Corporate Finance

Introduction

Please note that this is a preliminary course description. The final version will be published in June 2026.

The main aim of the course is to provide an insight into more advanced topics in corporate finance, which are necessary for both financial managers, financial analysts and consultants. It starts with a review of the basic concepts of financial management and valuation. It then focuses on optimal corporate policy, in regards to capital structure, investment and payout policy, in the presence of market imperfections. The final part of the course looks at more advanced topics in corporate finance such as agency problems and advanced valuation. 

Course content

• Financial statements and capital budgeting
  • Financial statement analysis (information, statements, Bloomberg)
  • Review of the time value of money and investment decision rules 
  • Forecasting cash-flows
  • Basic capital budgeting
  • Cost of capital (determinants of interest rates, debt cost of capital, using CAPM)
• Capital structure
  • Perfect markets
  • Debt and taxes
  • Financial distress, agency problem and information
• Payout policy and stock valuation
  • Payout policy (dividends vs. share repurchases, dividend and capital gains taxes, dividend smoothing and signaling)
• Advanced valuation
  • Advanced capital budgeting and valuation with leverage
  • The project cost of capital