FIN 360: Corporate Finance

Larry Schrenk, Instructor

Exams, Assignments, Project and Grading Policies

Evaluation:    

Grade Scale:        Please note that grades/percentages will not be ‘rounded up’ (see below) and extra credit assignments are not available.

Academic Integrity:               Any violation of academic integrity will be dealt with severely. See the WSU Integrity Oath and the Academic Integrity Policy.  Students caught violating any of these these principles will be subject to a failing grade for the course and referral to the Vice President for Student Life and Development for further disciplinary action.

Project:               There is one course project which will be done in groups of 4-5 students. You will analyze a Fortune 500 firm by applying the various financial models and techniques we shall cover in the course. This will give you exposure to what 'real' financial analysis is like rather than just studying textbook problems. More information will be given in class, and here are the Project Guidelines and Example and the Excel Guidelines. It must be submitted in D2L (no hard copies or e-mail attachments) where you will find a link 'Submit Project Here'. Please submit only one project per group, and, except in exceptional circumstances, all members of the group will receive the same grade for the project.

Participation:        Attendance and participation are expected in this class. There is no specific grade for attendance and participation, but for students who do not attend or participate, I reserve the right to deduct up to 10% of the final course grade. In exceptional cases, extra credit may be given for participation.

Assignments:        TBA

Groups:        All group members normally receive the same grade for group submissions. If, however, there is a significant problem of non-participating by one or more group members, I reserve the right to lower the grades for those members or remove them from the group (which would result in their losing all credit for group work).

Exams:                 There are three examinations. The tests are not deliberately cumulative; however, since the course builds upon itself, concepts developed in earlier chapters will necessarily be used in later chapters. You may only use a calculator, but not the textbook, notes, crib sheets, formulae sheets, etc. You may not substitute a cell phone, tablet, computer, etc. for the calculator. The only exceptions are accommodations authorized by Access Services. Make-up exams will only be given if there is official documentation of an emergency, e.g., a doctor’s note. All exams will be taken through D2L during class, so you will need to bring your laptop to all exams. I assume that everyone has experience with this. You will also be required to use the Lockdown Browser (LDB). If you have not used this software before, it is your responsibility to download it and make sure it works before you come to class. Instructions are here.

Academic Integrity: Students who commit any infraction of academic integrity are subject to failure for the entire course.

Studying:             The following guidelines will help you study for the exams, but this is not a guarantee that every exam question will be covered by one of these suggestions. You should think of this as the minimum you should know to do well on the exams:

How to Study for the Short Answer Questions

1.   Study the slides–Anything that is the subject of a full slide is important.

2.   Read the textbook. IMPORTANT: You are responsible for the assigned textbook material even if we do not cover the material in class.

3.   Know the key words from the textbook–Key words are in bold and are also listed at the end of the chapter.

4.   Answer the end of chapter questions–The solutions are in D2L

5.   Review your class notes–Anything occurring multiple times is important especially if it is mentioned under different topics.

How to Study for the Calculation Problems

1.  Study the examples done in class and the worked problem sets distributed before each exam.

2.  Answer the end of chapter problems–The solutions are in D2L.

3. Do the assignments online.

Rounding:            Let me explain my reasons for not rounding up grades. Whether or not scores are rounded up, there has to be some number that divides an A from an A-, an A- from a B+, etc. Rounding introduces potential ambiguity. That is, if you need a 90 for an A-, is 89.5 an A-. If not, is 89.55? 89.555? 89.555...? Whichever rounding method I might use can cause someone the same frustration as not rounding. If I don’t round, you get an 89.99 and a B+, you will be annoyed. If I do round up 89.55, you get an 89.54 and a B+, you will be annoyed. In my experience there are few semesters in which some student does not miss a grade cutoff by just a tiny bit. I do not round grades because I want my grading policy to be fair and clear as possible. For my class an A- is ≥ 90, and 89.99999999 is still a B+.

Evaluation:          Evaluation of a student's performance in this course as a whole will be guided by the following criteria:

                                                    A: demonstration of superior work (written and analytical) in fulfillment of course requirements; improvement during the semester will be weighed in evaluation.

                                                    B: Excellent work (written and analytical) in fulfillment of course requirements; improvement during the semester will be weighed in evaluation.

                                                    C: satisfactory work (written and analytical) in fulfillment of course requirements

                                                    D: assigned work is not satisfactory or not completed and/or student fails to meet minimum attendance requirements.

                                                    F: failure to meet minimum course goals: Examinations, participation and attendance, course project (including the submission of drafts through out the semester).