Develop a Toolkit for Making and Understanding Financial Decisions

Leading with Finance will equip you with an intuitive knowledge of financial principles and enable you to understand the market in which your organization operates, create and assess value, and communicate decisions to financial stakeholders.

Leading with Finance

Leading with Finance

Develop a Toolkit for Making and Understanding Financial Decisions

Leading with Finance will equip you with an intuitive knowledge of financial principles and enable you to understand the market in which your organization operates, create and assess value, and communicate decisions to financial stakeholders.

What You'll Learn

  • Understand the key financial levers that drive financial performance
  • Discover how and why finance is concerned with cash flow versus profits and why that matters for your business and budget
  • Identify ways to create and measure value in order to evaluate and pitch potential projects
  • Examine how capital markets work and how they affect your business
  • Develop a financial intuition that will give you the confidence to make better decisions in your career and life

About the Professor

Mihir Desai is the Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is an award-winning teacher and leading scholar of corporate finance and tax policy. He has published more than 25 case studies, a casebook, and has testified before the US Congress on policy issues.

Who Will Benefit

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Early and Mid-Career Professionals

Gain the skills and confidence needed to understand the financial landscape of your business and industry in order to advance your career, especially if you’re in a non-finance role.

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Aspiring Finance or Investment Professionals

Prepare for future professional opportunities and jumpstart your career by gaining an understanding of financial concepts, terms, and principles.

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New Leaders

Elevate your business knowledge and prepare for leadership responsibilities, such as assessing value and performance, budgeting, and communicating the financial implications of your decisions.

Program Structure

Leading with Finance consists of approximately 35 to 40 hours of material delivered over a six-week period. You can complete the coursework on your own time while meeting regular deadlines.

August 2020

Course Start Date: 19th August

Length: 6 Weeks

Regular price $1,600

Enrolment process needs to be completed 2 weeks prior of the program Start Date

October 2020

Course Start Date: 28th October

Length: 6 Weeks

Regular price $1,600

Enrolment process needs to be completed 2 weeks prior of the program Start Date

January 2021

Course Start Date: 27th January

Length: 6 Weeks

Regular price $1,600

Enrolment process needs to be completed 2 weeks prior of the program Start Date

Syllabus

Leading with Finance provides participants with a thorough understanding of the principles of finance—a conceptual toolkit for making smart financial decisions and the confidence to clearly articulate those decisions to key stakeholders.

Learning requirements: In order to earn a Certificate of Completion, participants must thoughtfully complete all 6 modules, including satisfactory completion of associated quizzes and capstone assignment, by stated deadlines.

Capstone Assignment: You will finish the course with a brief capstone assignment which integrates and applies the concepts covered in the course.

Syllabus

Leading with Finance provides participants with a thorough understanding of the principles of finance—a conceptual toolkit for making smart financial decisions and the confidence to clearly articulate those decisions to key stakeholders.

Learning requirements: In order to earn a Certificate of Completion, participants must thoughtfully complete all 6 modules, including satisfactory completion of associated quizzes and capstone assignment, by stated deadlines.

Capstone Assignment: You will finish the course with a brief capstone assignment which integrates and applies the concepts covered in the course.

Modules Case Studies Takeaways Key Exercises
Module 1: Financial Analysis
  • Unidentified Industries
  • Timberland
  • Understand the building blocks of financial analysis: the balance sheet, the income statement, and financial ratios
  • Develop an intuition for the concepts behind the principles of finance
  • Apply your knowledge to identify companies by reviewing their financial statement
  • Categorize financial ratios
  • DuPont Analysis exercise
  • Quiz #1
Module 2: Finance vs. Accounting
  • Corning Glass
  • Hon Hai Sharp
  • Identify the fundamental differences between accounting and finance
  • Examine the use of cash as a measurement of value creation in finance
  • Balance sheet and financial ratios exercise
  • Calculate net present value
  • Quiz #2
Module 3: Capital Markets
  • Corning Glass
  • Hon Hai Sharp
  • Short-selling Bekaert
  • Tops Friendly Market
  • Build a strong understanding of the players in the financial services industry and the roles they each play
  • Contemplate the financial system, its flaws, and potential solutions
  • Evaluate perspectives on information asymmetry
  • Quiz #3
Module 4: Creating Value
  • Corning Glass
  • Capital Structure at Biogen
  • Heineken: Building a Mexican Brewery
  • Explore the three pillars of value creation and how to achieve them
  • Discover why capital is costly and how to use this information to benefit your organization
  • Market-to-book ratios exercises
  • Match companies to their cost of debt and industries to their betas
  • Quiz #4
Module 5: Valuation
  • Tops Friendly Market
  • Spirit Aero Systems
  • Dell Valuation
  • Determine how the future affects value today
  • Compare various valuation methods and examine net present value
  • Discuss potential risks involved in mergers and acquisitions
  • Calculate free cash flows, WACC, and terminal values
  • Practice scenario analysis
  • Quiz #5
Module 6: Capital Allocation
  • Apple iPrefs
  • Convergence Pharmaceuticals
  • Heineken Ethiopia Expansion
  • Biogen Share Repurchases
  • Discuss capital allocation and the use of free cash flow
  • Analyze the various options companies have for investing their cash through reinvestment or distribution
  • Determine which “type” of money will empower new business ideas to flourish
  • Capital allocation decision tree analysis
  • Weigh value of dividends vs. share buybacks
  • Quiz #6
  • Capstone project

Stories from Our Learners

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Enroll today in Harvard Business School Online’s Leading with Finance course.

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