Course guide
Corporate Finance, Second Cycle, 7.5 credits (NA434A/FE434A), autumn 2026
This guide is the one place for how the course runs: who teaches what, when, what you need, and how you are examined. Dates do not change after the course starts; if anything must change, it changes here first and is announced by e-mail.
The course in brief
Corporate Finance is a half-time course over weeks 46 (2026) to 2 (2027), taught in English on campus in Örebro. It follows Berk and DeMarzo, Corporate Finance, in two parts. Part I builds the tools: the time value of money, investment decision rules, risk and return, the cost of capital and capital structure in perfect markets. Part II asks what changes when markets are imperfect: how taxes, financial distress, agency problems and asymmetric information shape the firm’s choice of debt and payout, and how to value projects and whole firms when they use debt.
The course follows syllabus revision 5 (valid from autumn 2026), which you find on the course page at oru.se.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, students shall be able to
- comprehend the relation between the firm’s real assets and financing;
- know fundamental theories and models relating to firms’ financing;
- use different techniques to value projects and firms;
- make rational decisions that relate to firms’ financing;
- assess the theoretical importance of central models in firm financing and critically relate to their practical limitations.
(Outcomes verbatim from the syllabus.)
Teachers
| Role | Who | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Course responsible and examiner; Part II | Magnus Lodefalk | magnus.lodefalk@oru.se |
| Part I | Taylan Mavruk (School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg) | via the course responsible, or as Taylan announces |
| Guest lecturer | Patrick Nimander, CFO, Kommuninvest |
Write “434A:” first in the subject line of every e-mail about the course.
Schedule
| Date | Time · room | Part | Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 13 Nov | 10:15–12:00 · P200 | I | Part I: ch. 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 14 over five sessions (order announced by Taylan) |
| Fri 13 Nov | 13:15–15:00 · L159 | I | |
| Thu 19 Nov | 10:15–12:00 · T129 | I | |
| Thu 19 Nov | 13:15–15:00 · T129 | I | |
| Thu 26 Nov | 13:15–15:00 · L159 | I | |
| Early December | time and room to be announced | II | Ch. 16 Financial distress, managerial incentives and information |
| Tue 8 Dec | 10:15–12:00 · Hörsal M | II | Ch. 17 Payout policy |
| Wed 9 Dec | 13:15–15:00 · L159 | II | AI-project presentations (40 min); ch. 18 Capital budgeting and valuation with leverage |
| Mon 14 Dec | 10:15–12:00 · P101 | II | Ch. 19 Valuation and financial modelling: a case study |
| Tue 15 Dec | 10:15–12:00 · T101 | Guest | Patrick Nimander, CFO Kommuninvest (formerly CFO of EKN): export finance, short-term finance and the role of the CFO |
| Fri 8 Jan 2027 | 11:15–14:15 · digital exam room | Written exam | |
| Fri 19 Feb 2027 | 09:15–12:15 · digital exam room | Re-exam |
Rooms and times come from Kronox; check Kronox the day before, since the university can change rooms.
How a Part II session runs. About an hour of lecture with a worked example in Excel, then a short exercise in pairs that we solve together before the session ends. Before each session: read the chapter and do its MyLab set. There is no other homework.
What you need
- Berk, J. and DeMarzo, P., Corporate Finance, 6th global edition, Harlow: Pearson, 2023, ISBN 9781292446318, with MyLab Finance access. MyLab registration details (course ID and key) are sent by e-mail and posted on Blackboard; they are never on this public site.
- A laptop with Excel (or another spreadsheet) in every Part II session.
- Lecture notes and slides, posted on this site after each session.
- Python is optional: most of you take NA446A this term, so where a Python version of an Excel example exists, it is offered beside it. Nothing in the course requires Python, and it is not examined.
Examination
The course has two examination components (syllabus revision 5):
| Code | Component | Credits | Grades |
|---|---|---|---|
| A001 | Assignment: written assignment and oral presentation | 1.5 | Fail (U) or Pass (G) |
| A002 | Written examination | 6 | A, B, C, D, E or Fail (F) |
To pass the course you need at least E on the exam and a pass on the assignment. The course grade is the exam grade.
A001 Assignment (1.5 credits, pass/fail)
The assignment has two parts, and you need both.
- MyLab Finance problem sets (the written part). For each chapter a set of problems is assigned in MyLab, with a deadline. You have five attempts per question; you pass when at least 90 per cent of the questions are answered correctly before their deadlines. In both parts, each set is due before the session on that chapter (Part II: 10:00 on the day of the session), so you come prepared. A missed deadline puts the pass at risk; if illness or similar prevents you, contact the teacher before the deadline. The same rule applies in both parts.
- The AI-project case (written page and oral presentation), in pairs. A firm considers investing in an AI system: is it profitable, when should it start, and does it cut jobs? Handed out at the first Part II session. By Mon 7 Dec, 23:59, each pair hands in one page answering the three questions, with its numbers, and up to three slides, under an anonymous pair number. On Wed 9 Dec every pair comes ready to present; the teacher picks five pairs, which present for five minutes each and answer questions. You pass when your page answers all three questions correctly with a reason and your pair is present and ready (and, if picked, presents and answers). If you do not pass, or are absent for a valid reason, you supplement as the teacher instructs (a short oral follow-up on Zoom), by 8 Jan 2027.
A002 Written examination (6 credits, A to F)
When: Fri 8 Jan 2027, 11:15–14:15, as a digital exam on campus. Re-exam Fri 19 Feb 2027, 09:15–12:15. You must register for the exam in the student portal by the registration deadline.
What: the whole course, both parts, including the guest lecture.
Format: multiple-choice questions, each with one correct option among several. Many questions test judgement rather than calculation: which method fits a firm’s debt policy, which imperfection explains a choice, what an assumption does to a value.
Points and grades: maximum 100 points; 50 points are needed to pass.
Points 0–49 50–59 60–69 70–79 80–89 90–100 Grade F E D C B A Aids: a non-programmable calculator and one A4 sheet of formulas, written on one side only (formulas only, no words, as in earlier years).
Practice: past exams with corrected solutions, and a sample exam in the new format, are posted on the exam page.
Academic integrity and AI
Use AI to learn faster, not to skip the learning. The rules, the reasons behind them and a tutor prompt to paste into your chatbot are on the AI page. In short: try first yourself; use AI to explain, check or suggest an alternative, not to build the whole model; test what it gives you on a case where you know the answer; be able to explain every number; and mark what came from AI. The questions on 9 December test that you can explain your own page. The written exam is taken without AI. Presenting someone else’s work, a person’s or a machine’s, as your own is reported under the university’s rules on disciplinary matters.
Practical matters
- Adapted examination. Students with a documented disability may apply for adapted examination through the university; contact the course responsible early.
- Right to tuition. Admitted and registered students have the right to tuition for the period of the course they were admitted to.
- Course evaluation. A five-minute check after the second Part II session, and the university’s course evaluation at the end. What we changed after earlier students’ evaluations: separate lecture and exercise in each session, more time on chapters 18 and 19, and one place for all dates.