Business Financial Analysis
Course ID:
Semester: 2nd
Year of Study: 1st Year
Category: Economics Elective
For Erasmus Students: Όχι
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course the student will be able to:
- Analyze and understand the business and competitive strategy of a firm
- Understand how accounting rules and conventions represent a firm’s business economics and strategy in its financial statements
- Analyze assets, liabilities, entities, revenues, and expenses
- Effectively evaluate a company’s accounting choices and accrual estimates
- Analyze financial ratios and cash flow measures of the operating, financing, and investing performance of a company relative to either key competitors or historical performance
- Develop forecasted financial statements and use them to make estimates of a firm’s value.
Course Contents
- Framework for Business Analysis and Valuation Using Financial Statements
- The Role of Financial Reporting in Capital Markets
- From Business Activities to Financial Statements
- Influences of the Accounting System on Information Quality
- From Financial Statements to Business Analysis
- Strategy Analysis
- Industry Analysis
- Competitive Strategy Analysis
- Corporate Strategy Analysis
- Fundamentals of Financial Accounting
- Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
- Basic accounting equation
- Elements of Financial Statements (assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses)
- Impact of business transactions on basic accounting information
- Financial statements
- Implementing Accounting Analysis
- The Institutional Framework for Financial Reporting
- Factors Influencing Accounting Quality
- Steps in Performing Accounting Analysis
- Accounting Analysis Pitfalls
- Value of Accounting Data and Accounting Analysis
- Recasting Financial Statements
- Making Accounting Adjustments
- Financial Analysis for Decision Making
- Comparative Analysis
- Ratio Analysis
- Cash Flow Analysis
- Profitability Analysis
- Credit Analysis
- Liquidity and Working Capital Analysis
- Analysis of Operating Activity of Liquidity
- Capital Structure
- Solvency Analysis
- Prospective Analysis: Forecasting
- The Overall Structure of the Forecast
- Performance Behavior: A Starting Point
- Making Forecasts
- Sensitivity Analysis
- Valuation Theory and Concepts
- The Discounted Dividend Valuation Method
- The Discounted Cash Flow Model
- The Discounted Abnormal Earnings Model
- The Discounted Abnormal Earnings Growth Model
- Valuation Using Price Multiples
- Shortcut Forms of Earnings-Based Valuation
- Comparing Valuation Methods
- Valuation Implementation
- Detailed Forecasts of Performance
- Terminal Values
- Computing a Discount Rate
- Computing Equity Value
- Practical Issues in Valuation
- Course Review
Teaching Activities
Lectures (3 hours per week)
Teaching Organization
Activity |
Semester Workload |
Lectures (3 hours per week x 13 weeks) |
39 hours |
Individual Work |
72 hours |
Projects |
39 hours |
Course Total |
150 hours |
Assessment
The course offers a combination of lectures, case-studies presentations, class discussions and readings. A key feature of the course is the practical application of the academic theory and empirical evidence to real-world business cases.
The course is assessed through weekly sort assignments and the delivery of a group business analysis project (30%), and two examinations: one mid-semester examination (20%) and the final examination (50%).
Use of ICT
Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) (e.g. power point) in teaching. The lectures for each chapter are uploaded on the e-class platform in the form of ppt files, which the enrolled students can freely download.