Foundations of Corporate Finance

This unit introduces core corporate finance concepts and tools used to interpret financial statements, value investments, and understand markets and securities. Students will learn how firms raise capital, measure performance, manage risk, and make financing and investment decisions that prepare them for deeper work in valuation, capital structure, and strategic finance in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements to tell a company’s financial story and assess liquidity, solvency, and operational performance.
• Apply time value of money, discounted cash flow techniques, and capital budgeting methods to estimate project and firm value and compare investment alternatives.
• Demonstrate knowledge of equity, debt, bond types, derivatives, and market mechanisms, including how firms raise capital and how securities are issued and traded.
• Evaluate risk and return tradeoffs, calculate a firm’s cost of capital (including WACC), and assess how behavioral factors, governance, and debt decisions influence corporate finance outcomes.