Corporate Finance
The aim of this course is to provide the students with advanced knowledge and skills with respect to corporate financial decisions. The course focuses on optimal corporate policies, with regard to financing, capital structure and payout policies. The final part of the course looks at some intermediate to advanced principles of corporate governance, and addresses the situation where conflict of interest between firm’s stakeholders affects corporate financial decisions.
Course content includes, but not limited to:
- Cost of capital
- Financing (debt vs. equity)
- Capital structure decisions
- Earnings and dividend policy
- Corporate governance and agency problems
Topics covered in the course:
- Agency conflicts
- Linear regression and endogeneity
- Capital structure
- Dividends and share repurchases
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Bankruptcy and financial distress
- Venture capital and private equity
- IPOs
- Corporate governance
- Family firms
Knowledge
The student:
- Has advanced knowledge in the field of corporate finance and specialized insights in the cost of capital, financing and capital structure decisions.
- Can differentiate between the advantages and disadvantages of equity and debt financing.
- Understands the impact of different financing decision on the firm's cash flow.
- Understands different economic mechanisms that drive firm’s capital structure and financing choices.
- Understands under what circumstances retaining earnings is more desirable than paying out dividends and vice versa.
- Has an in-depth insight into the main theoretical foundations and the empirical evidence concerning corporate governance issues.
Skills
The student:
- Is able to analyse existing theories, methods and interpretations in corporate finance, and work independently with practical and theoretical problem solving in issues related to corporate finance.
- Can quantify the impact of cost and benefits of financing decisions.
- Can critically reflect on the implications of earnings and dividend policy on firm value.
- Can identify conflicts of interest between different corporate stakeholders.
- Can carry out simple corporate financial analyses, make decisions and communicate the results of the analyses in a comprehensible manner.
General competence
The student:
- Can apply their knowledge and skills for issues in corporate finance to carry out advanced tasks and projects, both individually and in groups.
- Is able to ask critical questions and reflect on crucial assumptions and theories within the field of corporate finance.
- Can communicate, both in writing and orally, the above-mentioned elements related to knowledge and skills.
- Can write a comprehensive case study.
Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, a number of assessments and exams at Nord University are changed.
Amendments are made pursuant to the Midlertidig forskrift om tillegg til forskrift. 28. oktober 2020 nr 2474 om studier og eksamener ved Nord universitet- Ekstraordinære tiltak som følge av koronaepidemien jmf § 2, Vurderingsformer
In order to accommodate this, the form of assessment changes in the spring of 2022 from written school exam to home exam for this course.