Coursera’s Hottest Business MOOCs

Corporate Finance

Introduction to Corporate Finance

 

School:Ā The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Registration Link: CLICK HERE

Start Date: January 4, 2016 (4 Weeks Long)

Workload: 6-8 Hours Per Week

Instructor: Michael R. Roberts

Credentials: A decorated teacher and researcher, Michael Roberts is the William H. Lawrence Professor of Finance at the Wharton School. Holding a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California-Berkeley, Roberts taught at Berkeley and Duke University before joining the Wharton faculty in 2004. His research interests include: economics, corporate investment, capital structure, empirical asset pricing, security design and the relationship between government policy and corporate behavior. Roberts earned two Brattle Prizes for his research in the Journal of Finance, as well as several outstanding teaching awards at Wharton and Duke.

Graded: Students can choose to explore course videos, discussions, and ungraded assignments for free, but they wonā€™t be able to submit graded assignments, earn a certificate, or complete a specialization without paying a $79 fee.

Description: Designed for students with a high school math background, Introduction to Corporate Finance helps students understand the fundamentals and applications of financial decision-making in both their personal and professional lives. According to Roberts, the course will cover concepts that include: ā€œtime value of money, risk-return tradeoff, cost of capital, interest rates, retirement savings, mortgage financing, auto leasing, capital budgeting, asset valuation, discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, net present value, internal rate of return, hurdle rate, [and] payback period.ā€ The course will also touch on taxation, inflation, compounding, and forecasting, as well as provide models for deciding whether to grow organically or through acquisition and when to divest or spin off assets. The course will be taught through video lectures and accompanying problem sets, as well as optional readings. Students will also complete a final exam at the end of the course.

Review: ā€œIt was a pretty good course, except there were a few flaws that made it more frustrating than it could’ve been. The professor’s voice tended to trail off and the lectures were not really engaging. The content was good, but it could’ve been presented better. I understood the material, but it was a boring course.ā€ For additional reviews, click here.Ā 

Additional Background: This course is part of a four course specialization from Wharton called ā€œBusiness Foundations.ā€ To learn more about these courses and register for them, CLICK HERE.

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