From Balance Sheet to Financial Decision Making

Finance is about making investments and managerial decisions based on economic information in the face of uncertainty. This half-day class will guide you through the financial decision making process from start to finish. You will learn to:

• Read and interpret balance sheet and income statements
• Synthesize and use that information into financial models
• Make decisions based on these models
• Understand the limits of financial modeling

In our financial analysis we will go over fundamental concepts, such as diversification, hedging and managing various sources of risk. Whether you are an investor, manager, VC or entrepreneur, you will learn to use modern financial tools that have not only become an integral part of our business environment, but have also opened new and unexplored opportunities.

Course Faculty

Dr. Rossen Valkanov is an associate professor of finance at the Rady School. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University. In 1999, he became an assistant professor of finance at UCLA's Anderson School of Management where he remained until his appointment at UC San Diego. From 2001-2004 he served as an assistant professor of finance at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Management, teaching courses for the master's program in financial engineering. He is a member of many professional organizations including the American Finance Association, the American Economic Association, the Econometric Society and the Bachelier Society. Dr. Valkanov's main research interests are in the areas of financial econometrics, empirical asset pricing, portfolio choice and monetary economics.