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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Finance for Non-Finance Professionals by Rice University

4.8
stars
2,611 ratings

About the Course

This short course surveys all the major topics covered in a full semester MBA level finance course, but with a more intuitive approach on a very high conceptual level. The goal here is give you a roadmap and framework for how financial professional make decisions. We will cover the basics of financial valuation, the time value of money, compounding returns, and discounting the future. You will understand discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation and how it compares to other methods. We also step inside the mind of a corporate financial manager and develop the basic tools of capital budgeting. We will survey the how, when, and where to spend money, make tradeoffs about investment, growth, dividends, and how to ensure sound fiscal discipline. Our journey then turns to a Wall Street or capital markets perspective of investments as we discuss the fundamental tradeoff between risk and return. We then synthesize our discussion of risk with our valuation framework and incorporate it into series of direct applications to practice. This course requires no prior familiarity with finance. Rather, it is intended to be a first step for anyone who is curious about understanding stock markets, valuation, or corporate finance. We will walk through all of the tools and quantitative analysis together and develop a guide for understanding the seemingly complex decisions that finance professionals make. By the end of the course, you will develop an understanding of the major conceptual levers that push and pull on financial decision making and how they relate to other areas of business. The course should also serve as a roadmap for where to further your finance education and it would be an excellent introduction of any students contemplating an MBA or Finance concentration, but who has little background in the area....

Top reviews

KH

Mar 27, 2020

Great Course, Very solid start for those who are trying to enter Finance world.

It makes you love this field if you are not familiar with it and have no previous experience.

Great Job Professor.

RM

Aug 16, 2020

This is a very well designed course. Taking you through basics and in the end puts you in a real business scenario where you are expected to take a decision based on the tools and concepts you learnt.

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501 - 525 of 580 Reviews for Finance for Non-Finance Professionals

By Astro C (

Aug 26, 2020

Great instructor. Easy to understand. Super funny.. Most of the stuff are super easy to understand. Definitely not as dry as other course i went. Downside, Some of the math are a bit difficult for me as Instructor immediately tell us the formula without deriving it for us. Also, the capstone case study shocked me as i did not know how to start. Even with peers help, i did not score well.

By Deleted A

Aug 27, 2019

I took a sports finance course from my college three years ago. Finance for Non-Finance Professionals was a great course for me to recall the materials and equations. James Weston made the course enjoyable and informative. My negatives for the course is the difficulty of the capstone case and the length of each video, and therefore, each week. Overall, this was a great experience for me.

By Monica G

Dec 13, 2020

Love the enthusiasm of the professor, the lessons are never boring. Always on point and well explained. I felt like I learned.

Sometimes if you are rusty on algebra or not very familiar with the topic it might be harder to figure out why certain things go in a certain way, but the professor is also very responsive in the forums and usually someone asks the question you need.

By Nallely G J

Oct 8, 2019

It is a good course for people like me who does not anything or just a small piece of finance concepts and application. But just for that reason some times it is difficult to follow the information, because this has a lot of finance terminology that as a beginner unknown. Even though I had a great time and a huge learning.

By Meenakshi D

Oct 29, 2019

Excellent course ware, interesting lectures, tough quizzes/project designed to give students a good grasp over fundamentals. Accounting ratios, forecasting, variance analysis should be covered in detail to bridge the skill gap and enhance job prospects. Renaming the course should increase the number of enrollments.

By William T E

Aug 8, 2023

Great format. Great content. Easy to move through the website. The only issue is that there were a few topics that were glossed over within the lessons, but the homework and quizzes required detailed information. Lessons should always teach more than the homework and quizzes. Other than that, great course.

By Andrea C R

Jun 13, 2020

Great course. I learned a lot and for sure will recommend for people like me that wanted to start learning the basis for finance. However, be aware that in some cases you might need to look for further explanations of concepts outside the videos to be able to really answer quiz questions.

By Niveditha R

Apr 9, 2020

It explains all important topics related to financial modelling in a short and precise way. I felt few topics could be more elaborate with more examples. I would suggest this course to people who have limited time and want to start with the basics .

Thank You Professor James Weston.

By Mateus d C C

May 10, 2021

Good course with an engaged and motivated teacher. In the last week the assigments fell off a little bit in quality with confusing questions, but overall it's good. It would be nice if the course provided suggestions of articles or books to depeen the knowledge in each week.

By Alberto

Apr 26, 2020

This course is is explained clearly by the professor. The videos where structured in a good manner and was clear to read and understand as the professor explained. There are questions in between the videos that help you take in some of the information given during the video.

By Lisa S O

Jun 1, 2019

It's nice and simple. Doesn't go too far into the technical details but enough to get you started should you ever feel to venture further into the field. Provides some thoughtful reading materials. The recording is clear and the professor tries hard to engage.

3.5 stars.

By Hou W

Aug 4, 2020

the content is easy to understand and right level for people without finance background. The concepts is explained very well. The only down side I would say is that the content is probably too shallow and does not offer too much direction for self-guided study beyond.

By Tinrui T

May 28, 2020

Overall a great course. Very clear and very conceptual, great learning for anyone interested in finance. Professor Weston is a gem and makes learning light and fun. My only problem with the course is the lack of explanation for the Capstone Quiz and Final Quiz.

By Javier A R

Aug 20, 2020

Overall, a good course. There should be a short video at the end of the capstone project walking through the entire process. Overall the explanations are clear and the professor makes sure students develop an intuition based on the concepts taught.

By Celeste A C C

Feb 7, 2021

Very well explained course with adequate assignments to practice what you've learned. However, at times I was still left with questions and couldn't find the answer within the information the course provided, so I had to look them up elsewhere.

By Andy S

Apr 16, 2021

An excellent little course, pitched at just the right level to explain foundational concepts without dumbing things down or getting lost. The instructor is really engaging, and by and large the exercises are very well put together.

By Abhishek K

Jun 29, 2020

Some more examples need to be given in certain cases. For ex- when he talked about tax shield of debts raising , there should be more examples related to industry experiences should have been given to make it more clear

By Vyom M

Jan 26, 2020

Overall the course was a very good introduction to the world of finance and valuations. However, I felt that weeks 3 and 4 were rushed a little bit. Professor Weston's way of explaining tricky concepts is very lucid!

By Urvashi

Jul 21, 2020

I learned a lot of things during this course. The conversation with a practitioner really gives you insights about the real world applications, and where our knowledge is applicable in the market.

By Jacinto D

May 4, 2020

This class is an excellent introduction to capital budgeting and finance. It is an excellent primer for understanding how businesses can use these tools to analyze transactions.

By Deborah R

Jun 23, 2017

Learned sooo much in this course. It taught me how to remain curious as the subject matter got more difficult. If you stick with it, you really learn to enjoy finance.

By Aman S

Mar 31, 2020

Excellent Course for those looking for enhancing their ideas and knowledge for Corporate Finance. The course beautifully explains all the topics right from the start.

By Kenan C

Jun 30, 2023

We don't need to hear everytime "Welcome back to Finance for non-Finance Professionals" on every single video like that as if that's something we need to learn.

By Neeraj D

Jan 12, 2021

Good course for non financial professionals. I really able to understand and practice some of the key concepts for financial reporting and income statement. !!

By James T S L

Sep 3, 2020

I enjoyed this course which explains financeial analysis in a simple and easy to understand way. The quizes and tests help reinforce the learning very much.