25752 - INTERNATIONAL FINANCE

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

At the completion of the course, students will have a thorough knowledge of concepts and analytical techniques in financial management, and they will be able to apply them to nowadays international market transactions. This includes the ability to understand the governance of multinational companies, and their investing, financing, and risk management decisions, in a perspective of maximising the value to their shareholders.

Contenuti

International Finance will introduce students to financial decision-making and the framework in which these decisions are made, specializing in the investment decisions of firms in a perspective of maximizing the value to shareholders.

The first module (Financial Markets and Valuation) will cover the international financial system and its main actors, along with basic finance concepts such as the time value of money and asset valuation. The main financial markets—i.e., money, bond, and stock market—will be discussed within the international financial system.

The second module (Financial Management) will specialize in some of the theory and practice of decision-making within the firm. In particular, the module will study how firms evaluate international business opportunities and to which extent international risks can be managed, with the aim of maximizing the value to shareholders.

Testi/Bibliografia

The main textbook for the course is:

Peterson Drake, P. and F. J. Fabozzi, The Basics of Finance: An Introduction to Financial Markets, Business Finance, and Portfolio Management, John Wiley & Sons, 2010.

The following book is a good alternative:

Pilbeam, K., Finance and Financial Markets, 4/e, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.

Additional readings will be assigned by the instructor as the course progresses.

Metodi didattici

Traditional lectures and classes.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Course attendance is mandatory. 70 percent of the lectures is the minimum attendance rate to be granted access to the final test. The test will be composed of two sessions. The first session (40 minutes, 24 points) will include 8 multiple-choice questions (8 points, i.e. 1 point each), 4 short-answer questions or short exercises (12 points, i.e. 3 points each), and 1 essay question (4 points). Each multiple-choice question will have 4 possible answers, and only 1 will be correct. In the second session (20 minutes), which will start immediately after the first session, students will have to answer 3 questions (7.5 points, i.e. 2.5 points each) on a research topic of their choice, among the ones proposed. For each research topic, students will be provided with three papers to study in-depth. The overall maximum assessment (i.e., the sum of the grades in the two exam sessions) is 31.5 (if greater than 30, it will be considered 30 cum laude).

All positive grades will be automatically registered (with one exception granted by the University regulation). A student who wishes not to have the test graded can withdraw at any time during the exam.

Test assessment grid

< 18: fail
18-23: sufficient
24-27: average/good
28-30: very good
30 cum laude: excellent/outstanding.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Lecture slides and additional readings which may be assigned by the instructor as the course progresses.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Massimiliano Barbi