Take My Liberty BUSI 532 Class

BUSI 532 follows Penman's method from first principles to a value per share. The first chapters contrast fundamental analysis, which anchors value in accounting information, with speculation on price.

Weeks two and three develop accrual-based valuation, including the residual earnings model, and then reformulate the financial statements, separating operating activities from financing activities and finding comprehensive income.

Week four analyzes the cash flow statement and profitability, decomposing return on equity into its operating and financing parts.

Week five turns to growth, separating core operating income from unusual items and asking what drives growth in residual operating income.

Week six covers forecasting and full-information valuation, where pro forma statements lead to a value per share that can be compared with the market price.

Week seven steps back to the business itself, asking what the statements reveal about how the company creates value, and week eight adds equity risk and return.

Your individual company runs through all seven homework workbooks, and the group report applies the same sequence to a different company.

The first week runs Monday to Friday and every later week Saturday to Friday, with work due on Fridays.

Lecture presentations accompany each week's chapters, and the course website links point to filings and data sources the homework uses.

Chapter 7, read in week seven, steps back from the numbers to the business, which is why it comes late despite its number.

BUSI 532 is handled as a single workbook that grows each week, because that is how the homework is designed.

Picking the right listed company comes first, ideally one whose annual reports are tidy and whose business can be described in a sentence. Several years of statements are loaded into the workbook at once.

Each homework adds a layer: residual earnings in week two, reformulated statements in week three, profitability analysis in week four, growth in week five, forecasts and value in week six and strategy in week seven.

Every workbook arrives with its formulas intact and a short memo explaining what the numbers show, so you can follow the analysis rather than only submit it.

Forum posts follow each prompt's instructions, comparing ideas such as residual earnings valuation and discounted cash flow, or how analysts separate sustainable earnings from one-time items.

When the group turns to its second company, your part runs the same steps again and matches the group's layout.

Uploading and posting are left to you.

Each memo is written so you could explain the numbers yourself if asked.

The analyst checks the company's segment reporting and any recent restatements before the choice is confirmed, since both complicate the later work.

Where a step needs a judgment call, such as classifying cash held by the business, the memo explains the choice.

The analyst on your course values companies professionally, typically with a CFA charter or a background in equity research.

That background matters because Penman's method is detailed, and someone who reformulates statements routinely knows which line items move between operating and financing.

They build clean, auditable spreadsheets, with inputs separated from calculations, which makes each later homework easier to add.

They write plainly about numbers, so the forums and memos explain the analysis rather than restating it.

Before any file is sent, a colleague re-runs the totals. One analyst stays with your company all term, so the workbook stays consistent.

Your name stays with the coordinator. If a chapter is unclear, such as how net operating assets differ from total assets, a short explanation comes with the next workbook.

They have explained valuations to investment committees, so their memos are short and clear.

Choosing the company is the first trap. A company with complex segments, frequent restatements or heavy financial operations makes every later homework harder.

Reformulation is the second. Penman asks you to sort every line into business or financing activity, and a misplaced item distorts every ratio that follows.

Breaking returns into their drivers is the third, since several layers of ratios must agree with one another.

Forecasting is the fourth. Pro forma statements depend on reasonable drivers, and a forecast that ignores the company's history produces an unconvincing value.

The pace is the fifth, with a 100-point workbook due every week from week two to week seven.

Week eight compresses the term's entire method into one group report on an unfamiliar company.

The forums ask for comparisons, such as one valuation model against another, which needs more than definitions.

Choosing a company whose year-end does not match the calendar, or one that changed its reporting recently, adds avoidable work.

Students who choose a bank or insurer face extra complications, since much of their financing is also their operating business.

Booking ahead means your company is picked and its statements loaded within days.

Workbooks come midweek with a short explanation attached.

Discussion posts are ready at the start of their weeks.

Your share of the group report arrives before your group's deadline in week eight.

Most of the cost is the homework. Joining late, you send what you have and the next workbook builds on it.

Each delivery is a file you can open, check and adjust.

Forum lines are the smallest on the quote, and a full-term booking lowers every line. Each item arrives before its due date.