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Spring, 2023

RESEC 324 –Small Business Finance (3 credits)

Tu & Th: 11:30-12:45

Course Delivery:

This course is delivered synchronously via Zoom sessions, scheduled in the regular hours of the class (T & Th 11:30-12:45). Students will receive notifications and links to the zoom meeting by their emails, according to the class email list prepared and updated by Spire. To stay in contact with the class all the time, please check with Spire and make sure you are on the email list. Complete class material and other information will be posted on moodle.  Tests will be conducted via moodle too. All the communications with me and your teaching assistant Mr. Kwon should be made by email.

Join Zoom Meeting at:

https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/97172531244?pwd=TEdkQzNmaWhucUxBcitJMTk1QW1NZz09

Course Description:

This course offers an economic analysis of financial resources and management of entrepreneurial ventures and small businesses.  It examines issues such as entrepreneurship; nature, importance, and role of small business; financial statement analysis; financial planning; capital budgeting and management; working capital analysis; capital structure and leverage; profitability and break-even analysis; and business inventory control.

Course Objectives:

The major objective of this course is to acquaint students with the nature of entrepreneurship, the financial functions of a small business, and the ways of optimizing the outcome of those functions. Specifically, the following detailed objectives are drawn based on our department’s “Student Learning Objectives (SLO) and Experiential Goals (EG)”

· To develop an understanding of the terms, concepts, and theories involved in entrepreneurial finance. This objective satisfies:

SLO #2: Understand and master microeconomics as a foundational theory.

SLO#3:  Achieve proficiency in the supporting disciplines, such as macroeconomics, mathematics, statistics, and finance.

· To explore the economic concerns of individuals and families, and their awareness of the need of financial planning in the context of the small firm’s economic security. This objective satisfies:

SLO #1: Creatively apply the acquired knowledge from their respective fields to make optimal choices in their professional and personal lives.

· To identify and clarify the variety of factors that may influence small business and entrepreneurial financial management. This objective satisfies:

SLO #1: Creatively apply the acquired knowledge from their respective fields to make optimal choices in their professional and personal lives.

· To develop financial decision-making skills and to enhance students’ ability to apply theoretical knowledge in making the best educated choices in entrepreneurial ventures and small business finance. This objective satisfies:

SLO#6: Integrate theoretical principles with quantitative techniques to promote decision making.

· Last, but not least is to enable students to solve a variety of problems by hand, away from the blind dependence on business calculators and computers’ ready answers. This objective satisfies:

SLO#7: Synthesize, analyze, evaluate, and generate effective solutions to evolving problems in their respective fields and personal lives.

EG #1: Enhance teamwork/collaborative skills through a. group work, activities, assignments, etc., and/or b. team-based learning.

Text and References:

Required Text:

- Alhabeeb, M.J. (2015). Entrepreneurial Finance: Fundamentals of Financial Planning and Management for Small Business. Wiley Publications. 

Course Requirements:

3 Exams given via moodle on:

Exam 1: Thursday March 9^th  (100 points)

Exam 2: Thursday April 18^th (100 points)

Exam 3: Scheduled as the final exam  on May 22^nd  (100 points)

All exams are take home, open book, where you have 24hrs to turn in. Any missed submission will take automatic ZERO.

Grading Scale:

Letter grades will be assigned based on the following percentages and ranges:

Grade % Range of Points

A 95-100 285-300

A- 90-94 270-284

B+ 85-89 255-269

B 80-84 240-254

B- 75-79 225-239

C+ 70-74 210-224

C 65-69 195-209

C- 60-64 180-194

D+ 55-59 165-179

D 50-54 150-164

F 49 and Below 149 and Below 

Notes:

- Class attendance is essential.  A lot of material covered in class lectures may not be easily understood by just reading the texts.  Attending regularly and actively is a good indicator of your responsibility and an excellent predictor of your overall performance.

- There will be no make-up exams. Dire excuses must be documented by the university. In such cases, please notify me as early as possible. Later notifications and trivial justifications will not be accepted.

Tentative Course Outline

Small Business and Entrepreneurship Alhabeeb, Chs. 1,2,  

Financial Management and Statement Analysis Alhabeeb, Ch.6

Working Capital Alhabeeb, Chs.10,11

Inventory Management and Control Alhabeeb, Ch.12

Forms of Business Ownership Alhabeeb, Ch.4

Introduction and Brief Guide to Writing a Business Plan Alhabeeb, Ch.5

Capital Structure Alhabeeb, Ch.7

Profitability and Break-Even Analysis Alhabeeb, Ch.8

Pro Forma Statements and Forecasting Alhabeeb, Ch.9

Accommodation Statement

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is committed to providing an equal educational opportunity for all students.  If you have a documented physical, psychological, or learning disability on file with Disability Services (DS), you may be eligible for reasonable academic accommodations to help you succeed in this course.  If you have a documented disability that requires an accommodation, please notify me within the first two weeks of the semester so that we may make appropriate arrangements.

Academic Honesty Statement

Since the integrity of the academic enterprise of any institution of higher education requires honesty in scholarship and research, academic honesty is required of all students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  Academic dishonesty is prohibited in all programs of the University.  Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and facilitating dishonesty.  Appropriate sanctions may be imposed on any student who has committed an act of academic dishonesty.  Instructors should take reasonable steps to address academic misconduct.  Any person who has reason to believe that a student has committed academic dishonesty should bring such information to the attention of the appropriate course instructor as soon as possible.  Instances of academic dishonesty not related to a specific course should be brought to the attention of the appropriate department Head or Chair.  Since students are expected to be familiar with this policy and the commonly accepted standards of academic integrity, ignorance of such standards is not normally sufficient evidence of lack of intent (http://www.umass.edu/dean_students/codeofconduct/acadhonesty/).