Notes on 6 Bullet Points - Financials Management | FIN 3123, Lecture notes of Finance

Download Notes on 6 Bullet Points - Financials Management | FIN 3123 and more Lecture notes Finance in PDF only on Docsity! Mississippi State University School of Business Financial Management Finance 3123, Sections 02 and 03 – Fall 2014 INSTRUCTOR: Tom Miller – McCool 310-i Emergency Cell: 314.494.7823 (PLEASE start/title your text/email with: FIN3123) Classes Meet: Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30pm to 1:45pm, McCool 232, Section 02 Tuesday/Thursday, 3:30pm to 4:45pm, McCool 232, Section 03 NO food or drink (water is ok) to be consumed during class Attendance Earns Bonus Points (as described below) Office Phone: (662) 325-1997.  Use this E-Mail: tommillerjr@gmail.com  Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 10:00-11:00 and 5:00-5:30 (Plus arrangements, email, and <limited> text messages, of course) NOTE: I send email blasts. You are responsible to check 1) your my Courses inbox and 2) to wherever you forward your MSU email account. I plan to Tweet: @tommillerjr REQUIRED (that is, ALL of these bullet points are required—NOT optional):  Prerequisites: According to the Mississippi State University Undergraduate Catalog, students who seek to enroll in FIN 3123 must have earned credit for EC 2123, ACC 2023, BQA 2113, and be a standing junior. Basic economics, accounting, and statistical knowledge will be assumed.  Text: Ross, S.A.; Westerfield, R.; and Jordan, B.D., custom softbound book or full textbook. Available at campus book outlets. Two versions are available: ISBN-13: 9781121527232 is a custom pub book. Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, w/Connect Access: ISBN-13: 9780077630713. If you want to buy the book through other sources, make sure you buy the 10th edition.  Connect®: Connect© is a software page that we will use in our class as an assignment manager. You can practice problems with Connect©, too. Connect© should be bundled with a new edition of your textbook. It is also available separately if you buy your textbook elsewhere. Registration screen caps are attached.  Financial Calculator: TI BAII Plus. This calculator is one approved for use to take the CFA exam. We will use it in our course (that is, we will use no others). The book shows you key strokes, too. I have found that during exams, feeling comfortable with your calculator is a must. So, follow along in class when we do problems. Cost ranges from $25-$35 at Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy or many online outlets. 1  Attend each class meeting and be ready when the meeting starts. Attendance is factored in to your final grade. You earn points for attending class, which means being ready when the meeting starts. If you are not in class, for whatever reason, you are not in class. If you are not in class, you do not receive attendance points because you did not attend class—you were elsewhere, for whatever reason. There are no “excused” absences. Do not try to “explain” why you missed or will miss. All that matters is whether you were in class on time.  CLASS MANTRA. “We get better at working new finance problems by working new finance problems. I will fail often in learning how to solve new finance problems. That outcome is okay. My dog will still love me. In the end, I will know how to solve new finance problems because I solved many new finance problems many times.” OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to: 1. Understand the time value of money and the relations between returns. 2. Measure risk, return, and diversification benefits. 3. Decipher a firm's financial operations, financial structure, and conduct securities valuation. 4. Understand fundamental finance concepts that will help them make individual and business financial decisions. 5. Comprehend information presented in the financial press and financial media. 6. Use financial techniques to solve problems. ABOUT THE CLASS: The pace of this course is surprisingly fast, despite the instructor’s Montana accent. Do you want to succeed? ) Attend each class meeting and take notes in your own writing, 2) read the chapter before we discuss it, 3) re-read the chapter after we discuss it, and rewrite your course notes, 4) take all the quizzes and do the homework. The financial environment is discussed by a wide range of websites, blogs, podcasts, and TV shows every day simply because it affects everyone’s life. It particularly affects the life of every business person. Stock prices and interest rate levels might well determine whether an individual can afford to buy a house, or determine whether a business can expand. An objective of our course is to help you develop an understanding of the financial environment in which you will operate, both as a business person and as an individual. Every business course has broad responsibilities. We seek to help you develop the analytical thinking skills that are essential for success in business. We seek to help you view business as an integrated whole rather than a set of isolated decisions in finance, marketing, management, accounting, and other fields of study. Last, but certainly not least, recent events have made it even more important that we help you develop both an ethical perspective and skills in ethical reasoning. 2 Let’s say you earn the maximum number of points elsewhere, and have served as the designated responder. Example One: You attend 30 sessions, so the maximum possible score for you in the course is 102. Example Two: You attend 22 or fewer sessions, so the maximum possible score for you in the course is 90. Classroom Decorum: Your class participation grade also depends on your ability to participate in our shared learning experience in a collegial and professional manner. Carrying on a protracted conversation in class, texting, watching videos on your cell phone, reading the paper, eating, or drinking in class are some examples of simply unacceptable unprofessional manners. Choose to wander in and out of the classroom aimlessly (or with the purpose of getting a drink, making a phone call, having a smoke) is particularly un-collegial. If you display unprofessional behavior, you will receive a warning (yellow card). If you persist, you will receive a red card. The cost you will bear for a red card is two (2) full percentage points off your grade for each red card. We will talk about classroom decorum expectations on the first day class. Sometimes we must leave early for a job interview or for another urgent matter. You will tell me about job interviews in advance and any urgent matters ex post. If you really have to visit the restroom, please excuse yourself professionally and expeditiously. Please minimize these excursions. DESIGNATED RESPONDER: In this course, each day, I ask for one, two, three, or sometimes, four volunteers to serve as “Designated Responders.” In this course, I ask many questions during the class meeting. I do so because I can probe the class to see if important concepts, new and old, are being retained. If not, then we need to circle back and review a bit. I generally ask questions in class that are germane to the course. That is, these questions are about concepts that you may see again in the course. Anyone may attempt to answer the questions I ask, although the class tends to “free-ride” at times. If no one steps forward to answer a particularly nettlesome or unfathomable question, the “Designated Responders” MUST attempt an answer. That is, the “Designated Responders” must give it the “Old College Try” when all looks lost. Note that you are not entirely judged on the quality of your responses (although I clearly will like some answers better than others). Rather, you are judged on your earnest and honest attempts to help the rest of the class learn the material. There are two reasons I invented the use of Designated Responders. First, this teaching technique helps me identify concepts that may be a bit blurry, and need to be sharpened. Second, I have found that this technique fosters an in-class atmosphere wherein everyone feels comfortable asking questions. Serving as the designated responder one time multiplies your other class grades by a factor of 1.0. If you decline the chance to serve as a Designated Responder, your other class grades are multiplied by a factor of 0.0. 5 ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: I fully expect each student to follow the Honor Code at Mississippi State University. Occurrences of academic misconduct will be addressed in a most serious manner. As you know, the MSU Honor Code is: As a Mississippi State University student I will conduct myself with honor and integrity at all times. I will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor will I accept the actions of those who do. Upon accepting admission to Mississippi State University, a student immediately assumes a commitment to uphold the Honor Code, to accept responsibility for learning, and to follow the philosophy and rules of the Honor Code. Students will be required to state their commitment on examinations, research papers, and other academic work. Ignorance of the rules does not exclude any member of the MSU community from the requirements or the processes of the Honor Code. For additional information, visit: http://www.students.msstate.edu/honorcode. Examples of academic dishonesty would be copying from another student, copying from a book or class notes during a closed-book exam, submitting materials authored by or editorially revised by another person but presented as the student’s own work, copying a passage or text directly from a published source without appropriately citing or recognizing that source, taking a test or doing an assignment or other academic work for another student, tampering with another student’s work, securing or supplying in advance a copy of an examination without the knowledge or consent of the instructor, and colluding with another student or students to engage in an act of academic dishonesty. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Students who believe that, due to the impact of a disability, they may need academic accommodations in order to meet the requirements of this class are encouraged to contact Julie Berry in the Office of Student Support Services in Room 01 Montgomery Hall, PH: 662.325.3335 or jbery@saffairs.msstate.edu. CELL PHONES: Please turn your cell phone off (or on silence) during class. Texting during class or having your cell phone ring are two examples of unprofessional manners, and are susceptible to yellow and red cards. LAPTOP POLICY: Laptops are to remain closed at all times during class—unless the instructor asks you to open your laptop for a specific reason. I have found that the cost of the urge to email and surf during class greatly outweighs the benefit of using a laptop to take notes. If you want to take notes on the slides that I prepare, print them beforehand and bring them with you to class. Or, take notes on a separate piece of paper and transfer your notes (especially on the calculations) to augment my presentation. CALCULATOR POLICY: You are HIGHLY encouraged to have your calculator out and working the problems with me during class. Why not? We make calculations in class. You will receive a special reward and recognition for finding a mistake being made in the problem being solved in class. 6 APPEALS: Students may appeal grading of any assignment by providing a neatly typed appeal that describes the nature of the disagreement. All appeals must be turned in by the end of the first class period after the return of the assignment. I will consider all qualified appeals and render a decision within a reasonable period of time. In all cases my objective will be fairness to both you and your classmates. Any further appeals of course grades must follow MSU guidelines. 7