37299 - Financial Analysis

Learning outcomes

The goal of this course is to provide students with an understanding of a business financial performance. Specifically, students will learn how to: - execute and interpret a business financial performance using profitability, liquidity, gearing, efficiency, working capital and cashflow ratios; - assess business operating and financial risk; - use financial analysis tools for designing benchmarking and improve a company business model.

Course contents

• The role of management control systems in firm's performance management
• Business model performance and value creation
  
• Measures of value creation
• Understanding Financial Statement
• Profitability ratios and drivers of profitability
• Operating and efficiency ratios
• Assets management ratios
• Financial policy ratios for liquidity and assets coverage analysis
• Working capital management ratios
• Operating, financial and overall risk assessment ratios
• Benchmarking and use of financial ratios for understanding business model environment (customers, suppliers, competitors)
• Cash Flow Statement analysis
• Prospective analysis (forecasting)

Readings/Bibliography

Palepu, K., P. Healy, and E. Peek, Business Analysis and Valuation: IFRS Edition, Cengage Learning, 4th Edition, 2016, ISBN 9781473722651, chapters from 1 to 6 only.

Additional mandatory reading materials, slides and exercises/assignments useful to pass the exam will be available on the e-learning platform of the course on virtuale.unibo.it

Teaching methods

Lectures, case studies, project work

Assessment methods

Written exam and group project work (group project work only for attending students)

• Sufficient preparation and skills, expressed in substantially correct language: 18-22
• Technically adequate preparation, discrete analytical skills, even if not particularly deep, expressed in a correct language: 23-26;
• In-depth knowledge of the topics, good analytical and critical skills, mastery of specific terminology: 27-29;
• Very in-depth knowledge of the topics, critical analysis and connection skills, mastery of specific terminology: 30-30L.

Teaching tools

E-learning platform

Office hours

See the website of Filippo Boccali