This course is about how a company decides what to do with its money. You will learn to read a company's financial statements, to judge its health using ratios, and to put a value on money that arrives at different points in time. You will then use those tools to answer real decisions: whether a large investment is worth making, how much return the money used must earn, how much of the company should be financed by borrowing, and how much profit should be paid out to the owners.
No previous study of finance is assumed. Every idea is introduced with an ordinary business situation before any formula appears, and the arithmetic never goes beyond what a simple calculator can do. If English is not your first language, the live subtitle page provides every sentence of the lecture in English and Nepali as it is spoken.
| Week | Topic | What we actually do |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Introduction | Aims of the course, how it is taught and how it is graded |
| 02 | Financial statements | The balance sheet and the income statement, and the accounts inside them |
| 03 | Ratio analysis | Growth, profitability, activity, stability and liquidity ratios |
| 04 | Ratio analysis applied | Analysing the published accounts of real companies |
| 05 | Time value of money | Present value and future value |
| 06 | Annuities | Present and future value of a level stream of payments |
| 07 | Bond and share valuation | Pricing bonds, pricing shares, and economic value added (EVA) |
| 08 | Midterm exam | Statements, ratios and valuation |
| 09 | Investment criteria | NPV, IRR, profitability index, payback period, accounting rate of return |
| 10 | Investment decisions | Estimating cash flows, unequal project lives, capital rationing |
| 11 | Decisions under uncertainty | Expected return and risk, CAPM, evaluating risky projects |
| 12 | Cost of capital | Cost of equity, cost of debt, WACC, flotation costs |
| 13 | Capital structure | Traditional view, Modigliani–Miller, bankruptcy and agency costs |
| 14 | Dividend policy | Dividends and firm value, clientele effect, signalling effect |
| 15 | Final exam | Capital budgeting and capital structure |
| Component | Weight |
|---|---|
| Midterm exam | 40% |
| Final exam | 50% |
| Attendance | 10% |
Most of the grade comes from the two exams, so keeping up week by week matters far more in this course than working hard at the end. Every exam question is built from a situation we have already worked through in class, and formula sheets are provided where they are needed. If you fall behind, come to me early rather than late — the topics build on one another, and a small gap in week 5 becomes a large one by week 11.
Your active participation and honest effort make the class better for everyone in it. Please come, ask questions in whatever language is easiest for you, and tell me when something is not clear. Asking a question that others were too shy to ask is a service to the room, not an interruption.
Under CHA University regulations, students with disabilities may meet the instructor before or shortly after the semester begins to request adjustments to attendance, teaching, assignments and assessment. Depending on need, this can include lecture materials supplied in advance, permission for a note-taker or a support assistant, reserved seating, permission to record lectures, and sign-language interpretation. For assessment it can include extended time, adjusted question or response formats, a separate examination room, and alternative assessment where appropriate. The exact arrangements depend on the nature of the course, so please contact the instructor or the Disability Student Support Centre on 031-850-8926 before the semester starts.