December 8, 2017

Every day finance executives must make rapid-fire decisions about corporate strategy, capital allocation, investment decisions, balance sheet structure, acquisitions, and other mission-critical concerns. To help them identify core issues and craft a decision-making approach, the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has launched a new Advanced Corporate Finance program. This course will expose executives to sophisticated tools aimed at helping them anticipate and respond to today’s hot-button issues, including options, risk management, international finance, and emerging financial technologies.

Backed by the world-renowned research and thought leadership of the Wharton School, executives across industries will be immersed in the latest research and real-world business applications surrounding corporate finance. Participants will also be exposed to emerging trends in the financial technology area, which poses a future major disruption to the banking economy and to financial markets.

“Interest rates are rising from record lows, regulatory regimes like Dodd-Frank are under attack by the administration, and blockchain and other technologies are transforming the way that companies raise capital and engage in business,” says Itay Goldstein, Wharton’s Joel S. Ehrenkranz Family Professor and Professor of Finance. “Today, everyone who works in finance—inside and outside of banking—needs an update.”

Advanced Corporate Finance brings together a powerhouse of Wharton faculty from multiple business disciplines such as economics, finance, and legal studies. In addition to Goldstein, other Wharton faculty teaching in the program include Finance Professors David Musto, Joao F. Gomes, and Karen Lewis; and Peter Conti-Brown from the Legal Studies & Business Ethics department.

Musto is chair of Wharton’s Finance Department and also the Ronald O. Perelman Professor in Finance. Gomes, an expert at the intersection of macroeconomics and financial markets, is Wharton’s Howard Butcher III Professor of Finance. Lewis is the Joseph and Ida Sondheimer Professor in International Economics and Finance at Wharton. Conti-Brown is assistant professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics, and author of The Power and Independence of the Federal Reserve.

“A key differentiator of Wharton’s Advanced Corporate Finance program is the way it will immerse participants in the latest research surrounding corporate finance,” says Goldstein, noting that the faculty bring deep connections across a wide section of industries. “One of the highlights of Advanced Corporate Finance is the use of live cases, where participants will be exposed to real companies facing real problems.”

Program participants will evaluate different challenges that companies face, and will make specific recommendations that will be evaluated by Wharton faculty based on feedback from company representatives.

Among other benefits, program participants will have the opportunity to:

  • Tackle capital structure decisions either through debt, equity, or a combination of both
  • Manage risk across borders in a global economy
  • Use real options to expand, change, or curtail projects based on changing economic, technological, or market conditions
  • Value and assess the financial and risk implications of decisions

The program targets executives with finance responsibilities, across all industries, who have strategic financial oversight of their company/division and wish to strengthen or broaden their understanding of corporate finance.

Session topics include:

  • Capital Structure: Debt vs. Equity
  • Real Options: Decision Tree Models
  • Global Trends: Macroeconomics, Regulation, and Financial Technology
  • International Corporate Finance: Valuation and Risk

For more information about this program, visit: execed.wharton.upenn.edu/ACFN

About the Wharton School

Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year 100,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education’s individual, company-customized, and online programs, and thousands of pre-collegiate students explore business concepts through Wharton’s www.wharton.upenn.edu.

Media Contact

Sarah Schwab
Director of Marketing Communications
Aresty Institute of Executive Education
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania execed-pr@wharton.upenn.edu