SYLLABUS:

FIN 3000:

FIN 3000  Business Finance

Militray Term January 2004

Professor:  Michael A. S. Guth, Ph.D., J.D.

 

Office:  Oak Ridge, TN

Office Telephone: 865-483-8309

Office Hours:  Monday – Saturday, 9 AM – 7 PM (Eastern time – New York City time)

  Office Fax:  425-969-2580

Web Site Address:  not available at this time

 Email Address:  masg@juno.com
  1. Overview:  The two foundational courses in finance are Investments and Financial Management.  This course in Business Finance is the introductory course in financial management required of all business majors at HPU.  Without exception, students complain that this is one of the hardest courses offered in the finance department.  The reason for the difficulty stems from two areas:  (1) practical use of concepts that rely heavily on basic accounting principles (without taking any accounting courses prior to this one, students find the material hard), and (2) rather difficult mathematical equations that must be solved.  Up to now, business students have largely relied on simple algebraic formulas to complete the math content of their business courses.  Here, students will be exposed to equations that have terms, e.g., raised to the exponent 13, and it will be impossible to try to solve the equations without a financial calculator.  NOTE:  You do not need to buy a Texas Instruments financial calculator to hold in your hand.  Financial calculators now abound on the Internet for free.  However, if you plan to do financial analysis in your professional career, then it would be wise to purchase a financial calculator.  If you elect to use an Internet-based financial calculator, then you must find a web page with inputs and outputs that you can understand.  Not all web-based financial calculators are created equally.  This course aims to equip you to use the tools of financial decision making in the corporate environment.  Major topics areas include the time value of money; valuation of stocks, bonds, and the firm; capital budgeting (which is the name given to long-term investments such as mergers and acquisitions and well as financing projects); the cost of capital and acquisition of capital; working capital management; and international finance.
  2. REQUIRED:
    1. Ross, Westerfield, Jordan, Essentials of Corporate Finance, 2004, McGraw-Hill.
    2. Financial Calculator:  found on an Internet web page, or purchased as Hewlett Packard 10B or Texas Instruments BAII+.
    3. Access to Internet for assignments and study tools.
  3. CLASS POLICIES:

I will try to give you hints throughout the course that will assist you with problems and alleviate some of the stress you will feel when you spend hours on a problem and still cannot solve it.  However, there are several policies that will be followed:

    1. No make-up exams or early exams will be given, except under extreme circumstances. In addition, late assignments will be graded and returned, but will not receive credit.
    2. Attendance will be required according to HPU guidelines for online courses.  Students are responsible for all course content and assignments whether they check the course web page routinely or not.
    3. University guidelines will be followed concerning cheating. The other instructor’s policy is that a cheating student receive an F for the course and is reported to the appropriate University officials for further action.
  1. GRADING:

Assignments:

Points:

Date:

GRADING SCALE:

Midterm Exam 1

100 pts.

 TBD

A: 400 - 360 points

Final Exam

100 pts.

 TBD

B: 359 - 320 points

Online Chapter Quizzes

120 pts.

 (See Assignments Page)

C: 319 - 280 points

Assignments & Homework

80 pts.

 (See Assignments Page)

D: 279 - 240 points

 

400 pts.

 

F: 219 - 0 points

 

  1. ASSIGNMENTS: Homework assignments and their due dates will be announced in class. Assignments should also be posted to the Assignments section of this site.
  2. HANDY HINTS: The best way to pass this class is to: (1) participate actively in the course discussion board, (2) frequently examine the rest of the course web site, (3) do the homework, (4) read the book, and (5) STUDY!
  3. Americans with Disabilities Act: If you have special needs as addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act and need any test or course materials provided in an alternative format, notify your instructor immediately. Reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate your special needs.

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ASSIGNMENTS: 

FIN 3000:

This area will contain all of the assignments for each course.  Please check back frequently for updates.

Week 1:  Chapter One: 

  • Read Chapter. 
  • Set up WebCT account.
  • Review WebCT materials. 

Week 2:  Chapter Two: 

Week 3:  Chapter Three: 

  • Read Chapter.
  • Complete 500-word article on a topic, assigned by the professor, related to Chaps 1, 2, or 3. 

Week 4:  Chapter Four: 

  • Read Chapter.
  • Find and use financial calculator.
  • Animated Tutorial! explains exactly how and where to find the annual reports.

Week 5:  Chapter Five:

Week 6:  Midterm Exam study, practice, complete exam 

Week 7:  Chapter Six:

Week 8:  Chapter Seven:

Week 9:  Chapter Eight:

Week 10:  Chapter Nine:

  • Read Chapter.
  • Use financial calculator for this chapter.

Week 11:  Chapter Twelve:

  • Read Chapter.
  • Use financial calculator for this chapter.

Week 12:  Final Exam study, practice, complete exam 

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Lecture Notes: 

FIN 3000: 

The following files are the PowerPoint presentations to which I may refer in this course.   Please feel free to download them or view them in your web browser. If you do not have PowerPoint on your computer, please download the PowerPoint viewer file, which is located on the instructions page listed below.

These files will allow you to:

  1. take fewer notes in class so that you are able to pay more attention during the lectures. 
  2. have a complete set of notes that is very similar to those of the other class participants. 
  3. take more time to understand the lecture. Particularly if you are one of my foreign students and have difficulty understanding English. 
  4. review for the exams.

The Lecture Notes and quizzes used in this course were developed by Professor Mark Lane.  We are covering the exact content as his ground-based course, so that no student will feel he or she is getting less out of the online course than what is taught on the ground.  Thus Prof. Lane’s lecture notes should be germane to each of the chapters assigned from the textbook.

NEW: Click HERE to access the Publisher's PowerPoint Lecture Notes (Optional)

 

 

 

 

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REFERENCE FIN3000:

FIN 3000:

This area will contain various reference items for FIN 3000.

  Calculating NPV in Microsoft Excel 

Calculator Usage Instructions:

For Calculator Instructions, Simply Click on the Calculator.

 

·         How to do Regressions on your Calculator

·         Running Regressions using Microsoft Excel (HTML Document)

·         Animated Calculator Instructions 

New Software:

  • Sample Exam Number II - Study Aid for Chapters 6-8  DO NOT PRINT AND STUDY THIS AT HOME!  This sample exam is intended to be taken ONLINE, closed book, as if it were a real exam.  This is the only way that you will get a true measure of your preparedness for the upcoming exam.  (This is a Java application -- it requires a Java-capable browser to run correctly. Examples of such browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher (available at Microsoft) and Netscape 2.0 or higher (available at Netscape).)
  • ONLINE Midterm Two-FIN3000.  This exam focuses on Chapter 9.  Study it for the final exam.   Take the exam and immediately know your score. (This is a Java application -- it requires a Java-capable browser to run correctly. Examples of such browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher (available at Microsoft) and Netscape 2.0 or higher (available at Netscape).)
  • Sample Midterm One FALL 97-FIN 3000.  Take the exam and immediately know your score. ( These are a Java applications -- they require a Java-capable browser to run correctly. Examples of such browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher (available atMicrosoft) and Netscape 2.0 or higher (available at Netscape). )
  • ONLINE Midterm One-FIN 3000.  Take the exam and immediately know your score. (This is a Java application -- it requires a Java-capable browser to run correctly. Examples of such browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher (available at Microsoft) and Netscape 2.0 or higher (available at Netscape).)
  • ONLINE Sample Final Exam.(This is a Java application -- it requires a Java-capable browser to run correctly. Examples of such browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher (available at Microsoft) and Netscape 2.0 or higher (available at Netscape).)
  • Basic Financial Management Tutorial Software
    • Runs in Microsoft Excel (471 K)
    • Directions:
      • Save the file.  RIGHT click on the above link and choose "Save Target As" or "Save Link As."  This will save the file to your hard drive (or floppy drive) in a directory that you choose.
      • Open the file using Microsoft Excel.

Web Sites of Interest:Please click here to go to the Web Sites page for FIN 3000. Exams from Previous Semesters:

FinCoach Software: (If you are accessing this site using a 28.8 modem, this file may take an hour or more to download.) (This software is only intended for those students who did not receive a copy of it with their book.)

Directions:

3.      Save the file.  RIGHT click on the above link and choose "Save Target As." This will save a file called FinCoach.exe to your hard drive in a directory that you choose.

4.      Run the file.  You may do this by using the Run command in the Start Menu or by double clicking on the file in My Computer.

5.      Go to the C:\FinCoach sub-directory.

6.      Run the file called Setup.exe.  You may also do this by using the Run command in the Start menu.  You will probably type "C:\FinCoach\setup.exe" in the box.

7.      Enter the following for the serial number:  131PRENHALL064 (Type it EXACTLY the way it appears.  The last three letters are zero, six, four.)

8.      If you have any problems, call me, email me, or come by and pick up the disk.

    • This file must be installed in order to view some of the materials in FinCoach.  If you already have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, you do not need to install this file.

Directions:

    1. Save the file.  RIGHT click on the above link and choose "Save Target As." This will save a file called Acro32.exe to your hard drive in a directory that you choose.
    2. Run the file.  You may do this by using the Run command in the Start Menu or by double clicking on the file in My Computer.
    3. Go to the C:\FinCoach\Acro32 sub-directory.
    4. Run the file called Setup.exe.  You may also do this by using the Run command in the Start menu.  You will probably type C:\FinCoach\Acro32\setup.exe in the box.

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WEB SITES:

FIN 3000:

CHAPTERS, TOPICS, AND RESOURCES

Please Select the Chapter you wish to view from the following list.