Angelo Corelli - Analytical Corporate Finance

The book offers an innovative view of the most important areas of study for a newcomer in finance. The book aims to be a guide through the most common and interesting topics of corporate finance, supported by a rich mathematical foundation (from which the term analytical in the book title derives).

The focus of the book is on the life of the corporation, from the start to the implementation of the most complex projects, and the many different ways financing can be achieved. The new approach proposed by this book involves a strong analytical insight into each topic to give students the tools to really understand the effects of managerial decisions on the life of the corporation.

The vision of the book is to offer a guide to corporate finance, capable of helping students and practitioners gain an introduction to the area, as well as giving intermediate users useful insights into and a deeper understanding of the analytics behind each part.

The literature of books in corporate finance spans over a wide range of topics and theories. The market is already full of (even good) textbooks facing the issue of the corporation from many points of view.

However, the overall offer of corporate finance textbook lacks a rigorous mathematical approach. All these books share the same business-related approach to the topic, focusing more on the corporate aspects rather than the financial substance.

The aim of Analytical Corporate Finance is to turn the attention to the financial aspects of the daily life of the corporation, with a robust mathematical setting, and the explanation and derivation of the mostly popular models of the firm.

The potential of filling such a niche is evident if one thinks that a course in corporate finance nowadays makes only sense if held at the very beginning of an undergraduate course program in basic finance.

There is a demand for high-quality education at masters level, including a more advanced level of corporate finance courses, which is not fulfilled nowadays and definitely requires a good textbook as a guide for such advanced education in the field.

Corporate finance is the first area of knowledge in an ideal sequence of studies in finance. It contains, in fact, reference to many topics in finance, which are subject to deeper understanding in subsequent modules: risk management, derivatives pricing, asset pricing, etc.

It is therefore very important to address each single topic in the most comprehensive way, giving a complete description of the main aspects of the topic and leaving the need for further knowledge to the curiosity of the student.

As an area, corporate finance can be thought of as an introductory aggregation of all the main topics that constitute the object of a deeper knowledge when studying other areas of finance.

It does not mean knowledge can be superficial or merely introductory. The purpose of a good textbook in corporate finance is therefore to include all necessary knowledge without missing any crucial information, but also avoiding useless widening of the explanation beyond what can really satisfy students needs.

The structure of the book corresponds to the above rationale, giving a complete view of the various topics that make up the corporate finance area, and offering a good quantitative basis, which helps students understand the topics.

The book stands on a double pillar of theory and analytics, which merge in a way that makes it easy for students to understand the exact meaning of the concepts and their representation and applicability in real-world contexts. Examples are given throughout the chapters in order to clarify the most intricate aspects; where needed, there are appendices at the end of chapters that give more mathematical insights about specific topics.

The duality stands at the basis of a complete learning experience, and students may get the most out of the book if they have a prior solid background in economic theory and an introductory level of financial mathematics. Indeed, students facing financial topics for the first time may benefit from using the book as a medium-level introduction to some aspects of financial theory and practice.

Due to the recent growth in knowledge demand by the private sector, practitioners can also benefit from the chapters in the book to fill a gap between university and industry, which stood prior to the crisis. The book provides useful information for managers who want to increase their knowledge about risk management and understand what may have been lacking in their own systems.

The book is meant for third-year undergraduate students of business finance, quantitative finance, and financial mathematics, as well as first-year postgraduate (master) students. Most universities offer the type of training in mathematics and statistics that would be prerequisite for the successful completion of a course using Analytical Corporate Finance . Potential users include students of universities, technical schools, and business schools offering courses in financial risk management.