COURSE SYLLABUS & OUTLINE. Course Title Finance for Non-Financial Managers. Course Number: X Reg # Y XXXX. Course Description:

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1 COURSE SYLLABUS & OUTLINE Course Title Finance for Non-Financial Managers Course Number: X Reg # Y XXXX Course Description: This course is designed with the non-financial manager in mind. As the language of business, finance must be understood to effectively manage all types of organizations. We will examine the topics of financial statement structure, ratio analysis, cash flow and break-even analysis, cash management, cash budgets, capital budgeting, capital acquisition, securities markets, and capital structure. Upon completing this course, students should better understand how to record, analyze, and forecast organizational funds/activities. Course Pre-requisites (Required) Accounting 1A & 1B. Basic understanding of formulas and mathematical relationships. College Mathematics, for example. Course Objectives/Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course, a successful learner should be able to: Read and understand three basic financial statements Understand financial accounting fundamentals Understand and use break-even analysis for project comparisons Understand short-term and long-term financial planning and capital management Understand valuations of future cash-flows Understand capital budgeting techniques. Welcome Welcome to the course! I m looking forward to working with you and know that you re going to enjoy the class and online learning. To get started, go to the Syllabus area and read the entire syllabus. You will find all course materials organized by week behind the Weekly Materials button. Next, go to the Discussion Board and find the first message from me. Reply to it and post a brief bio. If you have technical questions, please feel free to contact Technical Support. You can also contact me through the feature in the class. I hope you have a great learning experience! Phyllis M. Chestang, MBA 1

2 Adjunct Faculty Instructor Bio - Phyllis M. Chestang, MBA peachtree5319@gmail.com Work Phone: Office Location: Virtually but located in Southern California Office Hours: Usually available 10am-2 PM (Pacific Time) by appointment. I check my s regularly and will respond within hours. Notes Hello and welcome to the class: I m looking forward to the class and working with you. I hope you ll take the time to post a bio that will let us know about you, your position, and how you plan to use the work from this class. Let me get it started by telling you something about my background. I have over thirty (30) years of professional experience in business, finance, accounting and management. I have held a Secret clearance and worked on classified satellite programs for NASA/Dod projects. I have been an active member of the California Society of CPAs and a member of the State Bar of California. As you can see, I ve been involved in business, government and education. I am very active in community volunteering and am looking forward to supporting the Amgen cycling event, America s Tour de France. My picture was taken at a recent finance forum hosted by a major NY financial services firm and a private aviation firm. I have many years of finance and business experience and enjoy working with students to enhance their educational experience. I have worked with two major international airlines, major aerospace firms including Boeing, et al. Big 4 business advisory and CPAs, utilities, IT, and R&D. I have been active as an educator for many years including K-12 and Adult Education. I have worked as an International Trade Specialist, Capital Development Loan Officer/US Foreign Service Officer on the Middle East and E. Africa Desk. I also have worked as a Property Appraiser for LA County Office of the Assessor and completed over 5,000 appraisals for tax purposes. I completed project work with American Express $16 Bil. Merchant Account Services Division. I have worked with online trading financial forums to monitor investments and market changes. One of my recent assignments was a disaster financial consultant for the $1 Bil. Community Disaster Infrastructure Program to help local cities and other jurisdictions. I m eager to work with you and share what I ve learned. 2

3 Instructor Expectations Welcome! I'm looking forward to working with you, learning about what you're doing and how you plan to use the course in your career. Adult learners generally appreciate it when their online facilitator is clear and direct with them about expectations for course requirements and procedures. Here are a few expectations I would like you to know about as we begin this course. Simply be yourself. We bring different kinds of experiences to online. Each of you will have different needs, expectations, concerns, and agendas. As your facilitator, it will be easier to help meet your needs if you communicate them directly and sincerely. I am very learner centered. I hope you'll always find that I am responsive and supportive. Posting Responses: I hope that you will make the commitment to post your responses for exercises, assignments and discussions on the due dates each week. The classroom should be active all week -- not just on weekends. Pacing your work earlier in the week will give you more time for larger projects when you need it. Your postings should incorporate responses to your peers, your opinions, pertinent information from things that you ve read, and examples from your experience. Your responses should include more than phrases such as "I agree with that" or "Interesting comment." The distinguishing feature of a well done posting might include an objective and critical analysis of what you read, how it applies to your experience; or, how you might use that information in the future. Your posts should be substantive and feature good writing, correct spelling and mechanics. We judge one another substantially by the quality, clarity and depth of our writing. Communication should be professional and use good netiquette. In the spirit of scholarly discussion, I am not opposed to responses that disagree with a position taken by others as long as the response is respectful. In our learning model, the heart of active learning occurs through the discussions that help you test your ideas, reinforce what you have learned, and share resources with others in the class. Successful students check the course room and interact with others as required by assignments which usually means checking-ins and responding four to five days each week. Responses to your Postings: I will be in the classroom at least five days a week, sometimes every day. I will respond to questions within hours. All work will be graded within seven days of the original due date. Put my name in postings to me Phyllis M. Chestang. Do the same for responses to everyone else. No messages are private - so please expand on any topic. Confused? 3

4 If, after reading an assignment, you do not understand what to do, please start by asking questions in the Questions about the Course Discussion Board Forum. If you are confused, it is likely that other students are also confused. This not only allows me to clarify the issue for everyone, but it also allows other students to answer the question if they happen to be in the course before I am. This is much better than turning in an assignment that is not done correctly and losing points. For technical problems, please contact technical support. For personal issues, feel free to contact me my or for complex issues, by phone. Thank you for your thoughtful reading of the expectations; I welcome your comments. Have a great learning experience! Required Course Resources Textbook: Ross, Stephen A., Westerfield, Randolph W. and Jordan, Bradford D., Essentials of Corporate Finance with Connect Plus. Seventh Edition. New York, NY, Mc-Graw Hill Irwin ISBN Please note that you must have McGraw-Hill s Connect Plus service. You can either buy this bundled with your textbook, or you can buy it separately. (It is, however cheaper bundled with the textbook). We will be using the Connect Plus service for homework, tests, etc. You may purchase the textbooks from the UCLA bookstore, amazon. Com, bn. Com, or any other bookstore of your choice. Course Grading Course Grades will be based on participation and completion of assignments as follows: % Item 20% Participation 20% First MidTerm 20% Second MidTerm 40% Final Examination Grades are assigned based on points. All work will be graded within seven days of the due date. Explanations about discussion questions, assignments, and other course components appear in the appropriate weekly pages. Grading Scale A = _95points to _100points B = _80 points to _94_points C = _60 points to _80 points D = _50 points to _60_points* F = less than 50_points to points* *PLEASE BE AWARE THAT SOME CERTIFICATES REQUIRE A FINAL CUMMULATIVE GRADE OF B- IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE CERTIFICATE. 4

5 Policies About Deadlines and Late Work Life happens and I understand that work and family emergencies occur. If your work is posted late but during the week that it is due, you ll receive full points. If the work from one week is posted late during the next week, you ll lose ten percent for each day that it is late. I generally do not accept work that is more than a week late. If you contact me before the assignment is late, we can try to work out something for your schedule. However, there are no extensions for the class. All work must be turned in by the last day of class. Academic Honesty Policy Academic dishonesty covers behavior in cheating, plagiarism, and fabrication of information. These behaviors are not tolerated. Citations and references should be provided following a formatting standard such as APA 6 th. Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the UCLA Student Conduct Code and the official statements regarding cheating and plagiarism. These and other relevant documents are available on the Dean of Students Office website: 5

6 Discussion Rubric: This rubric will be used to assess the quality of your initial responses and interaction in the online discussion forums. Please use this tool as a guide when constructing your postings. Mechanics of the Posting Participation in the Discussion Content of Posting Critical Thinking Evidenced by Posting Unsatisfactory Basic Proficient Distinguished Uses incomplete Uses complete Uses complete Uses complete sentences, is sentences and the sentences, sentences, unstructured in its posting is organization is organization is clear organization, and comprehensible. evident, and the and thoughtful, the includes frequent or The organization posting includes posting is consistent errors in could be improved no more than one grammatically mechanics to present a more mechanical error correct, and free of (grammar, spelling, coherent argument, (grammar, spelling errors. The usage) in each statement, or spelling, usage) tone is clear and paragraph. The question. Includes 2- per paragraph. The respectful. posting is 3 mechanical errors tone is clear and unreadable and grammar, spelling, respectful there is a distinct usage) per lack of tone. paragraph. The tone Provides minimal comments and information to other Writes a general or superficial posting that is unrelated to the discussion at hand and/or posts no comments. Provides no evidence of agreement or disagreement with an existing discussion. is respectful. Provides comments, and some new information on a sporadic basis. Interacts with only 2 Demonstrates a restricted understanding of the concepts, topics, and ideas as evidenced by posting information that could be derived from prior posts and/or including highly general comments. Indicates agreement or disagreement with an existing discussion but provides no justification or Provides comments, discussion, questions, and new information on a fairly regular basis. Interacts with three or more Demonstrates an adequate understanding of the concepts, topics, and ideas as evidenced by posting superficial, or general statements in the Includes a few details in the posting. Indicates agreement or disagreement with an existing discussion including a limited Provides comments, discussion, questions, and new information on a regular, active, and weekly basis. Shows a high degree of interaction with five or more Demonstrates a solid understanding of the concepts, topics, and ideas as evidenced by thoughtful responses and questions that show a clear connection (are integrated) with the course material at hand. The posting shows depth, and includes many supporting details. Demonstrates a critical analysis of an existing posted idea or introduces a different interpretation to an 6

7 explanation for comments. explanation or justification. Provides comments, discussion, and questions without a clear connection to the course material at hand. existing concept or idea. Includes comments, discussion, and questions that have a clear connection (are integrated) with the course material at hand. Weekly Outline Module/Week/ Date Topics Assignments Readings Week 1 (7/4 7/10) Week 2 (7/11-7/17) Introduction to Finance. Roles of Manager, Controller & Treasurer Understanding Financial Statements and Cash Flows Ch. 1- Concepts 1.1, 1.5, 1.10, Ch. 2- Prob. 1,2,3,5,8. Ch. 3- Prob. 1,2,3,6,7,8,11, 12. Ross, Chapter 1 Ross, Chapter 2-3 Week 3 (7/18-7/24) Week 4 (7/25-7/31) Week 5 (8/1-8/7) Week 6 (8/8-8/14) Valuation of Future Cash Flows and Time Value of Money Ch. 4 Prob. 1,3,6,9, 13. Ch. 5 Prob. 1,2,4,7,12,21. Bond Valuations Exam 1, Chap. 1-5 Ch. 6 Prob. TBD. Ch. 7 Prob. TBD Ross, Chapter 4-5 Ross, Chapter6-7 Stock Valuations Ch. 8 Prob. TBD Ross, Chapter 8 Capital Budgeting Ch. 9 Prob. TBD Ross, Chapter 9 Week 7 (8/15-8/21) Long-Term Financing- Cost of Capital Exam 2, Chap. 6-9 Ch. 12 Prob. TBD. Ross, Chapter 12 Week 8 (8/22-8/28) Week 9 (8/29-9/4) Long-Term Financina- Basics of Financial Leverage Dividends and Dividend Policy Ch. 13 Prob. TBD Ross, Chapter 13 Ch. 14 Prob. TBD Ross, Chapter 14 Week 10 (9/5-9/11) Long-Term Financial- IPO Valuations Ch. 15 Prob. TBD FINAL EXAMINATIONS Ross, Chapter 15 and Review of all course materials required for final. 7