This course will have three exams. The exams will not be explicitly cumulative, but to the extent that future material relies on past material, you should strive to understand all material for each exam.
· Each exam will be 100% multiple-choice.
· While each exam is not explicitly cumulative, the nature of finance is that it builds off previous subjects, so in many cases students must be comfortable with prior material to fully understand future material.
If extraordinary circumstances occur that require you to miss an exam (e.g., sickness, family emergency, etc.) please reach out to me as soon as possible. In such instances, you may be allowed to double the next exam. This will be allowed only once and will be at my discretion. Students who miss an exam and who do not contact me immediately may not be able to double the next exam, so please be diligent.
EXAMINATION PRACTICE: I have included on the CANVAS site a question set associated with each chapter. Each set will randomly draw a set of questions from the chapter test bank. You may complete each question set as many times as you wish, with new questions being drawn each time. In theory, completing each question set enough times will allow you to complete the entire test bank. You should expect roughly 60% - 70% of each exam to contain questions from the chapter test banks. You will receive feedback upon completing each question set. Utilizing these practice exercises is completely optional and worth zero points, but they should help you immensely as you prepare for each exam.
SPECIFIC COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
· By the end of Chapter 1 you will be able to
o Identify the basic types of financial management decisions.
o Identify and compare viewpoints of the purpose of the business firm and the agency problem.
o Identify and understand the various forms of business and the pros and cons associated with each.
· By the end of Chapter 2 you will be able to
o Construct financial statements including balance sheet and income statement.
o Describe the difference between cash flows and profit.
· By the end of Chapter 3 you will be able to
o Compute financial ratios.
o Analyze a firm’s financial statements using financial ratios.
· By the end of Chapter 4 you will be able to
o Calculate present value (discounting) and future value (compounding) of single sums.
o Apply discounting and compounding principles to common single sum transactions.
· By the end of Chapter 5 you will be able to
o Calculate present value (discounting) and future value (compounding) of cash flows.
o Apply discounting and compounding principles to common cash flow transactions.
o Analyze the relationship of ethical behavior. and the time value of money.
· By the end of Chapters 8 and 9 you will be able to
o Understand and calculate net present value (NPV), payback period, internal rate of return (IRR), and profitability index.
o Calculate the relevant cash flows for a proposed investment and evaluate it using capital budgeting techniques.
· By the end of Chapter 6 you will be able to
o Identify and explain important bond features.
o Calculate bond prices.
o Describe the relationship between interest rate and inflation rate.
· By the end of Chapter 7 you will be able to
o Calculate stock price based on future dividends and dividend growth.
· By the end of Chapter 11 you will be able to
o Calculate the price and return on a stock using the capital asset pricing model
o Describe how the capital asset pricing model relates risk to stock return.
o Explain the risk-return principle.
o Describe the efficient market hypothesis.