Introduction to Finance DSBA 2025/2026

Teachers and Assistants

Group	1	2	3
Lecturer in Semester 1	Irina Kestner
Class teacher	Irina Kestner	Yulia Komarova
Consultations	-	-	-

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Course Description

“Introduction to Finance” is a basic two-semester course for second-year undergraduate students. The course is taught in English. It is part of the University of London curriculum. The approach of the course is analytical and emphasizes the link between microeconomics and finance.

The first part of the course - “Introduction to Finance I” - covers the essentials of capital budgeting and securities valuation, as well as basic asset pricing theories.

Grading system

During the course, the student will be formally graded on the following:

• in-class attendance and activity (A);
• several lecture quizzes (Q, where Q is the average grade of all the quizzes in the course);
• several homework assignments (H, where H is the average grade of all the homework assignments in the course);
• one written Fall mid-term test (F)
• one written Winter exam (W).

All grades (namely, A, Q, H, F, and W) are real numbers from 0 to 100.

The cumulative grade, C, is obtained without rounding by the following formula:

C = 0.10*A + 0.05*Q + 0.15*H + 0.25*F + 0.45*W.

Lecture Notes

• Lecture 0 (03.09.2025) Intro, Grades, Reading list.
• Lecture 1 (03.09.2025; revised on 16.09.2025) Financial system: functions, institutions, markets, securities.
• Lecture 2 (17.09.2025) Time value of money: PV, FV, discounting, perpetuities, annuities.

Problem Sets for classes

• Problem Set 1 (03.09.2025) Financial system: functions, institutions, markets, securities.