Ab217 Unit 1 Assignment: Introduction to Finance

AB217 Unit 1 Assignment: Introduction to Finance

Teresa Johnson

Kaplan University

Introduction to

Date

           Introduction to corporate finance is a crucial unit for everyone since it is all about money matters here. Hence, at the end of this unit I would like to understand how to manage my personal finances through investments such as mutual funds. Besides, I would like to understand how companies raise and spend their finances. Moreover, I would to know whether this unit will help me in my professional growth of becoming a financial analyst. Additionally, I would like to understand the stock market and risk management when I choose to invest in foreign exchange market.

           According to Booth, & Cleary, (2012), introduction to corporate finance helps the learner to have a general overview of money matters. Hence, corporate finance will assist me to pursue my career of becoming a successful financial analyst. Moreover, this unit will also help me to understand so many terms that are used in finance for instance, mutual funds. Needless to say, corporate finance will assist me to become a research analyst if I have a good eye for market trends. Additionally, corporate finance will help me to understand how a company raises, structures and spends its money.

              The first concept that I have learnt after watching the video is how to solve the future value in one year using Excel. I have found that is easy to calculate the future value given that you have the present value and the duration which in this case one year at an interest rate of ten percent. Secondly, is the concept of what key strokes are needed to solve problems using a financial calculator. This makes it easier to visualize the problem. Finally, is the concept of four facets of finance which include capital market, capital structure decision, dividend decision and derivative securities.

            With a career goal of becoming a financial analyst, then there is no doubt that I have to be good at using Excel and a financial calculator to analyze information of given company. Hence, unlike other tools Excel provides an intuitive interface that allows me to see what happens to a particular data as I manipulate them. Using spreadsheets and a financial calculator helps in solving complex problems in a timely and accurate manner. Therefore, we can confidently say that these tools are most recommended ones in all finance and accounting related courses.  Therefore, I can conclude to say that Excel and finance calculators are one of the most powerful tools and software applications that help a company to calculate all its statistical data with high level of accuracy. Besides, a financial calculator gives a timeline of how cash flows are laid out this makes it easier to visualize the problem.