Description du cours

Intitulé de l'Unité d'Enseignement

Financial Mathematics and Financial Management

Code de l'Unité d'Enseignement

13UGE32

Année académique

2026 - 2027

Cycle

BAC

Nombre de crédits

Nombre heures

Quadrimestre

Pondération

Site

Anjou

Langue d'enseignement

Anglais

Enseignant responsable

Soudant Joey

Objectifs et contribution de l'Unité d'Enseignement au programme

This course introduces students to the main concepts and tools of financial mathematics and corporate financial management. Its objective is to enable students to use both previously acquired knowledge and the tools developed throughout the course to interpret accounting information for financial decision-making. The course therefore aims to bridge accounting and finance and to develop the analytical skills required of future financial managers.

The first part develops the foundations of financial mathematics, including interest rates, the time value of money, compounding and discounting, annuities, loan mathematics and the term structure of interest rates.
The second part applies these tools to the valuation of bonds and equities and introduces the relationship between risk and return, portfolio diversification and the Capital Asset Pricing Model.
The third part focuses on corporate financial decisions, including capital budgeting, the cost of capital, capital structure, financial leverage and firm valuation using Free Cash Flow to the Firm.
The course concludes with an introduction to sustainable finance.

Throughout the course, particular attention is paid to the links between the different concepts and to their application to concrete financial decisions.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- apply the main tools of financial mathematics;
- value basic financial assets such as bonds and equities;
- analyse the relationship between risk and expected return;
- apply the CAPM and basic portfolio concepts;
- evaluate investment projects;
- estimate and interpret the cost of capital;
- analyse financing and capital structure decisions;
- value a firm using a free cash flow approach;
- interpret financial results and justify financial decisions;
- connect concepts from different chapters and from other courses in the programme;
- critically assess the assumptions underlying the main financial models studied.

Prérequis et corequis

A course in statistics and, more specifically, the essential concepts of standard deviation, variance, covariance, normal distribution and correlation.

A course in general accounting and financial statement analysis in order to be able to read and understand the elements of a balance sheet and an income statement.

Description du contenu

Part I — Financial Mathematics
- Chapter 1: Foundations of Financial Decision-Making and the Time Value of Money
- Chapter 2: Annuities, Interest Rates and Loan Mathematics

Part II — Valuation, Risk and Investment Decisions
- Chapter 3: Bond Valuation
- Chapter 4: Equity Valuation
- Chapter 5: Risk, Return and the Capital Asset Pricing Model
- Chapter 6: Portfolio Theory and Applications
- Chapter 7: Capital Budgeting and Investment Decisions

Part III — Corporate Financial Management
- Chapter 8: Cost of Capital
- Chapter 9: Capital Structure and Financial Leverage
- Chapter 10: Firm Valuation using Free Cash Flow
- Chapter 11: Integrated Capital Budgeting Applications

Part IV — Sustainable Finance
- Chapter 12: Introduction to Sustainable Finance

Méthodes pédagogiques

The course is taught through two weekly classroom sessions, combining theoretical explanations with practical applications throughout the semester. Students regularly work on exercises during class, with time allocated to attempt them before the solutions and underlying reasoning are discussed together. Additional exercises are made available on Moodle to support independent practice, with solutions provided for most, but not all, of them. Lecture slides are progressively uploaded to Moodle as the course advances.

Additional readings, articles or videos may occasionally be recommended to complement the course material. When relevant, it will be clearly indicated whether these resources are part of the required material or are provided for further information and enrichment.

Mode d'évaluation

The course is assessed through a two-hour written examination. Students may use a calculator. The examination may include multiple-choice questions, open questions assessing the understanding of concepts, questions based on recent financial or economic news, and questions asking students to explain a concept through an example. The practical part consists of exercises similar to those covered in class or in the additional exercise sets.

Particular attention is paid to the ability to connect concepts from different chapters and, where relevant, concepts acquired in other courses. Questions may therefore combine several topics and require students to analyse real or hypothetical situations. Assessment focuses on the quality of the reasoning, the appropriate use of financial concepts, the interpretation of results and the justification of conclusions, rather than only on the final numerical answer.

Références bibliographiques

• Vernimmen, P., Quiry, P. & Le Fur, Y. (2024). Finance d'entreprise
(Ed. 22). Dalloz.
• Block, S. B., Hirt, G. A., & Danielsen, B. R. (2018). Foundations of
financial management. McGraw-Hill Education.
• Berk J. & DeMarzo P. (2019). Finance d’entreprise. Pearson