Corporate Finance

What you’ll learn

1. Anyone interested in learning a skillset that will make you more valuable at your job, help you start something on the side, or let you quit your job and start your own business.
2. If you are thinking about an MBA or are enrolled in a program and are preparing to take accounting and finance courses, this course will prepare you for excelling in your program.
3. Why take this finance course? Understand the Numbers side of Business Financial Literacy Matters. Senior executives routinely share and discuss financial data with marketing directors, operations chiefs, and other direct reports. But how much do those managers really understand about finance and the numbers? A recent investigation into this question concluded most managers understand not enough to be useful. Asked to take a basic financial-literacy exam—a test that any CEO or junior finance person should easily ace—a representative sample of U.S. managers from C-level executives to supervisors scored an average of only 38%. Lack of financial literacy matters and impacts an organizations ability to optimally perform. Those who can’t speak the language of business can’t contribute much to a discussion of performance and are unlikely to advance in the hierarchy or reach their full potential. Does a lack of financial literacy matter? From a managers’ point of view, it surely does. Those who can’t speak the language of business can’t contribute much to a discussion of performance and are unlikely to advance in the hierarchy. They may get caught off guard by financial shenanigans, as many employees at Enron were. They also are unable to gauge the health of a prospective or current employer. The CFO of a small manufacturing company often asks candidates for engineering positions whether they would like to review the past two years of the company’s financials. None yet have taken him up on the offer—knowing, perhaps, that they could make neither head nor tail of the statements. People don’t tell their bosses that they don’t speak finance. It’s the usual human reluctance to admit ignorance. In a survey managers were asked what happens in meetings when people don’t understand financial data. The majority chose answers reflecting that reluctance, such as “Most people don’t ask because they don’t want to appear uninformed in front of their boss or peers.” Don’t let this be you. Take this course and understand Corporate Finance.
4. Anyone interested in how accounting works (no prior accounting experience is needed). • Anyone interested in how finance works (no prior finance experience is needed). • Anyone interested in how financial modeling works (no prior modeling experience is needed). • Anyone interested in how valuation works (no prior valuation experience is needed). • Anyone interested in how financial ratios work (no prior financial ratios experience is needed). • Anyone interested in understanding the Time Value of Money, and interest rates. (no prior knowledge required) • Anyone interested in finally understanding DCF, NPV and IRR with no prior knowledge required.