ADMN 372
Finance for Managers
3.0 Credits
Description
This course is part of Thompson Rivers University - Open Learning Division (TRU-OL) Management degree program. Accounting is the scorecard of business. It translates a company's diverse activities into a set of objective numbers that provide information about the firm's performance, problems, and prospects. Finance, on the other hand, involves interpreting these accounting numbers to assess performance and plan future actions.
The skills of financial analysis are important to a wide range of people-including investors, creditors, and regulators-but nowhere are they more important than within the company. Regardless of functional specialty or company size, managers who possess these skills are able to diagnose their firm's ills, prescribe useful remedies, and anticipate the financial consequences of their actions. Like a ballplayer who cannot keep score, an operating manager who does not fully understand accounting and finance works under an unnecessary handicap.
Over the course of the next fifteen weeks, you will learn the techniques and concepts of finance that will make you a better manager and your department or company more efficient and profitable.
Delivery Method
This is a web-based, paced course in which you will complete the course according to a specific schedule, with the support of a tutor.
Prerequisites
Introductory financial accounting course, or approval of the Program area (email, business_ol@tru.ca). ADMN 370 is strongly recommended.
Objectives
The course objectives for ADMN 372 are as follows:
- Calculate the time value of money.
- Incorporate the concepts of the time value of money and risk into your managerial decisions.
- Identify and use the tools available to determine the current financial position of your organization.
- Incorporate your analysis of your organization's financial position into your managerial decisions.
- Identify the managerial decisions that affect working capital and the impact they have on the wealth of your organization.
- Demonstrate an understanding of your organization's capital acquisition approach and its impact on managerial decisions.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the factors that affect the cost of financing.
- Explore ways to mitigate the risks or to speed paybacks of capital decisions.
- Use net present value and internal rate of return techniques to support the economic basis of your planned investment decisions.
- Determine whether leasing or buying best meets the need of your organization.
Course Outline
Module 1: Introduction to Finance
Duration: 1 week
In this module, you will:
- Describe the primary purpose of finance.
- Describe the benefits to you, as a manager, of understanding and applying the principles of finance.
- Calculate the time value of money.
- Incorporate the concepts of the time value of money and risk into your managerial decisions.
Module 2: Financial Analysis
Duration: 2 weeks
In this module, you will:
- Describe the purpose of financial analysis.
- Identify and use the tools available to determine the current financial position of your organization.
- Incorporate your analysis of your organization's financial position into your managerial decisions.
Module 3: Working Capital Management
Duration: 2 weeks
In this module, you will:
- Describe the importance of effectively managing working capital.
- Describe the sources of working capital (short-term financing).
- Identify how you can make managerial decisions about working capital that can maximize the wealth of your organization.
- Demonstrate an understanding of your organization's capital acquisition approach and its impact on managerial decisions.
Module 4: Capital Budgeting
Duration: 3 weeks
In this module you will:
- Define the concept and purpose of capital budgeting.
- Describe the process of evaluating capital investment projects.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the factors that affect the cost of financing.
- Explore ways to mitigate the risks or to speed paybacks of capital decisions.
- Use net present value and internal rate of return techniques to support the economic basis of your planned investment decisions.
Module 5: Long-Term Financing
Duration: 2 weeks
In this module you will:
- Describe the purpose of long-term financing.
- Determine the sources of financing for long-term investments.
- Determine whether leasing or buying best meets the need of your organization.
Module 6: Final Assignment
Duration: 5 weeks
In this module, you will:
- Write a paper that integrates your assignments, discussions, personal experiences, organizational knowledge, and journal entries. The paper will describe the use of finance in your own organization.
Summary of Course Activities
In each module of this course, you will be asked to:
- Keep a reflective journal in which you will record your experiences and activities throughout the course to help you reach a better understanding of your thoughts, actions, learning process, and course concepts.
- Experiment with implementing techniques you have learned, including new concepts and tools, and report on the impact they had on you and others. The emphasis throughout this course is on the practical application of new skills.
- Discuss your experiences with other members of the course.
- Be an active participant.
Maximum Completion
14 Weeks
Required Text and Materials
Block, Stanley B., Geoffrey A. Hirt, and J. Douglas. Short.
Foundations of Financial Management. 6th Canadian Edition. Toronto, ON: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2003.
Type: Textbook
Additional Requirements
- CD-ROM Drive
- Anti-Virus software
- QuickTime
For basic computer requirements, please refer to "Course Delivery Formats" of the TRU-OL Website, or the TRU-OL Course Calendar.
A strong working knowledge of computers or an introductory computer course is a strongly recommended prerequisite for this course/program.
Open Learning Faculty Member Information
The assigned tutor will be available through e-mail and other electronic communications. Upon registering, you will be given a WebCT account for communication with your tutor, with other students, and program administrators. The tutor will be actively guiding you through the live section (e.g. participation in discussions) of the course and will be available as a guide for the weeks of the course during which time you will complete your course project (if applicable).
Assessment
The module assignments are worth the following percentages of your course grade:
Each of the assignments in this course includes specific guidelines for completing the assignment. Some general guidelines for satisfactory completion of the assignments are as follows:
- Follow the instructions for each assignment completely.
- Write in complete sentences, with minimal spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.
- Demonstrate, through examples, anecdotes, or research, an understanding of the industry within which your organization operates.
- Draw upon your work experience to analyze issues.
- Provide examples from your own experience and research.
- Identify and explain connections between your experience and the experiences of other learners in the course.
To demonstrate competency, students must obtain 70% or higher on the final project and overall in the course.
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