This introduction to finance has a broad scope, placing an emphasis on general principles within the field. It builds its presentation upon the three "pillars" of finance: optimization over time; asset valuation and; risk management.

I. FINANCE AND THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM. 1. What Is Finance? 2. The Financial System. 3. How to Interpret and Forecast Financial Statements. II. TIME AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION. 4. The Time Value of Money and Discounted Cash Flow Analysis. 5. Life-Cycle Financial Planning. 6. How to Analyze Investment Projects. III. VALUATION MODELS. 7. Principles of Asset Valuation. 8. Valuation of Known Cash Flows: Bonds. 9. Valuation of Unknown Cash Flows: Stocks. IV. RISK MANAGEMENT AND PORTFOLIO THEORY. 10. An Overview of Risk Management and Portfolio Selection. 11. Hedging, Insuring, and Diversifying. 12. Choosing an Investment Portfolio. V. ASSET PRICING. 13. The Capital Asset Pricing Model. 14. Forward and Futures Prices. 15. Options and Contingent Claims. IV. CORPORATE FINANCE. 16. Capital Structure. 17. Finance and Corporate Strategy.