Essentials of Managerial Finance [antikvár]

Preface The central focus oi Essentials of Managerial Finance is on the role of the financial manager in maximizing the value of the firm. We begin with a discussion of such basic concepts as security markets, taxes, interest rates, and risk/return valuation models. Then we go on to explain how managerial finance can be used to help maximize the value of a firm. Explaining early in the book how financial markets operate, and how security prices are determined within these markets, helps students see how decisions made by the financial manager can affect the value of the firm. Also, early coverage of valuation models and risk analysis permits us to use and reinforce these key concepts throughout the book. Structuring the book around the financial manager's role in maximizing the value of the firm enhances continuity—students can better see how the various topics interrelate with one another and how decisions in each area of finance affect the price of the firm's stock, hence the value of the firm. Also, most students—even those who do not plan to major in finance—are interested in stock and bond valuation, rates of return, and the like. Since people's ability to learn a subject is a function of their interest and motivation, and since Essentials begins by showing the relationship between security markets, security values, and financial management, this organization is good from a pedagogic standpoint. Relationship with Our Other Books As the body of knowledge expanded, it first became difficult, then impossible, to provide "everything one needs to know 3.t)out finsncisl itiEns-gement" in one text, especially an undergraduate text. This recognition led us to limit the scope of this book, and also to write other texts, with other authors, to deal with the materials that must necessarily be deleted. Thus, Fred Weston has coauthored a theory text with Tom Copeland (Financial Theory and Corporate Policy), and Weston and Copeland have also coauthored the eighth edition of Managerial Finance, a very comprehensive text designed primarily for the MBA market. Gene Brigham has coauthored with Lou