CATALOG COURSE DESCRIPTION: Corporate Financial Policy (3 Semester Hours) Theory of managerial finance, capital budgeting, financial leverage, capital structure, valuation, cost of capital, dividend policy, liquidity analysis, financial analysis, and short-term financial management.

REQUIRED TEXT: Robert F. Bruner, Case Studies in Finance: Managing for Corporate Value Creation, Fourth Edition, Irwin McGraw-Hill, Boston, 2003 (B)

REFERENCE TEXTS: Stephen A. Ross, Randolph W. Westerfield and Jeffery F. Jaffe, Corporate Finance, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, Boston, 2002 (RWJ); Richard A. Brealey and Steward C. Myers, Principles of Corporate Finance, Seventh Edition, McGraw-Hill Companies, New York, 2003 (BM).

STUDENT IDs: By the 1/18/05 (third class) class you will need to place on a 4" by 6" index card a copy of your picture ID. On the front of this index card please give your full name along with the name that you wish to be referred to in class. Also give me your class, your major, your e-mail address, professional financial experience (if any) you have, your local address and your local telephone. Having your IDs will help me to know who you are more quickly.

ATTENDANCE: Policy on class attendance is addressed in The Miami Bulletin: The Student Handbook, 2004-2005 edition. Attendance is especially important on days when cases are covered.  Missing class for interviews is not a good reason to miss class.  Therefore, arrange on-campus interviews to minimize the number of class absences.

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT: Any form of academic dishonesty will be dealt with to the full extent of university policy. Academic misconduct is dealt with as explained in The Miami Bulletin: The Student Handbook, 2003-2004 edition. Policy on class attendance is likewise addressed in the Handbook.

RECOMMENDED: The Wall Street Journal

NOTES:

1. CASES: Some cases will be written up and presented by student groups of two to three students. Each student must be involved in the writing and presenting of TWO team cases. Cases # 1, # 6, # 12, # 15, # 17 and # 28 will be done by the instructor in class. Therefore, these cases will not be written on by the class or presented by the class. You are, however, expected to prepare these cases and to discuss these cases in class. This means that you will write on Cases #10, #13, #19, #24, #30, #24, #35 and #38.  Two teams will be formed. Each team will select two cases to write-up and present to class.  The cases that will be presented to your class should be between ten and fifteen pages (excluding exhibits) inYou will not write more than one case with the same person, thus you have a team experience with two people.

In addition to the TWO team class presentations you will also individually write on three other cases.  These individually written case reports should be no more than five pages (excluding exhibits) in length.

Spreadsheets accompany most cases assigned in the course.  These spreadsheets can be found on the student network.

2. EXAMINATIONS: There will be two examinations during the semester plus a final examination.

3. CLASS PARTICIPATION: Participation points are given for every day of class except when an examination is being given and when an examination is being reviewed in class.  Therefore, you should come to class prepared to discuss the day's topics and issues.  As previously mentioned, missing class for interviews is not considered a good excuse for missing class.  Out of town interviews may be excused absences, provided you obtain permission for the missed class in advance AND provide some sort of written evidence of the out of town interview (such as a business card, etc.)  Please take the participation component seriously.

Your participation will be grade on a scalue of zero to three points The participation points will based on the following criteria:

•     0 points: No participation or observations
•     1 point: Contributes relevant information or facts, asks critical questions concerning the discussion in class
•     2 points: Provides an interpretation of relevant information and/or facts that is based on analysis and, in      aaaaturn, advances the discussion to other related topics.
•     3 points: Provides contributions that leads the discussion to a significantly higher level of thought; or presents XXXXan analysis and interpretation of the relevant information that results in a solution to the case.

If you obtain an excused absence for a day when a case is covered in class, you will receive your average participation score for that day.

4. GRADING WEIGHTS:

The May 6th  Final Examination is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m.. You will be given two hours to complete this examination.  

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