COURSE NUMBER: BA222.2 

COURSE TITLE: Financial Information Analysis

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3

INSTRUCTOR: Sarah Tasker

E-MAIL ADDRESS: tasker@haas.berkeley.edu

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Wednesday and Friday 11:00-12:30 PM,

PREREQUISITE(S): Core financial accounting and finance

CLASS FORMAT: Lectures and cases

REQUIRED READINGS:
Business Analysis and Valuation
[Palepu, Bernard, and Healy, Southwestern Press (2000)]

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Case Writeups (40%), Exams (35%), Class Participation (25%)

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

The focus of this course is on using corporate financial statements to make business decisions. We use accounting information in a variety of decision contexts, including strategic ratio analysis, cash flow evaluations, quality of earnings assessments, security valuation, credit analysis, bankruptcy predictions, and debt ratings. Our primary goal is to gain an appreciation for both the usefulness and limitations of accounting data in performing these tasks. Emphasis is on practical applications and special attention is given to cultivating your analytical and communication skills.

This course is intended primarily for students with little or no practical work experience in security valuation (students who have worked in mergers and acquisitions, for example, may find some material redundant). I expect this course to be useful for students planning careers in investment banking, corporate management, venture capital, security analysis, credit analysis, consulting, or public accounting.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Sarah Tasker comes to the Haas School from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell, where she taught Financial Statement Analysis, Financial Analysis of Technology Companies, and Financial Modeling. Her research focuses on the challenges of investor communication and financial analysis in the technology sector. She received her PhD from the Sloan School of Management at MIT in 1997.