ACC40940 Business Valuation & Analysis

Academic Year 2023/2024

This module gives students a detailed understanding of advanced corporate valuation using Excel. It starts with the four main aspects of business valuation: strategy, accounting, financial, and prospective analysis. It then covers important valuation methods, such as the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model, the multiples method, and the comparative transaction approach. The module provides thorough knowledge on using these techniques in equity security analysis, credit analysis, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) analysis, ensuring a comprehensive education in business analysis and valuation. After completing this module, students will have advanced financial modeling skills, be able to write their equity research reports, and conduct a stock pitch.

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Curricular information is subject to change

What will I learn?

Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing this module, students will be able to:

1. Understand how a firm's business strategy and operational and financial characteristics influence its valuation.
2. Identify potential valuation red flags, such as earnings quality, through financial statement analysis.
3. Forecast financial statements and cash flows for comprehensive valuation purposes.
4. Synthesize various tools and techniques to accurately determine a firm's equity valuation.
5. Master common valuation methods like discounted cash flow analysis and augment them with practical approaches including earnings-based valuation, valuation multiples, and analysis of comparable transactions.

Indicative Module Content:

This module includes:

1. Introduction to Business Valuation
2. Strategy Analysis: Industry Analysis, Competitive Analysis & Corporate Strategy
3. Accounting Analysis: Accounting Quality Assessment
4. Financial Analysis: Financial Statement Analysis, Ratio Analysis, Cash Flow Analysis
5. Perspective Analysis: Forecasting Financial Statements
6. Valuation Theory and Approaches
7. Excel Modeling (discounted cash flow analysis)
8. Excel Modeling (earnings-based valuation, and market multiples)
9. Equity Security Valuation
10. Credit Analysis Valuation
11. Mergers & Acquisitions Valuation
12. Valuation Challenges and Ethical Considerations

How will I learn?

Student Effort Type	Hours
Lectures	24
Autonomous Student Learning	86
Total	110

Am I eligible to take this module?

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Not applicable to this module.

How will I be assessed?

Assessment Strategy

Description	Timing	Open Book Exam	Component Scale	Must Pass Component	% of Final Grade
Project: Equity Research Report & Stock Pitch	Coursework (End of Trimester)	n/a	Graded	Yes	20
Examination: End of Trimester Examination	3 hour End of Trimester Exam	No	Graded	Yes	80

Carry forward of passed components
No

What happens if I fail?

Resit In	Terminal Exam
Summer	Yes - 3 Hour

Assessment feedback

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Reading List

Business Analysis and Valuation, IFRS edition / Krishna G. Palepu, Paul M. Healy, Erik Peek.
Fourth edition. Available through UCD library: https://librarym.ucd.ie/record=b2101540~S1.

When is this module offered?


Spring
Lecture	Offering 1	Week(s) - 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34	Thurs 11:30 - 13:20
Lecture	Offering 1	Week(s) - 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34	Tues 14:30 - 16:20
Spring