FIN 338 – Spring 2012
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FINANCE 338 - Spring 2012
Monday 6:00 - 8:45 pm
Dr. Lynn Phillips Kugele
Office: DeSoto Center 259
Phone: 662.342.4765 or 662.393.1654
Home Phone: 901.754.8882
email: lpkugele@olemiss.edu
Website: http://home.olemiss.edu/~lpkugele
Goals and Objectives:
The objective of this course is to investigate problems and theories in financial decision making
with attention given to financial analysis, cost of capital, mergers and acquisitions, management
of assets, and procurement of funds. Both lectures and case studies are selected to illustrate the
basic concepts of corporate finance in the real world financial management of the firm.
Prerequisites:
Minimum grade of “C” in FIN 331; should be comfortable with basic financial concepts and
tools such as present value, future value, balance sheets, income statements, cash flows,
investments, Excel spreadsheets, etc.
Course Materials: REQUIRED
The required textbook is Intermediate Financial Management, Brigham and Daves, 10th edition
(South-Western/Thomson - Cengage Learning). ISBN: 978-0-324-59469-0
You must have a financial calculator to get through this course. I strongly recommend the Texas
Instruments BAII Plus financial calculator. If you have another financial calculator that you are
comfortable with, you may use it however, I will use the TIBAII+ for any in-class examples.
Internet Access: You must have access to the internet for this class in order to access the class
webpage (http://home.olemiss.edu/~lpkugele/WEB338/FIN338.html), for email, to access the
textbook resource page, and to access Blackboard.
You will need Microsoft Office – Word, Excel and Powerpoint – in order to utilize the course
materials posted on the course website or in Blackboard. You need to be familiar with the basic
functions and use of Excel.
Course Pedagogy:
Lectures are designed to clarify and supplement text material. Unless otherwise instructed, you
will be held responsible for all reading assignments (even if they are not covered in the lecture)
plus all supplementary material presented in the lecture.
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Complete the reading assignment even if you do not understand everything in the first pass
through the material. After the class (and before the next one) you should go back and review
the material covered. This is the best way to improve your understanding of finance
Learning requires active participation. Come to class prepared to participate in the discussion on
the scheduled material and assigned problems and ask questions on any concept that is unclear to
you – chances are it’s not clear to someone else as well. You are encouraged to seek answers to
your questions as they arise. The material discussed in class gets progressively more complex.
Consequently, you will soon feel lost if you do not get clarification quickly. Please do not wait
till the end of the semester or the day before a test to ask for help – there’s not much we can do at
that time.
Method of Instruction:
• Instruction will be provided primarily via traditional lectures, which will be based on
the assigned textbook material.
• Homework problems are assigned to help you assess your understanding of the
material and to prepare for the tests. Homework is not turned in nor graded but we
will work problems in class.
• Answers to all of the assigned problems are in the back of the text.
• Solutions to ALL end-of-chapter problems – in Word format - will be posted in
Blackboard approximately one week prior to their coverage in class.
• The Powerpoint slides covering each lecture will be available in Blackboard the night
before a class meeting if you wish to print them prior to each class meeting. To print
the slides from Powerpoint, select “Black & White” and either 3 or 6 slides per page.
The slides do NOT over everything that will be covered in the in-class lecture. They
are designed to assist you in taking notes during the class.
School of Business Administration – Statement of Academic Integrity:
The School of Business Administration upholds honor and academic integrity in all of its
teaching, research, and service activities. All business faculty, staff and students are charged with
the responsibility to behave with personal and professional integrity and to refrain from
dishonorable conduct.
Any student caught cheating will be assigned an F in the course. In most cases a statement will
also be made to that effect in the student’s record.
Class Attendance, Participation and Expected Performance:
Students are expected to attend each scheduled class meeting, having read the assigned material,
prepared/attempted the suggested problems. I will take roll in every class.
Any student unable to attend class is responsible for obtaining the information covered during
his/her absence prior to the next class meeting.
Habitual absences and tardiness are seriously frowned upon. I recognize that on occasion you
will have to be absent or late to class. However, if a student establishes a pattern of nonattendance or is habitually late I will lower the student’s grade. If there is a special, legitimate
circumstance which necessitates that you be late or miss classes regularly, see me in advance.
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American Disabilities Act:
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have
emergency medical information to share with your instructor, or if you need special
arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with the
instructor as soon as possible.
It is the responsibility of the student who requests a reasonable accommodation to contact the
Office of Student Disability Services (662.915.7128). SDC will then contact the instructor
through the student by means of an Instructor Notification of Classroom Accommodations form.
Please complete the notification procedure within the first two weeks of class.
Grading:
We will have 2 mid-semester exams, 3 group case studies and a required comprehensive final
exam. All in-class exams will be closed books/closed notes. You will be provided with a formula
sheet for each exam which will be taken from Appendix C in the textbook. You are allowed to
use a financial calculator during exams.
There will be no make-up exams. It is your responsibility to attend all exams at the scheduled
time. If an exam is missed – whether due to an emergency, tragedy or simply because you are
unprepared – the weight will be added to the final exam. There are no exceptions to this policy.
Case Studies (3)
Exam I
Exam II
Final Exam
30%
20%
20%
30%
100%
GRADE
A
B
C
D
F
Average
90-100
80-89
70-79
60-69
<60
Any reduction or modification in the minimum average to receive a particular grade will be
made consistently across all students (e.g., a student with an 89.3 will not be awarded an “A”
grade and one with an 89.6 a “B”). Determination of a final breakpoint (if lower than 90 for an
“A”) will be made on the basis of difficulty of tests, distribution of final averages, and natural
gaps in the distribution of final grades.
I will use BlackBoard to post grades. Test grades will be posted as soon as possible after each
test is given. You will be notified via e-mail when grades are available. I will not email grades
nor give them out over the phone.
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ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE:
The schedule is tentative and subject to change. Notice will be given during regularly scheduled
class time of any necessary change. Students not attending class are responsible for obtaining
this information.
FIN 338
Date
1/23/2012
Monday 6 pm
Chapter
Review
Chapter 9
1/30/2012
Chapter 10
2/6/2012
Chapter 11
Case #1 Due
Topic
FIN 331 Review
Financial Planning & Forecasting
Cost of Capital
Corporate Valuation
EXAM1
2/13/2012
2/20/2012
Chapter 12
Capital Budgeting Decisions
2/27/2012
Chapter 13
Estimating Cash Flows
3/5/2012
Chapter 21
Case #2 Due
Working Capital Management
3/12/2012
SPRING BREAK
3/19/2012
EXAM 2
3/26/2012
Chapter 15
Capital Structure
4/2/2012
Chapter 16
Capital Structure
4/9/2012
Chapter 17
Distributions to Shareholders
4/16/2012
Chapter 26
Mergers & Acquisitions
4/23/2012
Review
Case #3 Due
5/2/2010
Final Exam Review
FINAL EXAM
1/14/2012