Everything You Need to Know about Corporate Finance Explained in this New E-Learning Course.

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c26903) has announced the addition of E-Learning Course: Corporate Finance to their offering.

Creating, enhancing, maximizing corporate value - corporate finance is at the heart of both investment banking and corporate structures. Topics covered in this course include WACC, DCF, EVA, capital budgeting, dividend policy, cash management and mergers and acquisitions.

In this e-learning course, you will explore:

-- the role of corporate finance and the financial manager

-- the function of a firms M&A strategy

-- the capital structure and dividend policy decisions faced by firms

-- methods of evaluating capital investment decisions

-- cash management

-- capital budgeting techniques

This course is designed for:

-- new recruits to banking and financial organizations

-- corporate bankers

-- senior managers

-- financial managers

-- finance and accounting staff

-- sales and marketing executives

-- IT staff

-- compliance and regulatory staff

The following tutorials are included in this E-Learning course:

1. Corporate Finance - An Introduction

Corporate finance is concerned with how companies raise finance and structure their liabilities. At a deeper level, this involves key issues such as public flotations and debt financing (raising capital), managing short-term cashflows (working capital management) and acquiring all or part of a business (mergers and acquisitions, management buy-ins and buy-outs, etc.). This tutorial introduces the subject of corporate finance to newcomers in the area.

2. Mergers & Acquisitions

This tutorial provides a broad overview of mergers and acquisitions. It examines the potential motives for engaging in a merger, including efficiency theory, information hypothesis and market power. It also details the five phases of the merger process from development of an M&A strategy to post-merger integration.

3. Capital Structure

A firm's mix of financing is known as its capital structure. Firms' strategies on capital structure vary - many firms, such as technology stocks, rely solely on equity finance - others, such as banking and utility firms, typically adopt some form of debt financing. Perhaps, however, there is no optimal mix - maybe the capital structure has no impact on the firm's value. This latter theory, first proposed in 1958 by subsequent Nobel Prize-winning economists Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller, is examined in depth in this tutorial. We also look at their other proposition and theories on capital structure, contrasting these to a more traditional view of the weighted average cost of capital.

4. Dividend Policy

Dividend policies can differ radically between companies. This tutorial looks at the reasons why such differences in dividend policy can occur. The central question that is addressed is whether dividend policy can affect the value of a firm. In an ideal world, it would not. This is the crux of the dividend irrelevance proposition of Modigliani-Miller that is examined in detail here. Two other theories of dividend policy - the traditional and radical view - are also explained in detail.

5. Evaluating Capital Investment Decisions

When evaluating capital budgeting projects, it is important to be able to compare alternatives using an objective yardstick, regardless of the pattern of the cashflows that result from each alternative. Net present value (NPV) is generally agreed to be the preferred model for evaluating projects. While focusing significantly on discounted cashflow analysis, such as NPV, this tutorial also examines alternative techniques such as the accounting rate of return and the payback/discounted payback methodology. Although not as theoretically sound as NPV, these models nonetheless are still widely used today, often in conjunction with NPV analysis.

6. Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)

If firms were entirely financed by stockholders, there would be little difficulty in determining its cost of capital - it would simply be the expected return required by investors in common stock. Most firms, however, are not wholly financed by stockholders. They tend to issue a variety of securities, including common and preferred stock, bonds, hybrids (such as convertibles) and other securities. Because of the financing mix, managers usually calculate a weighted average cost of capital (WACC). This tutorial teaches you how to calculate WACC and describes the issues that need to be considered by firms when using WACC.

7. Cash Management

It is essential to the profitability of a business that it manages its cash efficiently and cost-effectively. This tutorial explains the process of cash collection and disbursement and shows how a firm can determine the cash balance that will minimize opportunity costs and trading costs. The use of money market instruments in cash management is also explored.

8. Capital Budgeting

Capital budgeting refers to the long-term investment decisions that a corporation must make. These projects are dictated by the nature of the business. Whatever the line of business, the returns should be proportional to the risks. The issue for decision-makers is how to take account of the higher risk. The most conventional approach is to use the corporations weighted average cost of capital (WACC) as the discount rate for all projects however, there are a number of variants on this approach. This tutorial looks at these alternative capital budgeting approaches.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c26903