FM212
Principles of Finance
This information is for the 2018/19 session.
Teacher responsible
Dr James Clark and Dr Debapriya Paul
Availability
This course is available on the BSc in Accounting and Finance, BSc in Management, BSc in Social Policy and Economics and Diploma in Accounting and Finance. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course is available with permission to General Course students.
This course cannot be combined with FM213.
Permission forms from General Course admin office should be submitted to the Department of Finance Student Information Centre OLD.2.03 with a copy of the transcript attached.
Pre-requisites
Students must have completed: one level 1 Economics course (either EC100 Economics A or EC102 Economics B), one level 1 Mathematics course and one level 1 Statistics course
Course content
The course examines the theory of financial decision-making by firms and examines the behaviour of the capital markets in which these decisions are taken. The topics covered are the theory of capital budgeting under certainty in perfect and imperfect capital markets, portfolio theory, equity and bond markets, the capital asset pricing model, efficient markets, derivative pricing, sources of funds, basic theory of capital structure and the cost of capital, company dividend decisions and financial markets and institutions.
This course covers the same topics as FM213. Thus, both FM213 and FM212 are equivalent content-wise. However, compared to FM213, this course puts less emphasis on the underlying statistical theory and relies less on the use of mathematical methods. Nonetheless, the course is quantitative in nature, and familiarity with mathematical and statistical methods taught in first-year courses will be assumed.
Teaching
20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the MT. 20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT. 1 hour of lectures and 1 hour of classes in the ST.
Formative coursework
Students are expected to produce written work for classes and to make positive contributions to class discussion.
Indicative reading
Detailed course programmes and reading lists are distributed at the start of the course. Illustrative texts include: Principles of Corporate Finance by Richard Brealey, Stewart Myers, and Franklin Allen, McGraw-Hill Inc.
Assessment
Exam (100%, duration: 3 hours) in the summer exam period.
Key facts
Department: Finance
Total students 2017/18: 597
Average class size 2017/18: 12
Capped 2017/18: No
Lecture capture used 2017/18: Yes (MT & LT)
Value: One Unit
PDAM skills
- Problem solving
- Application of numeracy skills
- Commercial awareness