Instructor Mitch Murphy
2504i@lemma.ca
Lectures Wednesday 14:35-17:25
447 Tory Building
Office Hours Wednesday 13:00-14:00
2126 Dunton Tower
other times by appointment
Teaching Assistant Jonathon Bilodeau
bilodeau84@gmail.com
613-601-4551
Tutorials
 The tutorials are an integral part of this course. Lectures will focus on the principles of contemporary ideas in finance; the tutorials will focus on the practical application of these ideas (solving problems). Only through a thorough understanding of both the underlying principles and the practical application, can students expect to gain a command of the material presented in this introductory course. Use the tutorials to provide assistance with any difficulties you may encounter. Unattended difficulties may adversely affect the probability of success in the examinations. Tutorials generally start the 2rd or 3th week of the term. Check webCT for an announcement regarding the initiation of tutorials.
Grading 25% midterm 1
25% midterm 2
50% final exam

There will be two term tests, to be held on Fridays, as shown in the course schedule. Location of the tests will be announced after classes commence. Once marked, tests will be returned. The final exam is for evaluation purposes, not instruction. It will not be returned to students.

Marks in the tests and exam include a component for showing formulas and calculations. This class is intended to teach appropriate methods and practices. The marking scheme will reflect my interest in seeing the steps you take to solve a problem. Showing your work also helps me to assign partial marks.

Translation dictionaries are allowed as long as they are in print format and do not contain any handwritten notes. Electronic translation dictionaries are not allowed.

The date and location of the final exam will be announced through the University’s normal procedures for such matters. Be sure that you are available for both term tests and the final exam. Allowance will not be made for conflicting plans or responsibilities.

NOTE: Students who do not demonstrate a minimum level of performance during the term will not be allowed to defer the final exam. The requirement for satisfactory in-term performance is an average of 40% or better on the term tests. Students with unsatisfactory in-term performance who miss the final exam will be awarded FND for the course. Note that deferred examinations are not granted to students who make travel plans that conflict with the examination period.

Every effort will be made to mark fairly and accurately. None the less, in some cases, students may call into question the grades awarded to assignments or tests. In such cases, please write a brief note describing the difficulty with the awarded grade and provide the note, together with the graded work, to the instructor not later than seven calendar days following the return of the graded work. Please be sure to include your name and student number on the note to enable the instructor to identify it properly. Note that the resulting remarking may lead to a lower grade.

There may be cases in which a student is permitted by University regulations to miss a graded component of the term work in a course. In such circumstances there will be no make-up assignment or test. The grade weighting corresponding to the missed component will be added to the grade weighting of the final exam.
Course Objectives This introductory course in finance focuses on three aspects of financial management that all potential managers need to understand. In particular, the course stresses the:
  • Decision process behind capital budgeting (corporate investment);
  • Features of short- and long-term financing (sources of funding for the firm); and
  • Management of working capital (funds used in day to day operations).

The goal of this course is to provide a sense of the underlying principles of finance and their use by the corporate manager. The student will be introduced to standard techniques of business finance, techniques that are used in real management situations, and that also will serve as tools for study in other courses. Students successfully competing this course will understand what drives basic financial decisions in companies.

Important learning objectives for the course are to teach students:

  • The techniques of time value of money and how to apply them correctly when and where needed;
  • How to evaluate investment and borrowing alternatives for firms;
  • Pricing models for securities;
  • Analytical skills in structuring and analyzing corporate financial problems; and
  • A rational approach to financial decision making that can be applied in future classes and important financial decisions throughout life.
Students should have successfully completed the prerequisites for this course. You are assumed to have been exposed to the concept of the time value of money, and to be competent with respect to ratio analyses and financial modeling by means of pro-forma financial statements. Students will use all of these concepts throughout this course. In particular, this course extensively employs calculations involving the time value of money (discounting and compounding).
Prerequisites ECON 1000 or ECOR 3800, BUSI 1002 or BUSI 1005 and registration in BCom, BIB or BA Honours Economics, Concentration in Financial Economics.
Precludes additional credit for BUSI 2503.
The School of Business enforces all prerequisites.
Textbook Stephen A. Ross
Fundamentals of Corporate Finance
Edition: 6th Canadian
Publication Date: 2007
ISBN: 0070959102

Required Calculator Starting Fall 2006, only Texas Instruments BA II Plus calculators will be permitted in all 1000-level Business course examinations.
Starting Fall 2007, only Texas Instruments BA II Plus calculators will be permitted in all Business course examinations.
This calculator is available in the campus bookstore (1st floor, University Centre) and at various other off-campus retail stores.
Group Work The Sprott School of Business encourages group assignments in the school for several reasons. They provide you with opportunities to develop and enhance interpersonal, communication, leadership, follower-ship and other group skills. Group assignments are also good for learning integrative skills for putting together a complex task.  Your professor may assign one or more group tasks/assignments/projects in this course.  If you have a group assignment you may find the resources at http://sprott.carleton.ca/studentservices/resources/groupwork/ useful.
Before embarking on a specific problem as a group, it is your responsibility to ensure that the problem is meant to be a group assignment and not an individual one.
Cellular Phones The use of cellular phones IS NOT PERMITTED in class. It is disruptive to the instructor and class members. If you carry a phone to class, please make sure it is turned off. If an emergency situation requires you to keep your cell phone turned on you may wish to keep the silent mode on, please discuss this with the instructor prior to the class starting.
Medical Certificate Please note that in all occasions that call for a medical certificate you must use or furnish the information demanded in the standard university form. http://www.carleton.ca/registrar/forms/Med_Cert_Carleton_University.pdf
Persons with Disabilities The Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities is the designated unit at the University for assisting the Carleton community in integrating persons with disabilities into all aspects of Carleton's academic and community life. Individualized support services are provided based on appropriate and up to date documentation, to persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder (ADD), visual impairments, head injuries, physical disabilities including mobility impairments, or who have psychiatric, other medical or non-visible disabilities. Students are responsible for applying for special services by making an appointment with the appropriate coordinator at the Paul Menton Centre. All requests will be considered on the basis of individual need. Please consult the Paul Menton Centre for a list of deadlines for all examinations.
Religious Observance Students requesting academic accommodation on the basis of religious observance should make a formal, written request to their instructor(s) for alternate dates and/or means of satisfying academic requirements. Such requests should be made during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation are known to exist, but no later than two weeks before the compulsory academic event. Accommodation is to be worked out directly and on an individual basis between the student and the instructor(s) involved. Instructors will make accommodations in a way that avoids academic disadvantage to the student. Students or instructors who have questions or want to confirm accommodation eligibility of a religious event or practice may refer to the Equity Services website for a list of holy days and Carleton’s Academic Accommodation policies, or may contact an Equity Services Advisor in the Equity Services Department for assistance.
Pregnancy Pregnant students requiring academic accommodations are encouraged to contact an Equity Advisor in Equity Services to complete a letter of accommodation. The student must then make an appointment to discuss her needs with the instructor at least two weeks prior to the first academic event in which it is anticipated the accommodation will be required.
Plagiarism Plagiarism is presenting, whether intentional or not, the ideas, expression of ideas or work of others as ones own. Plagiarism includes reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else’s published or unpublished material, regardless of the source, and presenting these as ones own without proper citation or reference to the original source. Examples of sources from which the ideas, expressions of ideas or works of others may be drawn from include but are not limited to: books, articles, papers, literary compositions and phrases, performance compositions, chemical compounds, art works, laboratory reports, research results, calculations and the results of calculations, diagrams, constructions, computer reports, computer code/software, and material on the Internet.