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James Weston

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Finance for Non-Finance Professionals

Rice University

About this Course

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This short course surveys all the major topics covered in a full semester MBA level finance course, but with a more intuitive approach on a very high conceptual level.  The goal here is give you a roadmap and framework for how financial professional make decisions.  
We will cover the basics of financial valuation, the time value of money, compounding returns, and discounting the future.  You will understand discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation and how it compares to other methods.  We also step inside the mind of a corporate financial manager and develop the basic tools of capital budgeting.  We will survey the how, when, and where to spend money, make tradeoffs about investment, growth, dividends, and how to ensure sound fiscal discipline.  Our journey then turns to a Wall Street or capital markets perspective of investments as we discuss the fundamental tradeoff between risk and return.  We then synthesize our discussion of risk with our valuation framework and incorporate it into series of direct applications to practice.

This course requires no prior familiarity with finance.  Rather, it is intended to be a first step for anyone who is curious about understanding stock markets, valuation, or corporate finance.  We will walk through all of the tools and quantitative analysis together and develop a guide for understanding the seemingly complex decisions that finance professionals make.  

By the end of the course, you will develop an understanding of the major conceptual levers that push and pull on financial decision making and how they relate to other areas of business.  The course should also serve as a roadmap for where to further your finance education and it would be an excellent introduction of any students contemplating an MBA or Finance concentration, but who has little background in the area.

Flexible deadlines

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Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

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Coursera Labs

Includes hands on learning projects.

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Beginner Level

Approx. 13 hours to complete

English

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Skills you will gain

Financial Accounting
Capital Budgeting
Corporate Finance
Finance

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Coursera Labs

Includes hands on learning projects.

Learn more about Coursera Labs

Beginner Level

Approx. 13 hours to complete

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

Instructor

Instructor rating

4.83/5 (536 Ratings)

James Weston

Harmon Whittington Professor of Finance

Jones Graduate School of Business

159,281 Learners

7 Courses

Offered by

Rice University

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Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating96%(10,008 ratings)

Week1

Week 1

3 hours to complete

Course Overview and Basic Principles of Financial Valuation Discounting

Welcome to Finance for Non-Finance Professionals! In this section you will find general information about the course and instructions on how to navigate the course. For the first week of lectures, we will be covering the basics of financial valuation. We will start with the basics of compounding and discounting rates of return over time. Using these tools we will then move on to valuation using the discounted cash flow method. Along the way, we will demonstrate our valuation tools with a variety of practical examples and compare our analysis with other valuation techniques.

3 hours to complete

15 videos (Total 101 min), 3 readings, 2 quizzes

15 videos

Course Trailer2mCourse Overview & Demonstration1mWeek 1 Overview1mHuman Nature and the Time Value of Money7mCompounding and Earning Returns Over Time11mBasic Principals of Valuation and Discounting4mDiscounting Future Cash Back to the Present12mDiscounted Cash Flow (DCF) as the Basis for All Valuation6mDCF Practical Example11mValuation by Comparables8mExamples and Applications: Bonds8mExamples and Applications: Mortgages5mExamples and Applications: Annuities8mExamples and Applications: Capstone Example5mConversations with a Practitioner4m

3 readings

General Course Information10mDiscussion Forum Guidelines10mPre-Course Survey10m

2 practice exercises

Homework Assignment30mWeek 1 Quiz30m

Week2

Week 2

2 hours to complete

How to Spend Money (Capital Budgeting tools)

Welcome to the second week of Finance for Non-Finance Professionals! In this week of the course, we will build on the basic valuation tools from week one to start making capital budgeting decisions. Our capital budgeting review covers the basic tools like Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Payback period, and return on capital. Our discussion of the relative advantages of each different tool leads us into sensitivity analysis and the advantages of spreadsheet modeling.

2 hours to complete

11 videos (Total 72 min), 1 reading, 2 quizzes

11 videos

Week 2 Overview42sOverview of the Capital Budgeting Process5mNet Present Value (NPV)7mPayback Period7mAccounting Ratios7mInternal Rate of Return (IRR)8mWrinkles with IRR8mUsing All the Metrics Together4mSensitivity Analysis7mSpreadsheet Modeling9mConversations with a Practitioner5m

1 reading

Real World Application: A Refresher on Net Present Value10m

2 practice exercises

Homework Assignment30mWeek 2 Quiz30m

Week3

Week 3

2 hours to complete

Measuring Cash Creation and Flow

Welcome back to Finance for Non-Finance Professionals! In our third week together, we will go on a treasure hunt through the financial statements. Using discounted cash flows as our motivation, we search through the income statement and balance sheet for all the uses and sources of cash. Our search leads us to our primary measure of value creation: Free Cash Flow. Free cash flow will form the basis of most financial analysis and this module gives us a roadmap for estimating and forecasting cash creation within any organization.

2 hours to complete

10 videos (Total 60 min), 1 reading, 2 quizzes

10 videos

Week 3 Overview1mBrief Overview of the Financial Statements8mHunting for Cash Creation5mWorking Capital Adjustments8mDepreciation and Capital Expenditures5mSalvage and Terminal Values7mTaxes3mCalculating Free Cash Flow7mUsing Capital Budgeting Tools8mConversations with a Practitioner4m

1 reading

Real World Application: Obama Administration Releases Report Outlining Benefits of Expensing Proposal in Encouraging Business Expansion, Hiring Now10m

2 practice exercises

Homework Assignment35mWeek 3 Quiz35m

Week4

Week 4

3 hours to complete

How Much Does Money Cost? Evaluating the Cost of Capital

Welcome back everyone! In our final week together in this course, we switch gears and take an external view of the firm from a Wall Street, or capital markets, perspective. We think about the basic tradeoff between risk and return, how to measure risk, and how to put a risk premium on different kinds of investments. We then take our analysis of risk and return and use it to estimate a firm's cost of capital. Finally, we circle back to free cash flows, capital budgeting and valuation to tie together all four weeks and get ready for our capstone case analysis.

3 hours to complete

10 videos (Total 72 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

10 videos

Week 4 Overview1mDebt vs. Equity Financing8mRisk Free Rate6mHistorical Risk and Return7mThe Equity Risk Premium5mBeta and the Cost of Equity10mCredit Ratings and Quality Spreads5mEstimating the Cost of Debt6mPutting it All Together as the WACC (Weighted Average Cost of Capital)12mConversations with a Practitioner6m

2 readings

Real World Application: U.S. oil companies closer to balancing capital investment with operating cash flow10mReal World Application: Why aren't companies spending?10m

2 practice exercises

Homework Assignment (Optional)30mWeek 4 Quiz30m

Reviews

4.8

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TOP REVIEWS FROM FINANCE FOR NON-FINANCE PROFESSIONALS

by ABJun 19, 2020

If you are an absolute noob in finance as I am, this course is just for you..Just that sometimes you would have to google a bit for a few terms .... Brilliant work by Rice Uni....

by FSJun 20, 2020

James is a very passionate and communicative lecturer. I really love the way he presents the materials because it makes all the materials are easily digested and understood. Two thumbs up!!

by JDMay 3, 2020

This class is an excellent introduction to capital budgeting and finance. It is an excellent primer for understanding how businesses can use these tools to analyze transactions.

by OCSep 3, 2020

Prof. Weston gives wonderful presentations. Also during the lecture videos you are given some prompt questions that help maintain your focus. Good introduction to the finance world.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

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