Example syllabus only – exact content subject to change. Please see your instructor’s syllabus for the current term for your specific course’s guidelines
Instructor: Mengxiao Liu (she/her, phonetics: MUNG-shaw LEE-oh)
Email: @email
Office: Stockbridge Hall 410
Office hours: Mon 2:30-3:30 pm
Teaching Assistants: Eunseo Park (she/her)
Email: @email
Office hours: TBD
Lectures: Monday and Wednesday 4:00-5:15pm, Holdsworth 202
Communication
I will post class announcements on Canvas. The best way to reach me is by email, and I will do my best to reply within 24 hours on weekdays. If you do not hear back within that time, please feel free to follow up. You are welcome to call me Mengxiao.
Echo360 Recordings
Lectures will be video and audio recorded and distributed on Canvas through Echo360. This will help you catch up if you are unable to attend class for any reason. The system is designed to capture the instructor and the front of the classroom and should avoid capturing students’ likeness. However, students' participation may be recorded. The recordings will not be made available to anyone outside of the class. Do note that there is no guarantee that the recordings will be of a sufficiently good quality as to be audible, clear, or useful. Technical malfunctions are likely to occur from time to time. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you attend class meetings rather than rely on the availability of recordings.
Course Description
This course offers an economic analysis of financial resources and management of entrepreneurial ventures and small businesses. It examines issues such as entrepreneurship; nature, importance, and role of small business; financial statement analysis; financial planning; capital budgeting and management; working capital analysis; capital structure and leverage; profitability and break-even analysis; and business inventory control.
Required Material
Alhabeeb, M.J. (2015). Entrepreneurial Finance: Fundamentals of Financial Planning and Management for Small Business. Wiley Publications. The ebook version is available from the UMass Library.
Course Objectives
The major objective of this course is to acquaint students with the nature of entrepreneurship, the financial functions of a small business, and the ways of optimizing the outcome of those functions. Specifically, the following detailed objectives are drawn based on our department’s ``Student Learning Objectives (SLO) and Experiential Goals (EG)''
- To develop an understanding of the terms, concepts, and theories involved in entrepreneurial finance. This objective satisfies:
- SLO #2: Understand and master microeconomics as a foundational theory.
- SLO #3: Achieve proficiency in supporting disciplines, such as macroeconomics, mathematics, statistics, and finance.
- To explore the economic concerns of individuals and families, and their awareness of the need of financial planning in the context of the small firm’s economic security. This objective satisfies:
- SLO #1: Creatively apply the acquired knowledge from their respective fields to make optimal choices in their professional and personal lives.
- To identify and clarify the variety of factors that may influence small business and entrepreneurial financial management. This objective satisfies:
- SLO #1: Creatively apply the acquired knowledge from their respective fields to make optimal choices in their professional and personal lives.
- To develop financial decision-making skills and to enhance students’ ability to apply theoretical knowledge in making the best educated choices in entrepreneurial ventures and small business finance. This objective satisfies:
- SLO #6: Integrate theoretical principles with quantitative techniques to promote decision making.
- To enable students to solve a variety of problems by hand, away from the blind dependence on business calculators and computers’ ready answers. This objective satisfies:
- SLO #7: Synthesize, analyze, evaluate, and generate effective solutions to evolving problems in their respective fields and personal lives.
- EG #1: Enhance teamwork/collaborative skills through 1. group work, activities, assignments, etc., and/or 2. team- based learning.
Evaluation and Grading Scheme
Grades will be calculated according to the following percentages:
| Component | Percentage | When |
|---|---|---|
| Problem Sets | 20% | 3/6, 4/10 |
| Midterm Exam 1 | 15% | 3/9 |
| Midterm Exam 2 | 15% | 4/13 |
| Business Plan | 20% | A tentative title and group members 4/17; Complete written business plan 5/1 |
| Final Exam | 23% | 5/11, 6pm–8pm |
| Attendance | 5% | |
| Reflection | 2% |
Final grades will be calculated according to the following minimum cutoff points:
| F | D | D+ | C- | C | C+ | B- | B | B+ | A- | A | |
| Course grade | - | 60 | 63 | 67 | 70 | 73 | 77 | 80 | 83 | 87 | 90 |
Problem sets: Two problem sets will be assigned during the course: one before each midterm exam. Each assignment contributes 10% to the final grade. Assignments should be submitted as PDF using the submission link on Canvas. You may discuss the assignments with classmates, but writing and reasoning must be your own. Homework submitted after the deadline will incur a penalty of 20% per day. For example, a homework submitted 6 hours late would incur a penalty of (6/24) *20% = 5%. If the student scored 40/44 = 90.9%, the final recorded score would be 90.9% - 5% = 85.9%.
Business Plan: Focuses on practical measures to design and write a business plan (Chapter 5 in the text). You will develop a plan for a hypothetical or real small business, aiming to attract investors and approvals. The completed written plan is due 5/1. Business plan submitted after the deadline will incur a penalty of 20% per day. Sharing a plan is encouraged (maximum three students per plan). A tentative title and group members must be submitted by 4/17. If you decide to work as a team, only one person needs to submit the assignment, but please include everyone’s name. All team members will receive the same grade. Keep in mind that extensions or partial credit will not be given because of partner participation issues, and any late or incomplete submission will affect the entire group.
Midterm Examinations: Each midterm consists of essay and multiple-choice questions and counts for 15% of the final grade. There will be no make-up exams unless there is a university-documented excuse, in which case please notify the instructor as early as possible. Exam dates: 3/9, 4/13.
Final Examination: The final exam consists of essay and multiple-choice questions and counts for 23% of the final grade. Exam date: 5/11, 6pm–8pm.
Reflections: These brief reflections are meant to help you check in with yourself. It also helps the instructor better understand how to support you throughout the course. You’ll complete two short questionnaires on Canvas, and together they count for 2% of your final grade.
Attendance Policy
Attendance is an important part of this course and will be tracked through Minute Essays. These may take different forms depending on the day’s class. To earn attendance credit, you must be present when the Minute Essay is given and submit it at the end of class.
To provide flexibility, the three lowest Minute Essay scores will be dropped at the end of the semester. These drops are intended to cover occasional absences due to illness, travel, job interviews, job fairs, or similar commitments.
Additional accommodations will be considered only in special circumstances, such as extended illness (with documentation covering the full period of absence) or foreseeable absences that are communicated in advance and approved within the first two weeks of the semester (for example, religious holidays or extracurricular commitments).
Schedule and Due Dates
(subject to change; see Canvas for latest)
| Week | Date | Topics | Reading | Due |
| 1 | 2/2 2/4 | Introduction, syllabus Small business and entrepreneurship | Syllabus Ch 1, 2.1-2.3 | |
| 2 | 2/9 2/11 | Small business options Forms of business ownership, financial statements | Ch 2.4, 2.5, 4 Ch 4, 6.1-6.3 | Reflection 1 |
| 3 | 2/18 2/19 | Ratio analysis Ratio analysis, DuPont model | Ch 6.3, 6.4 Ch 6.4, 6.5 | |
| 4 | 2/23 2/25 | Working capital Financial management of working capital | Ch 10, 11.1, 11.2 Ch 11.3, 11.4 | |
| 5 | 3/2 3/4 | Inventory management and control Review of midterm 1 (Ch 1, 2, 3, 4, 6) | Ch 12 |
PS 1 (3/6) |
| 6 | 3/9 3/11 | Midterm 1 Business plan I |
Ch 5 | |
3/16 3/18 | ||||
| 7 | 3/23 3/25 | Business plan II Capital structure and leverage I | Ch 5 Ch 5, 7.1, 7.3 | Reflection 2 |
| 8 | 3/30 4/1 | Capital structure and leverage II Capital structure and leverage III | Ch 7.3 Ch 7.3 | |
| 9 | 4/6 4/8 | Profitability and break-even analysis I Review for midterm 2 (Ch 10,11,7) | Ch 8 |
PS 2 (4/10) |
| 10 | 4/13 4/15 | Midterm 2 Profitability and break-even analysis II |
Ch 8 |
Tentative BP (4/17) |
| 11 | 4/22 4/24 | Business valuation and harvesting I Business valuation and harvesting II | Ch 14 Ch 14 | |
| 12 | 4/27 4/29 | Working on business plan I Working on business plan II |
Business Plan (5/1) | |
| 13 | 5/4 5/6 | Review for Final Exam I Review for Final Exam II |
Course Evaluation | |
| 5/11 | Final Exam (6-8pm) |
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
You may use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot (recommended by UMass), or similar tools to assist with your work. However, directly copying text generated by an AI tool into your assignments is considered plagiarism (see the Academic Integrity section).
AI tools may be useful for generating ideas or assisting with the writing process, but their outputs may be inaccurate or incomplete. You are responsible for ensuring that all submitted work meets the standards of this course. Statements such as “ChatGPT said so” are not acceptable justifications and will not affect grading. AI tools are not citable sources; all information must be verified using reliable references before being included in your work.
Academic Integrity Statement
UMass Amherst is strongly committed to academic integrity, which is defined as completing all academic work without cheating, lying, stealing, or receiving unauthorized assistance from any other person, or using any source of information not appropriately authorized or attributed. As a community, we hold each other accountable and support each other’s knowledge and understanding of academic integrity. Academic dishonesty is prohibited in all programs of the University and includes but is not limited to: Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, lying, and facilitating dishonesty, via analogue and digital means. Sanctions may be imposed on any student who has committed or participated in an academic integrity infraction. Any person who has reason to believe that a student has committed an academic integrity infraction should bring such information to the attention of the appropriate course instructor as soon as possible. All students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have read and acknowledged the Commitment to Academic Integrity and are knowingly responsible for completing all work with integrity and in accordance with the policy: (https://www.umass.edu/senate/book/academic-regulations-academic-integrity-policy)
Accommodation Statement
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is committed to making reasonable, effective, and appropriate accommodations to meet the needs of students with disabilities and help create a barrier-free campus. If you have a disability and require accommodations, please register with Disability Services, meet with an Access Coordinator in Disability Services, and send your accommodation letter to your faculty. Information on services and registration is available on the Disability Services website (https://www.umass.edu/disability/)
Title IX Statement
In accordance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 that prohibits gender-based discrimination in educational settings that receive federal funds, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is committed to providing a safe learning environment for all students, free from all forms of discrimination, including sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and retaliation. This includes interactions in person or online through digital platforms and social media. Title IX also protects against discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, or related conditions, including recovery. There are resources here on campus to support you. A summary of the available Title IX resources (confidential and non-confidential) can be found at the following link: https://www.umass.edu/titleix/resources. You do not need to make a formal report to access them. If you need immediate support, you are not alone. Free and confidential support is available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week / 365 days a year at the SASA Hotline 413-545-0800.