Course coordinator
Associate Professor Min Zhu
Course overview
- Study period
- Semester 1, 2025 (24/02/2025 - 21/06/2025)
- Study level
- Undergraduate
- Location
- St Lucia
- Attendance mode
- In Person
- Units
- 2
- Administrative campus
- St Lucia
- Coordinating unit
- Business School
Develops a rigorous framework for analysing a range of corporate finance issues with a strong focus on practical applications. Centred around (i) cost of capital estimation, & (ii) creating firm value via capital structure management. Topics include the value of franking credits, market risk premium, marginal tax rates, beta estimation, credit ratings, default premiums, & optimal capital structure.
The course is organised around published and working papers in the field with an emphasis on recent important questions in Corporate Finance. Rather than providing an exhaustive overview of the field, the course focuses in depth on selected topics to illustrate different empirical approaches to the same or related questions. Using papers on corporate finance, the course will highlight several empirical themes, including endogeneity, difference in difference estimators and regression discontinuity design. As such, this course willﾠprovide students with a thorough grounding in corporate finance theory, the skills required to estimate, quantify, and implement these ideas in practice, andﾠthe ability to articulate and explain corporate finance concepts and applications via written reports and presentations.
There will also be an emphasis on the development of new tools and procedures rather than the discovery of existing ones. Indeed, an important hole exists in the modern corporate finance literature. Finance theory has identified many qualitative and directional effects, but in some cases work on measuring and quantifying these effects is scant at best. Taxes are known to provide a benefit to debt financing - but how do we properly quantify this advantage? High leverage is known to cause financial distress costs - but how do we measure these costs? In an imperfect capital market, the capital structure is known to have an impact on the value of the firm - but how do we quantify this impact? These and other important practical questions will be addressed during the course.
Course requirements
Assumed background
Before attempting this course, students must have completed a second level corporate finance course (e.g., CO352 or COMM3502 or BSFN/FINM3401).
Prerequisites
You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:
(FINM2415 or 3401 or 3411) + permission from Head of School
Restrictions
BAdvBus(Hons)/BCom(Hons)/BAdvFinEcon(Hons)/GCBusRMeth/GDipBRM/MCom(#32)/MCom(Adv)/PhD/MPhil. BAdvBus(Hons) students must email bel@uq.edu.au for permission to enrol. Quota: min. 10 enrolments.
Course contact
Course staff
Lecturer
Associate Professor Min Zhu
Timetable
The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.
Additional timetable information
Please note: Teaching staff do not have access to the timetabling system to help with class allocation. Therefore, should you need help with your timetable and/or allocation of classes, please ensure you email business.mytimetable@uq.edu.au from your UQ student email account with the following details:
- Full name
- Student ID
- Course Code
Aims and outcomes
This course aims to provide students with a thorough grounding in corporate finance theory; the skills required to estimate, quantify, and implement these ideas in practice;ﾠand the ability to articulate and explain corporate finance concepts and applications via written reports and presentations. This course will also consider applications of these ideas to private asset markets including real estate and private equity.ﾠ
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Apply and correctly interpret the most appropriate econometric techniques for research in corporate finance.
LO2.
Analyse several aspects that relate to a firm's finance such as capital structure, cost of capital, payout policy, capital raising, merger and acquisition.
LO3.
Evaluate the impact of various aspects of corporate governance on firm outcomes.
LO4.
Understand some emerging and topical areas of research in finance such as corporate social responsibility, and climate finance, among others.
LO5.
Individually or in teams, provide a critical review of a published set of literature related to corporate finance.
LO6.
Individually replicate the empirical results of a published paper and reflect on the experience gained.
Assessment
Assessment summary
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participation/ Student contribution, Presentation |
Presentation and Discussion
|
30% |
Presentation Week 4 - Week 13 Discussion Week 4 - Week 13
Throughout semester, details on Blackboard. |
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation | Referee Report | 30% |
2/05/2025 3:00 pm |
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation | Replication study | 40% |
9/06/2025 3:00 pm |
Assessment details
Presentation and Discussion
- In-person
- Mode
- Activity/ Performance, Oral
- Category
- Participation/ Student contribution, Presentation
- Weight
- 30%
- Due date
Presentation Week 4 - Week 13
Discussion Week 4 - Week 13
Throughout semester, details on Blackboard.
- Other conditions
- Longitudinal.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04, L05
Task description
There are two parts to this assessment.
Part A: You are required to present and discuss, either individually or in pairs, academic papers. You will be required to present up to 3 times during the course of the semester. Presentation accounts for 20% of the grade.
Part B: All students are expected to participate actively in the class discussions. We learn from each other through actively engaging with one another. Not only are you expected to actively contribute to the in-class discussions, you must also seek out and listen actively to the contributions of your peers, especially in relation to the paper presentations by other students. To encourage quality questioning and discussion, I have allocated 10% towards the discussion/discussant component.
Please note: The presentations will be recorded for marking purposes.
AI Statement:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides emerging tools that may support students in completing this assessment task. Students may appropriately use AI in completing this assessment task.. Students must clearly reference any use of AI in each instance. A failure to reference generative AI use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Referee Report
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Paper/ Report/ Annotation
- Weight
- 30%
- Due date
2/05/2025 3:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04
Task description
The task is to individually write a referee report for an article consisting of three sections.
- Part A should succinctly summarize the paper highlighting the most important aspects of the paper.
- Part B of the paper should provide in-depth and constructive criticism of the paper’s main shortcomings. This part should cover all the relevant important segments of an article (motivation, literature, hypotheses/research questions, empirical analysis, robustness tests and contributions).
- Part C should provide detailed guidelines for improvements. The improvements should be based on the criticisms presented in part B.
AI Statement:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides emerging tools that may support students in completing this assessment task. Students may appropriately use AI in completing this assessment task.. Students must clearly reference any use of AI in each instance. A failure to reference generative AI use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Via Blackboard
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Replication study
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Paper/ Report/ Annotation
- Weight
- 40%
- Due date
9/06/2025 3:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L06
Task description
The objective of the assignment is to reproduce some empirical results using a statistical package of your choice in one of the most cited papers in Corporate Finance.
This assignment should help you get accustomed to finance datasets and provide you with some skills that are needed for the data-collection and analysis phase of your thesis.
AI Statement:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides emerging tools that may support students in completing this assessment task. Students may appropriately use AI in completing this assessment task.. Students must clearly reference any use of AI in each instance. A failure to reference generative AI use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
All instructions will be available in the Assessment section of the Blackboard course site. This is in addition to any other arrangement that your course coordinator instructs you in the ECP Assessment Summary.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Course grading
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Grade | Cut off Percent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Low Fail) | 0 - 29 |
Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 2 (Fail) | 30 - 46 |
Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 3 (Marginal Fail) | 47 - 49 |
Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes |
| 4 (Pass) | 50 - 64 |
Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 5 (Credit) | 65 - 74 |
Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 6 (Distinction) | 75 - 84 |
Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 7 (High Distinction) | 85 - 100 |
Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
Additional course grading information
Grades will be allocated according to University-wide standards of criterion-based assessment.
Supplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is available for this course.
Learning resources
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Library resources
Find the required and recommended resources for this course on the UQ Library website.
Learning activities
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
Please select
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Week 1 |
Seminar |
Introduction, Coding & Database Introduction to the course, financial databases in UQ, and coding. Learning outcomes: L01, L06 |
Week 2 |
Seminar |
Endogeneity in Empirical Corporate Finance I Introduction of basic econometrics in corporate finance. Learning outcomes: L01 |
Week 3 |
Seminar |
Endogeneity in Empirical Corporate Finance II Self Directed Learning - No Seminar Learning outcomes: L01 |
Week 4 |
Seminar |
Capital Structure Overview of Capital Structure Literature Learning outcomes: L02, L05 |
Week 5 |
Seminar |
Corporate Governance Corporate Governance Learning outcomes: L03, L05 |
Week 6 |
Seminar |
Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility Learning outcomes: L05 |
Week 7 |
Seminar |
Payout policy An overview of the literature on payout policy Learning outcomes: L02, L05 |
Week 8 |
Seminar |
Climate Finance Learning outcomes: L01, L04 |
Mid-sem break |
No student involvement (Breaks, information) |
In-Semester Break |
Week 9 |
Seminar |
Current issue 1 Mortgage market outcome Learning outcomes: L04, L05 |
Week 10 |
Seminar |
Current issue 2 FinTech and open banking Learning outcomes: L04, L05 |
Week 11 |
Seminar |
Current issue 3 Crypto and cybersecurity Learning outcomes: L04, L05, L06 |
Week 12 |
Seminar |
Current issue 4 ETFs and retail investors Learning outcomes: L04, L05 |
Week 13 |
Seminar |
Replication Study Self Directed Learning - No Seminar |
Policies and procedures
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
- Student Code of Conduct Policy
- Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
- Assessment Procedure
- Examinations Procedure
- Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.