Graziano Moramarco

This course is an introductory course in finance. It serves two purposes. First it is an introduction to corporate finance and provides a framework for understanding and analyzing investment and financial decisions of corporations. Second, it introduces topics in the investments area of finance that are important for the understanding of how prices are set and markets behave. The course is divided into four parts. The first part provides the basic knowledge and understanding of the firm, its financial statements and working environment together with standard tools to analyze future projects and firm performance. The second part introduces the main modern portfolio theories used as basis to properly price the cost of capital accounting for risk and exploit the risk return trade off. The third part applies the tools acquired in the previous two parts and considers the implications of different capital structures and how they can be used to create value in the firm. In addition, models, principles and measures to evaluate firm’s performance and its ability to create value through time will be discussed. Part IV introduces the main risks the firm faces during its operating activities and project management. It presents basic financial techniques and strategies to hedge risk and ensure stable value creation.

The course has a strong applied bias. Theoretical models and tools will be constantly applied using real life examples, and pros, cons together with alternative methods will be discussed. Although the course relies on fundamental principles and quantitative tools of finance to address financial issues, students will gradually build a solid conceptual understanding of the basic ideas of modern financial theory and they will become confident with the quantitative tools commonly used in the modern financial world.