Understand what finance is about, how it works, what are its tools, is not only useful in everyday life, for example to invest smart your savings, but also in the professional world, to break the glass ceiling. Whatever your area of expertise, whether it is marketing, communication, logistics, law, human resources, whether you are engineer or manager of a business unit, you have to deal with financial concepts everyday: business plan, profitability, financing, value creation, etc. In any organization, mastering the basics of finance has become an obligation. Could we picture an entrepreneur meeting his accountant or his banker whithout speaking his language?
This MOOC is for all those willing to acquire these fundamental notions and who consider that nowadays, finance skills is a must-have. This MOOC is about notions and concepts, but certainly not about complex mathematical formulas. It is about demistifying, understanding, enlightening finance.
What is the role of finance? What is the cost of money and what is an investor? What is the role of a CFO? What is the difference between debt and equity? What are the famous financial markets? We will deal with all these questions during the first module of the MOOC. After setting the stage, we will first focus on the investor: what are his tools, what is the risk, how it is measured and remunerated.
We will then move on to the tools of Corporate Finance: balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, etc. We will see the rationale behind these tools, and how to use them. Finally, we will look at how investors and Corporate Finance professionals interact: debt and equity instruments, notion of value creation, value of the company, its financing choices, etc. Hands-on exercises and case studies will conclude this course. They will enable to validate your new financial skills.
Mungo Wilson is an associate professor of financial economics at Oxford University’s Said Business School. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and prior to becoming an academic worked as a lawyer in the City of London. He has also taught at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and at the London School of Economics.
Week 1: What is the role of finance?
Week 2: The tools of finance
Week 3: Financial statements
Week 4: Value
Weeks 5&6: Final quiz
This 6-weeks MOOC has been created by Pascal QUIRY, Affiliate Professor at HEC Paris, and it is delivered by Mungo Wilson, Associate professor of Financial Economics at University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.
The MOOC course is made of: