Welcome to Financial Management I, also known as Fin 310!
My name is Dr. Thomas Berry and I will be your professor for this course. My office is
6115 DPC and my phone number is 312-362-8360 (the fax is 362-6566). My e-mail
address is tberry@depaul.edu Office hours are by appointment.
I’m here because I love finance (hence the Ph.D.) and I love teaching (hence DePaul not
somewhere in industry). You are here because you have to be, but my guess is that you
are in one of three camps. You may be excited and interested. You may be neutral. Or
maybe you are dreading this. We’ll discuss in class some things we can do that I hope
will satisfy all of you and make finance enjoyable.
So what is finance all about? It is about money. Creating it, earning it, investing it,
spending it – surely one of those things interests you. Of course we need a framework so
we use the notion of corporate finance – more on this soon.
How can you learn the most in this class? Simple, just follow the plan outlined below
(and to be detailed more in class). I have set a series of learning goals. The better you
learn these goals the better your grade. Speaking of which, your course grade will be
based on a final curve of your total points. You accumulate points through two quizzes
(30%), a mid-term exam (30%), and a comprehensive final (40%).
Goals:
1. The big picture. This is how everything fits together into one cohesive framework.
We will call this the’ Map’ and we will develop it the first day and review it and
detail it in virtually every class.
2. Critical tools. This refers to the Time Value of Money. It is essential to understand
time value and it is essential to be able to calculate time values in order to accomplish
our other goals. It is so critical that you cannot pass the course without this tool.
3. Critical Analysis: These include:
Valuation (bonds, stocks, and projects)
Required rates of return
Cash flow analysis
Leverage
Dividends
I will be honest with you and I demand academic honesty from you. Work done for this
course must adhere to the University Academic Integrity Policy, which you can review in
the Student Handbook or by visiting http://condor.depau.edu/~handbook/code17.html.
In addition to the points on the exams it is possible to earn negative points. These
negative points are for class disruptions and other things that create a negative learning
environment. Examples include walking in or out of class during the session, eating in
class, talking during class, etc. In other words, this has no impact on you unless you are a
disruption to myself and/or your fellow students, in that case you can earn up to negative
40%
Make-up exams will only be given with my approval of a valid (e.g. written medical)
excuse. Make-ups will be given at my convenience – they will differ from the original
exam, and may well be more difficult.
The text is, Fundamentals of Financial Management Concise 5E, by Brigham and
Houston, Thompson/Southwestern Publ. There is also and optional study guide
available.