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Rice University - Finance for Non-Finance Professionals 

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Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
 at 
Coursera 
Overview

Duration

14 hours

Total fee

Free

Mode of learning

Online

Difficulty level

Beginner

Official Website

Explore Free Course External Link Icon

Credential

Certificate

Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
 at 
Coursera 
Highlights

  • Shareable Certificate Earn a Certificate upon completion
  • 100% online Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
  • Flexible deadlines Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
  • Beginner Level
  • Approx. 14 hours to complete
  • English Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, Turkish, English, Spanish
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Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
 at 
Coursera 
Course details

More about this course
  • This short course surveys all the major topics covered in a full semester MBA level finance course, but with a more intuitive approach on a very high conceptual level. The goal here is give you a roadmap and framework for how financial professional make decisions.
  • We will cover the basics of financial valuation, the time value of money, compounding returns, and discounting the future. You will understand discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation and how it compares to other methods. We also step inside the mind of a corporate financial manager and develop the basic tools of capital budgeting. We will survey the how, when, and where to spend money, make tradeoffs about investment, growth, dividends, and how to ensure sound fiscal discipline. Our journey then turns to a Wall Street or capital markets perspective of investments as we discuss the fundamental tradeoff between risk and return. We then synthesize our discussion of risk with our valuation framework and incorporate it into series of direct applications to practice.
  • This course requires no prior familiarity with finance. Rather, it is intended to be a first step for anyone who is curious about understanding stock markets, valuation, or corporate finance. We will walk through all of the tools and quantitative analysis together and develop a guide for understanding the seemingly complex decisions that finance professionals make.
  • By the end of the course, you will develop an understanding of the major conceptual levers that push and pull on financial decision making and how they relate to other areas of business. The course should also serve as a roadmap for where to further your finance education and it would be an excellent introduction of any students contemplating an MBA or Finance concentration, but who has little background in the area.
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Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
 at 
Coursera 
Curriculum

Course Overview and Basic Principles of Financial Valuation Discounting

Course Trailer

Course Overview & Demonstration

Week 1 Overview

Human Nature and the Time Value of Money

Compounding and Earning Returns Over Time

Basic Principals of Valuation and Discounting

Discounting Future Cash Back to the Present

Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) as the Basis for All Valuation

DCF Practical Example

Valuation by Comparables

Examples and Applications: Bonds

Examples and Applications: Mortgages

Examples and Applications: Annuities

Examples and Applications: Capstone Example

Conversations with a Practitioner

General Course Information

Discussion Forum Guidelines

Pre-Course Survey

Homework Assignment

Week 1 Quiz

How to Spend Money (Capital Budgeting tools)

Week 2 Overview

Overview of the Capital Budgeting Process

Net Present Value (NPV)

Payback Period

Accounting Ratios

Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

Wrinkles with IRR

Using All the Metrics Together

Sensitivity Analysis

Spreadsheet Modeling

Conversations with a Practitioner

Real World Application: A Refresher on Net Present Value

Homework Assignment

Week 2 Quiz

Measuring Cash Creation and Flow

Week 3 Overview

Brief Overview of the Financial Statements

Hunting for Cash Creation

Working Capital Adjustments

Depreciation and Capital Expenditures

Salvage and Terminal Values

Taxes

Calculating Free Cash Flow

Using Capital Budgeting Tools

Conversations with a Practitioner

Real World Application: Obama Administration Releases Report Outlining Benefits of Expensing Proposal in Encouraging Business Expansion, Hiring Now

Homework Assignment

Week 3 Quiz

How Much Does Money Cost? Evaluating the Cost of Capital

Week 4 Overview

Debt vs. Equity Financing

Risk Free Rate

Historical Risk and Return

The Equity Risk Premium

Beta and the Cost of Equity

Credit Ratings and Quality Spreads

Estimating the Cost of Debt

Putting it All Together as the WACC (Weighted Average Cost of Capital)

Conversations with a Practitioner

Real World Application: U.S. oil companies closer to balancing capital investment with operating cash flow

Real World Application: Why aren't companies spending?

Homework Assignment (Optional)

Week 4 Quiz

Capstone Case: Putting it All Back Together from Main Street to Wall Street

Overview of Capstone Case

Background: Sunrise Bakery Expansion

Instructions: Sunrise Bakery Expansion

End-of-Course Survey

Capstone Case Questions

Final Exam

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Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
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Students Ratings & Reviews

5/5
Verified Icon3 Ratings
M
Manish Kumar Srivastava
Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
Offered by Coursera
5
Learning Experience: Lucid and excellent
Faculty: Faculty was well knowledgeable, and knew what to be taught. The instructor knew about the pain point and requirements which a non finance persons requires. Course content was extensive and complete in nature.Self explanatory and covers all aspects which a non finance persons needs to appreciate the finance related activities.
Course Support: Inter function knowledge helped me to draft the answer which another domain professional needed.
Reviewed on 15 Jan 2023Read More
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B
Bhawna Pardal
Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
Offered by Coursera
5
Other: It was very good and beneficial course i have experienced that i learned all the chapters of videos very thoroughly in which eperts were very good and understand each and every topic very sincerely and after i was a quiz rounds i say it was very good courses and beneficial for all of us
Reviewed on 13 Aug 2021Read More
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Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
 at 
Coursera 

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