FM215      Half Unit
Principles of Finance II

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Kim Fe Cramer

Availability

This course is compulsory on the BSc in Finance and BSc in Financial Mathematics and Statistics. This course is available on the BSc in Accounting and Finance, BSc in Actuarial Science, BSc in Actuarial Science (with a Placement Year), BSc in Data Science, BSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, BSc in Economics, BSc in Management, BSc in Mathematics and Economics, BSc in Mathematics with Data Science, BSc in Mathematics with Economics and BSc in Mathematics, Statistics and Business. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course is not available to General Course students.

This course is not capped, any eligible student that requests a place will be given one.

Requisites

Mutually exclusive courses:

This course cannot be taken with FM211 at any time on the same degree programme.

Course content

This course provides a rigorous introduction to corporate finance. The course is a prerequisite for more advanced finance courses. It also serves as a stand-alone course for students in other fields, such as economics or management, who do not intend to take other finance courses. Topics include firms’ decisions on what projects to undertake, their payout policy, and their capital structure. These decisions are first explored in a frictionless world and then in a world with frictions (such as taxes, bankruptcy costs, inefficient or uncompetitive financial markets, and self-interested managers).


This course covers the same topics as FM211. Thus, both FM211 and FM215 are equivalent content-wise.  However, compared to FM211, this course puts more emphasis on the underlying statistical theory and relies more on the use of mathematical methods.

Teaching

15 hours of classes and 20 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

Formative assessment

Students are expected to produce written work for classes and to make positive contributions to class discussion.

 

Indicative reading

Detailed course programmes and reading lists are distributed at the start of the course. Illustrative texts include: Principles of Corporate Finance by Richard Brealey, Stewart Myers, and Franklin Allen, McGraw-Hill Inc.

Assessment

Exam (90%), duration: 90 Minutes in the Spring exam period

Continuous assessment (10%)


Key facts

Department: Finance

Course Study Period: Winter Term

Unit value: Half unit

FHEQ Level: Level 5

CEFR Level: Null

Total students 2024/25: 402

Average class size 2024/25: 22

Capped 2024/25: No
Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Course selection videos

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.

Personal development skills

  • Problem solving
  • Application of information skills
  • Application of numeracy skills
  • Commercial awareness