This course presents an overview of the fundamentals of finance, exploring the key concepts of time value of money and risk to help understand the major determinants of valuecreation. Both, theoretical and real-world examples are used. The main objective of thecourse is to provide students with a strong foundation in finance, which can be scaled up in future finance courses and in real job situations. The course is aimed at students from varied backgrounds who may or may not have an interest in finance, but who will soon realize that finance can be fun, interesting, and enormouslyuseful.
Titular Professors
Professors
No prior knowledge is presupposed; The fundamental concepts are introduced from the beginning of the course.
The main objective of the course is to provide students with a strong foundation in finance, which can be scaled up in future finance courses and in real job situations. The course is aimed at students from varied backgrounds who may or may not have an interest in finance, but who will soon realize that finance can be fun, interesting, and enormously useful.
Topic 1 – The Time Value of Money (TVM)
Interest rates, risk, opportunity cost of money influencing the value of money along time.
Topic 2 – NPV and Other Investments Rules
Mechanism to evaluate financial feasibility of projects, based on the proper interest rate: a proper combination of expected returns, opportunity cost of money and risk.
Topic 3 – Making Capital Investment Decisions
Build decisions on incremental, after-tax cash flows (handle sunk and opportunity costs, side effects, working capital, depreciation for taxes, and inflation consistency). Financing choice (own funds vs. borrowing) is considered separately when setting the required return.
Topic 4 – Bond Valuation
Face value on a bond and its coupon rate versus current market rates and risk: a proper combination to get a price for a bond in current times.
Topic 5 – Stock Valuation
Expected returns versus market rates, opportunity cos of money and risk. The proper combination to get a price on a stock investment opportunity.
Topic 6 – Technical Analysis
Definition and provide participants with a foundational understanding of technical analysis, its principles, and basic tools.
Topic 7 – Options
Foundational understanding of options trading, including basic concepts, types of options, and fundamental strategies.
The course will be developed mainly through a flipped classroom and active learning methodology. All course materials, including lecture slides, readings, exercises, and complementary resources, will be available from the first day of class. Students are expected to review and study the relevant materials before each session.
Starting from Session 2, each class will begin with a short in-person assessment quiz related to the unit scheduled for that session. The purpose of this quiz is to verify that students have prepared the material in advance and are ready to apply it during class. Students must be physically present at the beginning of the quiz in order to take it. Students who arrive after the quiz has started will not be allowed to complete it. Quizzes cannot be taken from home or outside the classroom, and quiz completion will be checked against the official attendance record. Session 1 will be devoted to the course kick-off, presentation of the syllabus, explanation of the methodology, and initial course organization.
Class time will not be primarily devoted to traditional theoretical lectures. Instead, the theoretical content will be applied through exercises, cases, problem-solving activities, and class discussion. Therefore, students must come to class prepared, having studied the assigned materials beforehand. The effectiveness of this methodology depends directly on students’ individual preparation and active participation.
Class sessions will be used to clarify doubts, correct selected exercises or homework, solve practical cases, and apply financial concepts to real business situations. The professor may introduce or reinforce specific theoretical points when necessary, but students are responsible for completing the required preparation before class.
Lecture slides, textbook references, online videos, and additional materials may be used to support preparation and review. Proper preparation will allow class time to be used more efficiently for interactive learning, discussion, problem solving, and project work.
The qualification of the course will be based on the following academic activities of great importance:
[A] Attendance, work and participation in class – 10% (Individual work)
[B] Continuous assessment – 15% (Individual and/p teamwork)
[C] Group cases – 20% (Teamwork on a project)
[D] Midterm assessment – 25% (Individual work)
[E] Final evaluation – 30% (Individual work)
FINAL GRADE IN THE FIRST CALL:
10%(A) + 15%(B) + 20%(C) + 25%(D) + 30%(E)
Retake Policy in extraordinary call:
[A] Attendance, work and participation in classes - 10% (Individual work)
[B] Continuous Assessment - 10% (Individual and/or team work)
[C] Group Cases - 20% (Teamwork on a project)
[D] Midterm assessment (MIDTERM) - 20% (Individual work)
[F] Retake exam - 40% (Individual work)
FINAL GRADE IN EXTRAORDINARY CALL(S):
10%(A) + 10%(B) + 20%(C) + 20%(D) + 40%(F)
REQUIREMENTS, EXPECTATIONS, AND ASSESSMENT
- Students are expected to do class practices, complete all assignments, tests, and exams. Class participation includes students’ contribution in solving class problems and correcting the previous session’s home assignments as well as showing a positive and interactive attitude during class. This is reflected in the course grading. Students showing disruptive and disrespectful behavior will be asked to leave the classroom and it will count as an absence for the session.
- Assignments include exercises and problems which are assigned from the textbook. All assignments must be done for every session as to be able to discuss whichever doubts the students may encounter in the following class session. If a student is absent for any session, he/she must submit the assignment due by email on that same day in order not to be penalized. Failure to do so will result in a negative grade.
- Cellphones are off limits during class: no calls – no text messaging – nor take photos and nor take photos of the screen. Students must turn them off or keep them silenced. No cellphones are allowed on the table to check the time. Any student engaged in texting during class time will be invited to leave the classroom and it will count as an absence for the course.
- If a student has an emergency situation that requires, she/he to be contacted during class time, he/she must inform his/her professor at the beginning of class and an exception may be made at the professor’s discretion.
- Be punctual. Late arrivals are disruptive, both to lectures and class discussion, and show disrespect to those who arrive on time. Once class starts, the door will be closed, and no one will be allowed to enter or leave the classroom until the end of the session. Anyone not observing this rule will be marked absent in the attendance list.
- Problem sets are to be done individually, meaning the work you turn in must be your own, as opposed to copied from another (and yes, we can certainly tell if it has been copied). This does not mean you have to do the assignment in isolation. We expect that you will need to consult each other in order to comprehend, or better understand, the material. Seeking and giving such assistance is encouraged.
- Revision Date: Once the semester is over and final grades posted, there will be a time slot of a day devoted to revision.
- In case of repeating the course: Students should attend the course and follow the regular course policy.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
- Students are allowed to miss five (5) sessions for the semester.
- Attendance must be in person. Online attendance will not be allowed.
- Attendance will be registered by the professor at the beginning of every session.
- Justified absences are only accepted for La Salle activities or serious illness (not for personal matters like driving lessons or minor health issues).
POLICY FOR ONLINE ATTENDANCE
Students only will have permission to online attendance in case of:
- Temporary bureaucratic or visa reasons
- Health issues that prevent attendance on campus for at least 5 academic days (a medical certificate will be required)
If students want to request permission to attend online:
- Students must send a request by eSecretary, which is evaluated by their tutor. Students then send proof of acceptance of this request to their professors via email (with tutor in copy).
USE OF AI TOOLS:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help in the learning process, but we must make a proper use of it. Students who opt to use an AI in their work are required to include a paragraph at the end of the task or activity in which they have used said tool and explain why they decided to use it and the results obtained from it. Failure to include this information will be considered as an attempt at fraud or cheating as it deceives the Evaluation System. In such cases, the penalties set out in Salle Campus Barcelona Copies Regulations will be applied (https://www.salleurl.edu/en/copies-regulation).
Reference textbook for Principles of Finance:
Ross, S., Westerfield, R., & Jaffe, J. (8th International Student Edition). Modern Financial Management. McGraw Hill.
As well as the reference textbook, additional readings will be posted on the e-study or handed out in class. Most of these readings will consist of newspaper or magazine articles, or text from relevant economic and finance official webpages, newspapers, and magazines.
The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and the Economist.com http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073382302/student_view0/ http://economist.com www.ft.com www.wsj.com http://www.econlib.org/library/CEECategory.html http://finance.yahoo.com/ http://www.investopedia.com www.marketwatch.com