COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA203-2A

COURSE TITLE: Introduction to Finance

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2.0

INSTRUCTOR: Sankar De

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

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Thursdays 6:00 - 9:30 p.m.

PREREQUISITES:

CLASS FORMAT: Lectures, perhaps some problem discussion, possibly one or two small cases, no final decision on that yet.

REQUIRED READINGS: Textbook (Brealey, Richard and Stewart Myers, Principles of Corporate Finance, 7th Ed., 2003, McGraw-Hill Irwin.

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Two midterms at 30% each and a cumulative final examination worhth 40%. If I do decide to adopt case(s), the percentages will be slightly modified.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE CONTENT:
This course is an introduction to corporate financial theory and practice. The course can be divided into three sections: 1. time value of money and capital budgeting, 2. the measurement and pricing of risk and its impact on asset returns. 3. the third portion of the class will focus on valuations of other forms of assets, dividend policy, capital structure, and some work in derivatives, if time permits.

My emphasis is on demonstrating how theory is usually applied in the real world.

You may not have considered finance to be fun, but it is, and I will try very hard to encourage you to like it. Finance in the real world means no two days are ever quite the same, although they are not always fun.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
David Distad is a lecturer in finance at Haas. His primary interests are varied topics in investments and security analysis. From 1981-1992 Dr. Distad previously taught finance and investments at the Haas Business School. From 1993-1996 he was VP Finance/CFO of a public corporation in Michigan. Since then he returned to his original career, portfolio management, and in 2001 returned to the Bay Area and is employed by the Roulac Group in San Rafael where he is is assisting in the development of a global, primarily equity hedge fund. Dr. Distad holds a Ph.D. in finance from Michigan State University, is a Chartered Financial Analyst and is affiliated with the Security Analysts of San Francisco among other professional organizations.