COURSE SYLLABUS

COURSE NAME Business Finance

COURSE NUMBER FINA 210 CREDIT HOURS 3
INSTRUCTOR Ms. Sana El Hajj OFFICE NO OSB 338
M-W 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm OSB 338 pm
EMAIL [email protected] OFFICE HOURS OR via Webex/ (Link will be shared via
Moodle)
Section 1:
T-TH 9:30 am -
11:00 am
OSB
SECTION 1&2 TIME Section 2: LOCATION
227
T-TH 11:00 am -
12:15 pm

Fundamentals of Corporate Finance by Ross, Westerfield, and Jordan,

REQUIRED
McGraw-Hill Education, 13th edition
MATERIAL
Connect Class Web Link: will be shared via Moodle
Required Tool Computer with webcam, audio, and good internet connection
Required Tool Financial Calculator: Texas Instruments™ BA II Plus or equivalent
Spring 2022-23

Prerequisite(s)

ACCT 210

Course Description

This course teaches the tools that determine and analyze the major decisions a
financial manager has to make, including identification of the firm’s goals, time value
of money, use of discount cash flow models, capital budgeting under certainty,
capital structure as it relates to cost of capital, dividend policy, and ethics in finance.

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Relationship to Other Coursework

Business Finance is a foundation course at the introductory level in finance for all
business and non-business administration major students. In this course, students
learn where to get the funds for investments and what is the basis for valuation of the
different financial instruments. They are taught how to use these funds and how to
choose among several investment opportunities. They also study how to consider
the risk element and the time value of money in making investment decisions. The
knowledge acquired in this course serves as the platform for more advanced
analysis in finance.

General Learning Goals (LGs)

This course is a foundation course in Finance for students in the undergraduate
program.

Learning Objectives (LOs)

To this end most of the BBA program learning goals are addressed throughout the
course as follows:
 B-LG1: Business Professional Knowledge & Competence - throughout
this course students will be able to apply strategies that will allow a firm to
make sound investment decisions. In formulating these strategies students
will use concepts, principles and theories from core business professional
knowledge and competence both from generic and specific business areas.
They will gain a deep understanding of the key areas of financial
management: investment decision-making, (NPV, IRR, etc.), financial optimal
structure (capital structure, debt and equity financing), and dividend policy.
These topics are central to decisions made by financial managers regarding
the goals and financial strategy of a corporation, financial statements and their
analysis, and financial forecasting and planning. Performance will be
assessed by the instructor mainly through multiple choice exams, and a case
study analysis.

 B-LG2: Decision Making - through an integrated case study, students will

recognize and describe analytical-quantitative approaches to business and
managerial decision-making situations. They will also demonstrate
competency in the application of these analytical-quantitative approaches.
They will be able to understand and apply financial analysis principles and
methodologies to a listed/publicly traded firm. They will use the results of the
analysis to make an informed, well-justified judgment concerning the financial
health of the company being analyzed and, if appropriate, recommend
corrective courses of action for the firm.

 B-LG3: Ethics - OSB graduates will understand and explain ethical

principles/rules/codes of conduct and situational variables bearing upon
business/managerial ethical dilemmas. They will learn and understand the
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 responsibility of the firm towards its stakeholders among which the social
environment in which it operates.
 B-LG4: Teamwork – In this course, the student will demonstrate appropriate
teamwork behavior in a group case analysis exercise.

Specific Learning Objectives (SLOs)

The Specific Learning Objectives (SLOs) for this course that map to the BBA
program learning goals mentioned above are as follows:

B-LG1: Business Professional Knowledge & Competence

1. Use time value of money concepts to assess impact of time on the value of
cash flows.
2. Recognize the characteristics and compute the value of bonds and stocks.
3. Generate a company’s cost of capital and use it to carry out capital budgeting
analysis for new investment proposals.
4. Describe and compute risk and return of assets and well-diversified portfolios.
5. Explain the basics of capital structure theory.

B-LG2: Decision Making & B-LG4: Teamwork

6. Apply financial statement analysis and methodologies in a group setting to a
listed/publicly traded firm and use the results of the analysis to make an
informed, well-justified judgment concerning the financial health of the
company. (Assessed using AoL rubric on case analysis).

B-LG3: Ethics
7. Acknowledge the agency problem between the firm and its stakeholders.

Instructional Methodology

Live class lecture and discussion will be administered via Webex Meetings. Offline
video lectures are available on Moodle. In addition, I’ll provide some pre-recorded
video lectures on certain topics as I find useful.

Performance Evaluation and Grading

Midterm Exam (On Campus) 35%

Final Exam (On Campus) 35%
2 Quizzes 10%
HW on connect 5%
Tutorials 5%
Group Case Analysis / Project 10%
Total 100%

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 Topical Coverage

SLO Hours % of
referenced Time
Introduction to Corporate Finance (Ch. 1) 7 2.00 hrs 5.33%
Working with Financial Statements (Ch. 3) 6 3.50 hrs. 9.33%
Time Value of Money (Ch. 5) 1,2,3 2.25 hrs. 6.00%
Discounted Cash Flow Valuation (Ch. 6) 1,2,3 4.50 hrs 9.33%
Interest rates and Bond Valuation (Ch. 7) 2 3.25 hrs. 8.67%
Stock Valuation (Ch. 8) 2 4.25 hrs. 8.67%
Net Present Value and Other Investment 3 3.25 hrs. 8.67%
Criteria (Ch. 9)
Making Capital Investment Decisions (Ch. 10) 3 4.00 hrs. 9.33%
Return, Risk and the Security Market Line 4 4.25 hrs. 11.33%
(Ch. 13)
Cost of Capital (Ch. 14) 3 2.50 hrs. 6.67%
Financial Leverage and Capital Structure 5 3.75 hrs. 7.33%
Policy (Ch. 16)
Total Hours 37.50 hrs. 100%
(based on 15 weeks per semester @ 2.5 hours per
week)

Please note the following omissions:

 Chapter 1: section 1.6
 Chapter 3: sections 3.1
 Chapter 7: section 7.2 onward
 Chapter 8: section 8.2 onward
 Chapter 10: section 10.6 onward
 Chapter 13: section 13.3
 Chapter 14: sections 14.5 onward
 Chapter 16: section 16.5 onward

Students with Special Needs or Disabilities

The Accessible Education Office (AEO) coordinates academic accommodations and

services for all eligible AUB students with disabilities (such as ADHD, learning
difficulties, mental health conditions, chronic or temporary medical conditions, and
others). If you have a disability for which you wish to request accommodations at the
department, faculty or university level, please contact AEO as soon as possible.
Once you register with AEO, they will assist you in receiving appropriate
accommodations and will liaise with your instructors and any related entity to best
support your needs. AEO is located in West Hall room 314 and can be reached by
phone at 1-350000 ext. 3246 or by email: [email protected]. Information

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about AEO services can be found at: https://www.aub.edu.lb/SAO/Pages/Accessible-
Education.aspx
Use of Technology

Students will be expected to use MS word, and MS excel in completing their

projects.

Academic Honesty

Academic honor, trust and integrity are fundamental to The Olayan School of
Business community. They contribute directly to the quality of your education and
reach far beyond the campus to your overall standing within the business
community. Students are expected to complete all work with the highest standard of
integrity in line with AUB’s Student Code of Conduct and OSB’s Honor Code.
Plagiarism, forgery, cheating or any form of academic misconduct will not be
tolerated. Any of the above may cause a student’s final course grade to be lowered
significantly or the student may receive a failing grade, depending on the severity of
the offence. Plagiarism is the presentation of the work of another as one’s own work.

Course Policies

Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. Please inform your instructor early on in

case you are unable to attend a given lecture and provide a valid justification. You
are expected to attend all class meetings. If you missing more than 6 classes,
the instructor has the right to drop you from the course . For most of you
these are new concepts and therefore you need to actively participate all class
meetings along with completing the activities to master the material.
All prevailing or updated AUB attendance (and absence) rules and regulations will
apply.

Turn-it-In: Students must submit all written projects to turnitin.com on the same day
that they submit their work to their instructors. Turnitin.com is simply an aid to ensure
that a student’s work is their own. Further details concerning turnitin.com will be
provided in class

Deadlines and Due Dates: These will be strictly enforced. Project group formation
and the project itself are due on the fixed date. Late submissions will be penalized.
Please refer to project description for more information.

Group work: Individuals must contribute their fair share to any group effort resulting
in a deliverable to the instructor. In addition, everyone in the group will be held
accountable for the quality, originality and proper sourcing of the entire group
product.

Exams:

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All exams are closed book and closed note and you can only use the formula sheet
and a calculator during the exams. The instructor reserves the right to use
alternative assessment options to ensure the achievement of student
learning outcomes such as oral tests, interviews, projects, and term
papers. By signing up for this course, you confirm that you have read and accepted
this form of remote proctoring and all terms and provisions of AUB’s Privacy
Statement.”
Exams will test your knowledge of the major concepts covered in the course.
Students are urged to take exams as scheduled. Students who miss an exam or a
quiz will receive a zero on that test with no shift of weight allowed to any other
grading component. Only extreme valid cases will be considered for a make-up
exam and if approved, a makeup will be scheduled.

Students who miss the midterm exam must provide to the instructor, within 72 hours
of the missed exam, all relevant/official documentation for missing the exam. For
medical reasons, only approved medical report signed by an ER or a University
Health Services (UHS) doctor at AUB Medical Center (AUBMC), and/or qualified
professional opinions issued by an AUB employee will be consideration. If the
excuse is approved, the instructor will notify the student with the makeup exam date
and time. Students who do not sit for the scheduled makeup exam will receive a zero
on the exam.

A student who misses a final exam must file an online petition for an incomplete to
the OSB UG Curriculum & Student Affairs Committee and present a valid excuse as
stated above within 72 hours from the missed final exam time. If approved, the
student must be prepared to sit for the exam during the current semester’s final
exam period. This period may be extended by a maximum of 4 days only beyond the
last exam date. The Instructor and the Committee may schedule the makeup exam
within one month of the start of the next regular term. The decision made by the
OSB’s UG Curriculum & Student Affairs Committee is final.

Additional Notes

 Quizzes: Two pre-scheduled quizzes on connect and/ or Moodle will be

administered during the semester; any student missing a quiz may receive a
0/100 grade on that quiz.

 Connect Homework: Graded homework from each chapter will be assigned,

and students are STRONGLY encouraged to complete all these home works
for each chapter immediately after it is covered in class. 2 attempts for each
homework assignment is allowed and one must complete all 2 attempts to
view the solution.

 Problems solving tutorials will be held during the semester Attendance is

mandatory and accounts for 5% of overall grade
Attending from 1-3 tutorials (1 %) ,4-6 tutorials (3% )7-10 tutorials (5% )

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  Group Case Analysis: A group case analysis / project is required for the
purpose of assessing competency of students in the application of analytical-
quantitative approaches as related to Financial Statements Analysis, and in
the ability to adapt to teamwork. This project is due (via Moodle) by the 1O
th
of April .

 Calculators: the use of a financial calculator preferably a Ti BA II plus) is

required for live in-class problem solving sessions and during exams. The
exams will be corrected taking into consideration that the student has access
to this calculation tool.

 Communication: I will often send notification / information via Moodle to your

AUB email address. It is your responsibility to check your AUB email account
on a regular basis.

 Moodle Discussion Board: I will create a discussion board in Moodle entitled

“FINA 210 Discussion Q&A Forum”. All questions related to the course
material should be asked in the discussion board. The reason for this is to
make sure that your classmates have the benefit of your questions and
answers to those questions. This means that you should not e-mail me
questions related to our course material unless no satisfactory answer has
been made available. Please read the discussion board daily to see if your
question has already been answered. You are encouraged to attempt to
answer a question that has been posted if you believe that you can add to the
general understanding of the class by attempting to do so.

Non-Discrimination – Title IX – AUB

In line with its commitment to the principle of equal opportunity in education and
employment, AUB policies protect you from discrimination on the basis of protected
characteristics, including discriminatory harassment and sexual harassment.
Protected characteristics include race, color, religion, age, national or ethnic identity,
sex, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital status,
disability, genetic predisposition or carrier status, alienage or citizenship status, and
political affiliation.

The policies are applicable to all the AUB Community including officers, faculty, staff,
academic appointees, students (including medical interns and residents), visiting
students, alumni, trainees, visitors, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, located on
campus and at AUB Medical Center, Advancing Research Enabling Communities
Center (AREC), or any other facility or program affiliated with the University. The
“AUB community” also includes the dependents and domestic employees of faculty
and staff dwelling on campus and at AREC.

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If you think you have experienced discrimination, discriminatory harassment, or
sexual harassment, we encourage you to inform the Equity/Title IX Coordinator,
Mitra Tauk at 01-350000 ext. 2514, [email protected], report to a Title IX deputy at
your faculty or at any other faculty (www.aub.edu.lb/titleix), or report online
(www.aub.ethicspoint.com). Reports may be submitted anonymously or not. Please
know that the University will maintain the confidentiality of the complaint and privacy
of the persons involved to the greatest extent possible, consistent with its goal of
conducting a thorough and complete investigation and to the extent permitted by law.

You need to also know that the University has designated academic and
administrative department/unit heads, managerial level staff, academic advisors,
protection officers, and residence hall staff/monitors, as responsible employees or
“mandatory reporters”, and may designate others at its discretion. These individuals
are obligated to report actual or suspected discrimination or discriminatory harassing
conduct to the Equity/Title IX Coordinator, unless they are a “confidential” resource.
The following have been designated as confidential resources: on campus
counselors in the Counseling Center of the Office of Student Affairs and AUB
Medical Center counselors, and healthcare providers at the University Health
Services (UHS) and at the AUB Medical Center. Confidential resources are not
required to report actual or suspected discrimination or harassment to appropriate
university officials, except in cases of suspected abuse of a minor, in the event of an
external investigation or prosecution, or in the event of imminent danger to the
reporting party or others.