Syllabus: BUS 785 Financial Management Fall 2002

Syllabus: Fin 351: Financial Management – Spring2012

Instructor: Mr. George Li

Office: BUS 315 (Main campus), DCT 582 (Downtown)

E-mail:

Web:

Office Hours: Monday 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. (BUS 315 at Main campus)

Thursday 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. (DTC 582 at Downtown campus)

Class time: Monday16:10-18:55 (section 1), 19:00 – 21:45 (section 2)

Classroom:BUS 110

Course Overview

This is a second course in financial management. Students learn tools and concepts about how to make financial decisions such as capital budgeting and financing.Topics include valuation of financial and real assets, risk and returns, capital budgeting andcapital structure.

Ethical and environmental issues

While we follow the principle of Finance to deal with financial problems, we also have to consider ethical and environmental issues.

Prerequisite

Students are required to take FIN 350 with a grade of at least C- before taking this course. It is the business school’s policy that all the students taking this course must satisfy this prerequisite requirement. If you didn’t take these prerequisite courses, please drop the course as soon as possible so that the qualified students on the waiting list can enroll in this course.

Required text

Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, 6th Edition, by Richard A. Brealey, Stewart C. Myers and Alan J. Marcus, published by Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2008.

Reading

You are expected to do the assigned readings: book chapters. Some topics that are very important (NPV) are covered in great details. In these cases, the readings serve to reinforce what is covered in class. However, time does not allow all topics to be covered in such detail. Therefore, the readings are necessary. You areresponsible for all materials covered in assigned readings, whether or not we have time to cover themin class. Reading ahead is encouraged as it will aid your understanding of material presented in class.Re-reading after class is also encouraged as it will help solidify the concepts just presented.

Homework

To help you understand concepts and prepare for the quizzes and the final exam, there will be weekly homework problem sets. Homework problem sets will not be graded but their solution will be posted in my website. The best (only) way to learn the material in this class is to work out alarge number of problems.

Quizzes

There will be three quizzes in the form of multiple choice questions. Each quiz will take 45-65 minutes. The highest two quizzes will count towards the final grade. In other words, students will be able todrop their lowest quiz. If a student misses a quiz, then this is the quiz the student will drop.There are no makeup or in-advance quizzes. The students who want to take this course are supposed to plan their time to take all quizzes.

Three cases

We will discuss 3 cases in class. Before the case discussion, students are required to spend time reading and getting familiar with the case. Three cases are from the textbook.Case problems are closely related to the final exam. So it is highly recommended that you come to each case discussion to learn and get prepared for the final. It is very important that you bring in a calculator ( not necessarily a financial calculator), a pen and a sheet of paper in every lecture.

The final exam

The final exam will be in class (closed book), with multiple choice questions.There are no makeup or in-advance exams. The final is based on the quizzes, homework problems and cases, comprehensive.

Requirement for taking quizzes and final exam

Please bring your SFSU ID or driver license as well as scantrons to take three quizzes and the final exam. In the quiz or final, you can bring in one standard sheet (8.5*11), on both sides of which you can write down any formulas, concepts or examples by typing or hand-writing.

Class participation and performance

Students are supposed to come to each lecture and actively get involved. If you miss a lecture or are late for two lectures without a legitimate reason, talk or disturb the classroom, your score in class participation and performance will be reduced at the instructor’s discretion. In worst cases, you may get a zero score for class participation and performance. It should be emphasized that the class and performance score will greatly affect your final grade.

Academic Integrity

The instructor has zero tolerance for cheating in quizzes and the final. During the quiz and the final, please sit as far as possible and don’t look over each other. In some cases, the instructor will routinely ask the students to take different seats in the quiz and final.

Disability Programs and Resource Center

Students with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations are encouraged to contact the instructor. The Disability Programs and Resource Center is available to facilitate the reasonable accommodations process.

Fairness rule

Any attempt to seek undue favor from the instructor will adversely affect a student’s class participation and performance points. The instructor cannot assign extra work to any student to improve her/his grade. Your final grade is absolutely based on the total points you will earn in this course, as shown in the syllabus. The instructor imposes this policy just to be fair to the whole class.

Other Issue

Students are not allowed to take lectures, quizzes, or the final in a section different from enrollment. In the quiz or exam, at any time, only one student is allowed to go to the restroom.

Final grade

Your overall course grade will be based on your performance in the quizzes,the class attendance, and the final exam. Each graded item has a certain number of pointsattached to it. These points determine the relative weight of each graded item that goes intodetermining your final grade. The actual points are expected to follow the list below.

Class participation and performance 10 pts

quizzes ( 2 of 3 total ): 40 pts

final exam: 50 pts

total 100 pts

Letter grades will be based on the distribution of the class. The following is the table for grades, which are based on your ranking in the class.

Ranking (from top to bottom) Grade

0%-10% A Range ( A, A-)

10%-50% B Range (B+, B, B-)

50%-85% C Range (C+, C, C-)

85% - 95% D Range (D+,D,D-)

95%-100% F

Administrative issues for add, drop and withdrawal

Students must follow the school’s add, drop and withdrawal policies for spring2012.Students not on the original class roster but on the waiting list can be added by obtaining a permit from the instructor during the first four weeks of the semester, according the capacity of the class.

So, students must enroll in classes during the first four weeks of the semester. They willnot be permitted to add later even if they have attended all classes, taken all exams, and otherwise completed all course requirements.

University policy is that withdrawals are permitted only for serious and compelling reasons. College of Business policy prohibits students from withdrawing from the same course more than once for any reason.

For details, please see the school’s add, drop and withdrawal policy for Spring 2012.

Class schedules

1/23topic: introduction to financial management and course description

reading: chapters 1&2