Valuation: Alternative Methods

Overview of the Specialization & Course
This module contains detailed videos and syllabi of both the Specialization and this course. This specialization has been designed to enable you to learn and apply the powerful tools of modern finance to both personal and professional situations. The courses within progress linearly and build on each other and it is important for you to get an understanding of why this specialization may be relevant to your goals, again both personal and professional. Please review the videos and syllabi as they will give you a sense of the specialization and how this specific course fits within. The teaching style and philosophy of the instructors is also presented to you (hopefully) in sufficient detail. Most importantly, it will give you enough information for you to make a decision about whether you want to take this course, by itself or as part of a specialization.

Module 1
In module 1, we will first introduce a simple valuation approach using a detailed example and highlighting the effects of leverage. We will deliberately ignore real world issues such as taxes and bankruptcy costs to determine the fundamentals of valuation. This module will bring together the two building blocks of finance: Time Value of Money (Course 1) and Risk & Return (Course 2).

Module 2
We will use our understanding of valuation from Module 1 to introduce a framework of valuation that will highlight the main drivers of the value of a company. This will serve as our basis for all valuation and we will then gradually introduce "frictions" created by us in the real world, like taxes and bankruptcy costs.

Module 3
In Module 3, we will introduce the effects of taxes on valuation. We will build gradually on the effects of taxes on a company's cash flows and then introduce the much more complex treatment of leverage to highlight its effects on valuation.

Module 4
Module 4 is a natural extension of Module 3 because the presence of frictions and the availability of information allows us to value companies using alternative valuation methods. These methods will be developed and applied in detail in this concluding module.

Module 5:
This week will be spent on a short wrap video of the course and time for assimilation and review by learners to be prepared to take the final exams. In the past, learners have really valued this time and hence it is built into this new structure/platform as well.

Module 6
This is finals week. Please note there are two finals and you need to attempt both.