FINANCIAL REPORTING AND PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

This course focuses on financial statement analysis, which allows to perform a firm fundamental analysis. Fundamental analysis (FA) is a method of measuring a security intrinsic value by examining related economic and financial factors.

Students should have a good understanding of financial accounting and related statements: balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow. Students can refer to the Accounting Pre-course (http://elearning.luiss.it/course/index.php?categoryid=122).

By the end of the course, you should have a basic understanding of how (1) to read and reclassify financial statements; (2) to analyze financial statements and interpret ratios, then firm performance; (3) to do firm valuation and forecasting.

The course focuses on the following topics: - Introduction to financial statements and valuation; - The reformulation and analysis of shareholders' equity, balance sheet, income statement and cash flow; - The analysis of profitability and credit risk; - Valuation methods; - Valuing intangible assets; - Accounting quality; - Measuring corporate social performance.

The textbook for this course is: Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation–by Stephen N. Penman, Fifth Edition, McGraw Hill International Edition; ISBN: 978-007-132640-7. Other materials include: - Handouts (via Luiss Learn Platform); - Case studies. The cases are meant to stimulate your thinking and enrich class discussions. The cases and their associated discussions are an integral part of the learning experience of the course. You should read the cases before each class session and actively be involved in class discussions, by asking questions and sharing your knowledge with the rest of the class.

Teaching and learning consist of the following: (1) class activities: lecture, exercises, case discussion; and (2) out-of-class activities including independent reading of the textbook, exercises, and case preparation.

Students have to choose between the "Attending" and "Not Attending" status. Student who wants to be an “Attending” student has to decide within the first week of lessons. The other students will be automatically counted as “Not Attending” students. After the first week, the list of “Attending” students is closed, and it is no more possible to be an “Attending” student.   “Attending” students are evaluated based on 31 points as it follows: Class participation 5% Individual case study 30% Team project work 35% Final exam 30% More information on the class participation, individual case study, team project work and final exam will be provided during the first class of the course.   “Non-Attending” students are evaluated based on 31 points through a written final assignment. For remake exam, when less than 10 students, the exam might be oral.

Please send an email to lpierini@luiss.it