FINANCE 350 - Global Financial Management

Course Description

The objective of this course is to provide a rigorous introduction to the fundamental principles of asset valuation and financing in competitive global financial markets. The course is designed to provide an outline of modern finance for those who wish to specialize in finance as well as those who intend to pursue other disciplines. The course is organized around the three main ideas in finance:

• The time value of money: Here you will learn to value financial assets such as bonds, stocks, futures, and options, and to appraise investment projects and corporate strategies using a rigorous framework.
• Diversification and risk: These classes provide a thorough grounding in the trade-off between risk and return given by modern portfolio theory. The tools enable you to assess financial risks as well as business risks.
• Arbitrage and hedging. We demonstrate how to hedge stock and commodity market risk, interest rate risk, and foreign exchange risk using futures and options.

The learning experience takes a number of different forms. Each method of learning is meant to complement the other methods.

1. Attending lectures, reading lecture notes and Power Point slides.
2. Working on problem sets and comparing your answers with the set of fully worked solutions.
3. Deepening your understanding through reading lecture notes and assigned chapters in the textbooks.
4. Participating in the discussions on the class bulletin board.
5. Consistently monitoring your own progress and making sure your questions are answered in tutorials or discussions with the instructors or TA's.
6. Using any of the additional learning materials that have been developed and are available on the course web site.

The topics covered in this course overlap in contents and are intended to appeal to different learning styles. Ultimately the student has to decide which materials work best for her/her and use those resources appropriate for the particular learning style. Students are assessed on the basis of a set of weekly quizzes, and a final exam that test skills and command of the course topics.

Course Webpage

Alon Brav's Page: http://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/courses/2008/fall2/finance350/brav/

Ron Kaniel's Page: http://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/~rkaniel/webpage/course350/class.html

Course Textbook

Required: Principles of Corporate Finance, Brenley, Myers, and Allen, 8th Edition.