CLARION UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
Financial Problems (FIN 471-01) – Spring 2014
T/R 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm, Still 102
Instructor: William Pratt
Office: 325 Still
Office Hours: M/W 3:15-4:15 , T/Th 10:45-12:00, and by appointment
Phone: 814.393.2623
Email: wpratt@clarion.edu
Prerequisites
Successful completion of FIN 371.
Required Materials
Text: Case Studies in Finance, Bruner, Eades, & Schill 6th edition. ISBN-13: 9780073382456, ISBN-10:
0073382450; Intermediate Financial Management, , 10th edition. ISBN-13: 978-0324594690, ISBN10: 0324594690
Calculator: Business or statistical calculator, Texas Instruments BAII Plus recommended.
Course Description
Capstone course challenges students to integrate and synthesize, through case methods, their knowledge
in finance. Emphasizes corporate finance in application of theoretical underpinning, but some cases deal
with investments, financial institutions, and markets.
Course Learning Goals and Objectives:
This course is intended to further the following College of Business Administration Student Learning
Outcomes:
Student Learning Outcome 1.0: Demonstrate Business Disciplinary Competence
Objective 1.1: Knowledge in the key business disciplines. Key business disciplines shall include
accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing.
How achieved: This class provides an overview of finance, particularly corporate finance, as a
foundation for all business students.
Student Learning Outcome 4.0: Demonstrate Analytical Thinking Skills
Objective 4.1: Interpretation of evidence.
Objective 4.3: Formulation of warranted, non-fallacious conclusions.
How achieved: Students will be required to analyze and interpret financial data, calculate investment
returns and security prices, compute time value of money calculations, perform basic capital budgeting
tests and compute the cost of capital, and calculate degrees of corporate leverage. Students will
ultimately be able to make decisions on whether to accept or reject investment opportunities, to buy or
sell securities, to finance assets with debt or equity, to pay dividends, and other finance related
decisions.
Student Learning Outcome 5.0: Understand Global Issues in the Functional Areas of Business
Objective 5.1: Understanding the forces affecting businesses that operate in the global economy.
How achieved: This class provides an introduction to international finance through the analysis of
exchange rates, foreign currencies, and exchange rate risk.
Student Learning Outcome 6.0: Demonstrate Effective Use of Technology and Data Analysis
Objective 6.2: Understanding of and ability to use common methods of statistical inference.
Objective 6.3: Understanding of data analysis and its use in business decision making.
How achieved: Pursuant to their study of capital budgeting techniques, students will be required to
calculate standard deviations and coefficients of variation when analyzing risk and utilize these results to
refine their capital budgeting decisions.
Exams
There will be a final exam. No make-up exams will be given.
Homework and Group Assignments
Homework and group assignments will be assigned during the semester. The homework assignments
will be due as posted on D2L by Friday of each week prior to the assignments due date. No late
assignments will be accepted.
Course Communication
All important/official announcements will be posted on D2L. The Clarion University email system is
considered an official means of communication and all students and employees are responsible for
information sent to them via their Clarion account. I will not respond to any course-related email sent
from any other email system.
Grading:
Final Exam
Discussion
Group Project
Homework
Total Points
150
200
300
350
1000
Letter grades will be determined as:
1000-900 (A)
899-800 (B)
799-700 (C)
699-600 (D)
<600 (E)
Attendance
Class attendance is mandatory. Absence will result in a loss of 25 point. Notify the instructor of excused
absence beforehand whenever possible. Student may refer to clarion.edu/956/#Class Attendance Policy
Disability Support Services
The Office of Disability Support Services is available to any enrolled Clarion University student having
a documented disability. The Office of Disability Support Services provides student with reasonable
accommodations as documented through evaluations. Appropriate accommodations are individually
based upon identified need. The coordinator meets with these students each semester to determine the
effectiveness of the accommodation and to evaluate the need for any further services. Students are
solely responsible for contacting the DSS Office to request any accommodations or
services. If you have a documented disability please immediately contact the Office of Disability
Support Services, 102 Ralston Hall, DSS Coordinator Jill May (jmay@clarion.edu) 814-393-2095.
Appropriate accommodations will be arranged. Student may refer to clarion.edu/1019/ .
Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in this class. Cheating on examinations, inappropriate
collaboration on projects, and other forms of dishonesty will be dealt with in a serious and formal
manner. The minimum penalty for academic dishonesty in this class will be course failure. The student
may also be liable for additional sanctions pursuant to University policy. Students should be familiar
with the university policy on academic dishonesty as stated in the 2013-2015 Undergraduate Catalog.
Student may refer to clarion.edu/956/ , and TurnItIn software detection policy: clarion.edu/40131/ .
Important Information about Grading
Near the end of each semester, one or a few students email to request special consideration for their grade
because of special circumstances. I understand that everyone has a different situation regarding work and
family obligations. However, the course requires the demonstration of knowledge, and the grading is
completely based on the demonstration of knowledge of the course in the manner described in this syllabus.
Extenuating circumstances of students such as a busy career, a busy personal life, needing a specific grade
to graduate, needing a specific grade to continue receiving financial aid, needing a specific grade to transfer
the credit to another university, or needing a specific grade to be taken off probation will NOT influence the
grade that is given in this course. Whether a student pays in-state tuition, out-of-state tuition, or has a
scholarship will NOT influence the grade that is given.
The granting of grading favors to a student in this course would reflect discrimination against other
students, and therefore is inappropriate. Your final grade will depend on your performance on assignments
and exams in this course as explained in this syllabus. All students in this course are subject to the same
guidelines, and the same grading scale. Therefore, students who presently have extenuating circumstances
that make them believe they deserve special grading favors should not take this course. Since I have already
explained my grading policy in this syllabus, I will not get involved in conversations via email (or other
forms of communication) regarding special favors. It is not appropriate for me to grant special grading
favors, and it is not appropriate for students to ask for special grading favors. I will not engage in
discussions or respond to requests for preferential grading, so please do not send me such requests.
After an exam some students who did not perform well ask if they can do extra work. This course is
designed to assess a student’s understanding of specific material. Thus, a student needs to show evidence of
understanding that material. I will not allow extra work for individual students, since that discriminates
against others in the class who were not given the same opportunity. All the work that I require for the class
is described at the beginning of the semester. So the key is that you do not put yourself in a situation in
which you need extra credit. That is, use whatever time that might be applied toward extra work and apply
that time to perform well on the required assignments and exams. If you dedicate your time doing the
required work, you should not need to do extra work. There is normally a high correlation between the
amount of time spent on required assignments and exam score.
Classroom Conduct:
- All cell phones must be turned off during class. No audible rings, no vibrating, nothing.
- No text messaging during class. Texting during class is rude, and indicates disrespect for the instructor.
Please refrain from texting while in this class.
- Students are expected to remain in their seats for the duration of class. Please do all your stretching,
talking, and restroom visits prior to class. I expect you to be present and paying attention throughout our
entire class period.
General Notes:
1. Attending class, and reading the text prior to class is required.
2. All exams may/will be closed book.
3. If you are late for an exam, no extra time will be allotted to you.
4. There will be no makeup exams or extra points assignments.
5. Cheaters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
6. You will be responsible for any material covered in class that is not in your text.
7. You should bring your text to class.
8. You are expected to be on time for class. This is especially important for exam dates.
9. Disruptive behavior in the classroom will not be tolerated.
10 “Extra-credit” and special considerations will not.
Tentative Outline
01/20 – 01/24
01/27 – 01/31
02/03 – 02/07
02/10 – 02/14
02/17 – 02/21
02/24 – 02/28
03/03 – 03/07
03/10 – 03/14
03/17 – 03/21
03/24 – 03/28
03/31 – 04/04
04/07 – 04/11
04/14 – 04/18
04/21 – 04/25
04/28 – 05/02
05/05
05/06 – 05/09
Introduction, Review of World Com (ethics in finance)
Case 44 Hershey Foods
Case 1 Warren Buffett
Case 4 The Battle for Value, FedEx versus UPS
Case 12 Value Line Publishing
Case 15 Teletech Corporation
Case 17 & Case 19 Target Corp.
Case 19 Target Corp. Continued
Winter Holiday – No Class Held
Case 25 Star River Electronics
Case 25 Star River Electronics Continued
Case 26 Gainesboro Machine Tool Corp.
Case 34 Wrigley Co. Capital Structure
Case 42 Arcadian Microarray Technologies
Group case preparation
Last Day of Classes
“FINAL EXAM”
Dates:
March 14th – March 21th
Drop Classes
Withdrawal Classes
January 21st – January 26th
January 27th – March 28th
Winter Holiday
Drop Policy
Students should not expect the instructor to accept the responsibility to drop or withdraw the student from the
class. Any student desiring to drop the class must do so. All students on the official class roll will be given a
grade at the end of the semester.