Professional Capstone: Financial Statement Analysis

Capstone - Financial Statement Analysis --- The course presents an integrative framework for business analysis, business forecasting, and equity valuation using quantitative and qualitative financial information. In this important Capstone course, you will gain a rigorous understanding of the conceptual interdependencies between the various business theories you have been exposed to in other courses (for example, strategy, accounting, finance) and how to apply these concepts to make practical, real-world business decisions. For example, we introduce stat-of-the-art data analytics tools to analyze a firm's financial performance to date, forecast its future performance and estimate its intrinsic value implied by these financial forecasts. Furthermore, we study the relation between a firm's business strategy and accounting numbers reported in financial statements, illustrate the latest techniques and information sources used by Wall Street professionals, discuss the impact of global and domestic economic trends on financial ratios used in performance evaluation, review the effect of managerial talent on the future financial success of a business, and learn how to convert qualitative data into quantitative value estimates. This Capstone course includes real-world, action based learning, cases that demonstrate the process of integrating various business theories and large amounts of data in an applied manner. For example, you will engage in a "live" forecasting exercise where students forecast a company's future quarterly performance. This project will involve retrieving real-time data about the industry, company, management plans, and analyst opinions, and applying the theoretical business analysis framework to construct financial forecasts. Once the company announces its financial results, we critically examine the reasons for any deviations between the forecasted and actual numbers. As a final Capstone learning experience, students are engaged in a comprehensive final project. This project will require students to demonstrate the practical integration of several business disciplines to make an investment decision. This project has a written component as well as a short presentation in which the students demonstrate their ability to communicate complex business information in an effective manner. The Financial Statement Analysis course is suitable for anyone pursuing a career in finance, consulting, accounting and its a must-take Capstone course for anyone interested in pursuing a career in the business world!

*** Advisory Prerequsite: ACC 312