University of Washington, Bothell Spring 2014 B Bus 350 - Business Finance

University of Washington, Bothell

Spring 2014 B BUS 350 - Business Finance

Instructor: Phone/Office: E-Mail: Office Hours:

Gowri Shankar, Ph.D., CFA

425-352-5498; UW1-132 shankar@uw.edu Monday/Wednesday: 1.30 pm - 3 pm

Course Overview: This course is designed to provide you an introduction to the basic principles of finance. A working knowledge of these principles is essential preparation for any career in business and industry. By the end of this quarter, you will have learned how to analyze financial statements, value securities such as stocks and bonds, evaluate investment opportunities, measure risk and return and learn about the efficient market hypothesis. You will also get opportunities to develop your critical thinking and teamwork skills. The principles you will learn here can also be applied in making personal financial decisions such as investing your 401(k) funds or choosing between different mortgage options. Required Text: The required text for the course is "Fundamentals of Corporate Finance” by Berk, DeMarzo & Harford, 2nd edition, Pearson/PrenticeHall. The UWB bookstore carries copies of this book along with access cards to www.myfinancelab.com. Access to ‘myfinancelab’ is required to complete homework assignments in this course. If you are buying a used copy of the text, you will have to buy separate access to use the ‘myfinancelab’ module (costs about $60). Alternately, Pearson allows you to buy the MyFinanceLab access and an e-text version of the text for a total of about $100. See the “Student Registration Handout” for details. In addition to the text, you will need a financial calculator for this course. I recommend the TI-BA II Plus and the TI-83 for this and other finance/accounting/statistics courses; you could also consider buying a smartphone app that allows you to do financial math computations. I also recommend that you cultivate the habit of reading the Wall Street Journal and/or Business Week on a regular basis. I intend to...