This paper introduces the three core areas of finance -- financial management, investments, and capital markets and institutions. The paper also examines applications of corporate finance concepts to personal finance.

Lectures

The lectures will be delivered on campus in a manner where real life examples will be interwoven with the financial theories and concepts we will cover in this course. Students are highly encouraged to attend the on-campus lectures in order to be able to engage in discussions topics with other students throughout the lecturers. The lecture will be recorded via Panapto and the video will be available on Moodle after the lecture for the students who could not make the lecture in person.

We will discuss one chapter per week (see Timetable below for the details).

The PowerPoint slides are uploaded onto Moodle for students to download before lectures. The slides with notes will also be uploaded to Moodle after each lecture.

Tutorials

The tutorials will be scheduled on campus (Students need to choose their tutorial time through Moodle). The students are encouraged to attend the scheduled tutorials on campus.

All students should attend one tutorial session each week. These sessions are conducted by tutors who are senior students.

Tutorials normally include revision of lecture material and exemplar questions for the tests. The tutors will be available to assist students in completing these tutorial questions and to answer any other questions about the topic.

The PowerPoint slides are uploaded onto Moodle for students to download before the tutorials. The slides with answers will also be uploaded to Moodle after each tutorial.

Extra Credit

Students who attend over 80% of the tutorials in each semester half will receive 5% bonus points for Test I and Test II. To count attendance, the tutor will do a roll call at the beginning and/or end of tutorials. The design of extra credits is to encourage the students to attend the tutorials. Extra credits for tutorial attendance before (after) teaching recess will be accounted into Test I (Test II). The maximum mark of Test I and Test II is 100%.

Content/Foundational Skill

Both critical-thinking and problem-solving questions will be included in Test I, Test II and Group Assignment.

The critical-thinking questions (i.e., short essay questions) will be evaluated by Communication Skills, Professionalism and Innovation. There is an expectation that students demonstrate academic integrity when they attempt the assignments in this paper. Moreover, referencing academic research articles to answer the questions will be rewarded in terms of marks (But referencing non-academic websites, such as Investopedia, will not have a reward). The design is to motivate students to achieve effective academic reading. The critical-thinking questions also allow for the evaluation of effective academic reading by students as their answers will demonstrate their understanding of the concepts explored in the paper. And the short essay questions require students to demonstrate their business writing ability. For the problem-solving questions (i.e., calculation questions), students are required to show all their workings. These questions require students to perform calculations on data and then to demonstrate their understandings of the numbers calculated, and thus equip students with numeracy skills/using data.

Lecture slides, tutorial resources and related teaching materials will be available in Moodle.

The course has 36 (3 X 12) contact hours (lectures and tutorials). The rest of the 150 hours expected workload in this 15-point paper can be distributed as follows: 20 hours to complete the Assignment, 20 hours to prepare for and attend Quizzes, 34 hours to prepare for and attend Test I and 40 hours to prepare for and attend Test II.

There is a significant interrelationship between finance and non-finance areas. First, finance and accounting are related since accounting information is needed for finance decisions. Second, finance and economics are related because economic activity and policy affect finance decisions, and vice versa. Finance and management are related because the management decisions, such as setting salary, hiring new staff and paying bonuses must be coordinated with finance. Finance and information systems are related because finance decisions rely on information. Last but not least, there are the four p's of marketing, product, price, place and promotion. Clearly, the price and promotion, e.g., advisement are related to finance.