Finance for the Nonfinancial Manager
June 21–22, 2012
9 am to 5 pm at Harvard University
Early bird tuition: $1,800. Regular tuition: $2,100. See the early bird tuition deadlines.
Two-day financial training program on financial assets and corporate finance
In this program, on the first day we cover financial assets, instruments, and markets—particularly stocks, bonds, and derivatives and the role each can play in the modern corporation.
On the second day we discuss how corporations structure financial affairs, including the instruments used to raise the capital. Questions involving a firm’s investment and capital budgeting decisions are explored. And the basic tool of that analysis, net present value, is explained and applied.
In addition, we discuss how companies manage and defray risk. We consider agency problems—perennial concerns in any corporate context and particularly prominent in the current financial crisis.
What you will learn
- How the major financial markets work and how each relates to various aspects of your own company
- Common financial jargon, better equipping you to understand the financial media and financial professionals within your organization
- An appreciation for the financial risks a typical company might face and how these risks can be managed
- A useful intellectual framework to assess questions of corporate governance and agency issues, and how the latter can be mitigated
Topics covered
- The bond market: prices and interest rates
- How a company issues stock—the primary and secondary markets
- Classic and modern approaches to stock valuation
- Information content of stock prices
- The role of the Federal Reserve in financial markets
- Derivatives markets, including options and futures
- Debt vs. equity
- Dividends vs. retained earnings
- Risk management using derivatives
Who should enroll
- Managers who do not customarily deal with the financial side of their companies but who need a knowledge of financial concepts to better understand aspects of their organization
- Anyone who is curious about the world of finance and investing
Faculty
Born and raised in Colorado, Bruce Watson completed undergraduate studies in economics at the University of Denver. He spent six years as a futures analyst and trader, specializing in financial futures. Especially active in trading stock index futures, he gained a practitioner’s perspective on the markets before pursuing graduate work in economics at the University of Colorado and at Harvard.
He taught at Harvard College for many years, and was a resident tutor in Harvard’s Lowell House. He is now a lecturer at Boston University (BU) and at Harvard Extension School, teaching courses in economics and finance. His work at BU includes a yearly stint teaching math for finance in the university’s master of science in mathematical finance program. But he also keeps his hand in the “real world” of finance by consulting and teaching with a large hedge fund in New York.
Questions?
Contact harvardprofdev@dcemail.harvard.edu.
