I intentionally chose to go with the previous edition textbook (10th edition vs. the new 11th edition) this semester. That choice was made to save students hundreds of dollars. I totally disagree with a large publisher making minimal changes to a textbook and effectively transferring wealth from struggling students to greedy executives. In that vain, I use the university’s Blackboard system instead of the publishers homework management system (which would cost students additional subscription fees).  You need not worry about paying for the “access card.”

The last time I stopped by the bookstore  I saw some ridiculously high prices: $186 used, $248 new. The last time I checked on Amazon, there were 91 used copies available with a starting price of about $20 and 24 new copies available with a starting price of about $100: click here to see.  Lower prices are also available at half.com.

Finally,  my choice of the same “Intermediate” text for FIN101 and MBA220 is again related to efficiency.  I reviewed both the introductory and intermediate texts written by the same author.  It turns out that entire paragraphs are copied verbatim from the introductory text to the intermediate text (or vice versa).  It appears that the big publishers are again trying to get you to purchase multiple $200 books with minimal differences between them.  So, in a nutshell, the “Intermediate” text is a superset of the “Introductory” text.  I hope you will retain this “super” book as a reference.

The only material covered in my course that is not in the intermediate text is the Time Value of Money chapter.  No problem, it is available for free from the book publisher.  I have copied the file and made it available here to save you a little search time.

Here is web chapter 28 (web28, web 28) from the Brigham and Daves (2010) – Intermediate Financial Management textbook:

Web_Chapter_28_TVM

Hello everyone. I hope your summer was peaceful and productive.  The course syllabi are now available on my website,www.efficientminds.com, for you to download.  Go to www.efficientminds.com, mouse over “Class materials” then click on “Syllabi.”

On that same page you will see a link to your first homework assignment, the “No excuses presentation.”  Your assignment is to read the entire presentation, print the first page only, sign it, and bring it to class Monday or Wednesday.

For the MBA students, you may want to look at the case study instructions also under “Class materials.”

See you Monday!