COURSE INFORMATION Course Title: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Code	Course Type	Regular Semester	Theory	Practice	Lab	Credits	ECTS
BAF 234	B	4	3	0	0	3	5

Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)	NA
Main Course Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	Dr. Nertil Mera nmera@epoka.edu.al , Friday 09:40 AM - 11:40 AM
Second Course Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	NA
Language:	English
Compulsory/Elective:	Compulsory
Study program: (the study for which this course is offered)	Bachelor in Banking and Finance (3 years)
Classroom and Meeting Time:	E-311 (8:40- 11:30)
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours:	NA
Code of Ethics:	Code of Ethics of EPOKA University Regulation of EPOKA University "On Student Discipline"
Attendance Requirement:	75% Required
Course Description:	BAF 234 - Financial Management course aims to introduced to concepts and tools that enable them to think critically about the financial opportunities and challenges faced by an organization. This course covers different topics such as financial statements analysis, budgeting, analyze investment options, and determine the best means of financing business endeavors. This course allows students discover ways of assessing both the return and the risk involved in a firm's financial decisions. The focus of this course is on solving practical business problems similar to those encountered in the workplace.
Course Objectives:	This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental issues of financial management and to the quantitative techniques used to address them. The main focus of Financial Management is on valuation criteria and decisions on capital investment through the cost of capital, risk and return. It helps to better understand the decisions on capital structure, dividend policies and the methods used by companies to raise capital.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE COURSE

1	Capital Budgeting: The process of planning and managing a firm’s long-term investments.
2	Capital Structure: The mixture of debt and equity maintained by a firm.
3	Cost of Capital: The minimum required return on a new investment.
4	Leverage: The use of borrowed funds in financing the assets or any investment.
5	Risk and Return : Risk implies future uncertainty about deviation from expectations and Return is the profit accruing from an investment.
6	Expected Return: is the profit or loss that an investor anticipates on an investment that has known historical rates of return.
7	Variance: is the average of the squared differences from the mean.
8	Standard Deviation: is a statistic that measures the dispersion of a dataset relative to its mean and is calculated as the square root of the variance.
9	Scenario Analysis: The determination of what happens to net present value estimates when we ask what-if questions.
10	Sensitivity Analysis: Investigation of what happens to net present value when only one variable is changed.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week	Topics
1	Review of Syllabus. Introduction to the course.
2	Quick look on Financial Statements, Cash Flows and Investment Criteria. Recap of the first part of Making Capital Investment Decisions (Project Cash Flows: A First Look; Incremental Cash Flows; Pro-forma Financial Statements and Project Cash Flows; More on Project Cash Flows; Evaluating NPV Estimates; Scenario and Other What If Analysis; Additional Considerations on Capital Budgeting) (pages 375-309)
3	Continuing Making Capital Investment Decisions (Project Cash Flows: A First Look; Incremental Cash Flows; Pro-forma Financial Statements and Project Cash Flows; More on Project Cash Flows; Evaluating NPV Estimates; Scenario and Other What If Analysis; Additional Considerations on Capital Budgeting) (pages 375-309)
4	Somme Lessons from Capital Market History (Returns; The Historical Record; Average Returns: First Lesson; The Variability of Returns: Second Lesson; More on Average Returns; Capital Market Efficiency) (pages 310-349)
5	Introduction to Risk and Return (Expected Returns and Variances; Portfolio; Announcements, Surprises and Expected Returns; Risk: Systematic and Unsystematic; Diversification and Portfolio Risk; Systematic Risk and Beta; Security Market Line; The SML and Cost of Capital (pages 350-388) + Quiz
6	Continuing Risk and Return (Expected Returns and Variances; Portfolio; Announcements, Surprises and Expected Returns; Risk: Systematic and Unsystematic; Diversification and Portfolio Risk; Systematic Risk and Beta; Security Market Line; The SML and Cost of Capital (pages 350-388)
7	Cost of Capital (The Cost of Capital; The Cost of Equity; The Cost of Debt and Preferred Stock; The Waited Average Cost of Capital; Divisional and Project Cost of Capital; Company Valuation with the WACC) (pages 389-423)
8	Review for Midterm Exam
9	Midterm Exam
10	Introduction to Leverage and Capital Structure (The Capital Structure Question; The Effect of Financial Leverage; Capital Structure and the Cost of Equity Capital; Corporate Taxes and Capital Structure; Bankruptcy Cost; Optimal Capital Structure; Observed Capital Structure; A Quick Look at Bankruptcy Process) (pages 424-456)
11	Continuing Leverage and Capital Structure (The Capital Structure Question; The Effect of Financial Leverage; Capital Structure and the Cost of Equity Capital; Corporate Taxes and Capital Structure; Bankruptcy Cost; Optimal Capital Structure; Observed Capital Structure; A Quick Look at Bankruptcy Process) (pages 424-456)
12	Dividends and Dividend Policy (Cash Dividends and Dividend Payment; Does Dividend Policy Matter; Stock Repurchases: An Alternative to Cash; What We Know and Do Not Know About Dividend; Stock Dividends and Stock Splits) (pages 457-486)
13	Raising Capital (The Financing Life Cycle of a Firm: Early-Stage Financing and Venture Capital, Selling Securities to the Public: The Basic Procedure, Alternative Issue Methods, Underwriters, IPOs and Underpricing New Equity, Sales and the Value of the Firm, The Cost of Issuing Securities, Issuing Long-Term Debt, Shelf Registration)(487-520)
14	Review Before Final Exam

Prerequisite(s):	N/A
Textbook(s):	Essentials of Corporate Finance, Stephan A. Ross, Randolph W. Westerfield and Bradford D. Jordan, 10th edition
Additional Literature:	Fundamentals of Financial Management, Eugene F. Brigham and Joel F. Houston, Concise 9th edition.
Laboratory Work:	N/A
Computer Usage:	Possible
Others:	No

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

1	To understand the fundamental principles of financial management
2	To learn the generation and valuation of cash flows in capital investment decisions
3	To learn how to measure risk and return and how to use it in portfolio selection
4	To learn more on dividends, dividend policy, stock splits and reverse splits
5	To analyze complex, unstructured qualitative and quantitative problems, using appropriate tools and techniques

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES (Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)

No	Program Competencies	Cont.
Bachelor in Banking and Finance (3 years) Program
1	The students gain the ability to look at the problems of daily life from a broader perspective with an increased awareness of the importance of moral/ethical considerations and professional integrity in the workplace.
2	They develop their knowledge and understanding of banking and finance including concepts, theories, and analytical tools that serve both in national and international markets.
3	They gain an understanding of the role of financial management in business firms and the essentials of corporate finance and further develop their knowledge in the field.
4	They are able to apply valuation models to estimate the price of different financial assets, measure risk and describe the risk-return tradeoff.
5	They are provided with the knowledge and understanding of the regulatory framework and functioning of banking system and central banking as well as international banking system.
6	They are able to understand and use fundamental economic theories and tools to solve economic problems in banking and financial services industry.
7	They have the ability to develop and utilize accounting, financial and economic data as well as other information to solve different business problems by making use of basic mathematical and statistical models.
8	They are expected to develop their numerical and IT skills as well as knowledge of databases in order to address the significant development in the delivery and use of financial services known as FinTech.
9	They develop their ability to think critically, do research, analyze, interpret, draw independent conclusions, and communicate effectively, both individually and as part of a team.
10	They are provided with opportunities to acquire the necessary skills and competencies to develop professionalism in the banking and financial services industry or to move on to further study within the discipline.

COURSE EVALUATION METHOD

Method	Quantity	Percentage
Midterm Exam(s)	1	30
Quiz	1	10
Final Exam	1	50
Attendance		10
	Total Percent:	100%

ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)

Activities	Quantity	Duration(Hours)	Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours)	16	3	48
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)	16	2	32
Mid-terms	1	13	13
Assignments			0
Final examination	1	17	17
Other	15	1	15
Total Work Load:			125
Total Work Load/25(h):			5
ECTS Credit of the Course:			5

CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE COURSE LECTURER

To be completed latter.