Home / Courses / FIN320
Southern New Hampshire University

FIN320: Principles of Finance

A complete guide to SNHU's FIN-320 Principles of Finance, covering essential financial concepts including time value of money, risk and return analysis, capital budgeting, and financial statement analysis, using Excel for financial modeling and applying CAPM and Efficient Market Hypothesis theories.

UndergraduateSNHUPrinciples of FinanceAPA 7th Edition

FIN-320 covers essential financial concepts including time value of money, risk and return analysis, capital budgeting, and financial statement analysis. Students engage with tools such as Excel for financial modeling and case studies to apply theories like the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH).

Time value of money as the foundational concept

The course establishes time value of money as foundational, since nearly every subsequent finance concept — capital budgeting, valuation, risk-return analysis — ultimately depends on recognizing that money available today is worth more than the same amount in the future.

Applying theory through Excel modeling

FIN-320 pairs finance theory with genuine Excel-based financial modeling, ensuring students can actually build and use financial models, not just understand concepts like CAPM and EMH conceptually.

Key topics in FIN320

Working on your FIN-320 assignments?

Our writers help with FIN-320 principles of finance assignments and financial modeling case studies.

Get Expert Help

Worked example: time value of money underlying capital budgeting

  • Without time value of money: Treating a dollar received today the same as a dollar received in five years
  • With time value of money: Discounting future cash flows to reflect their true present value before comparing investment options
  • Lesson: FIN-320 teaches that virtually every capital budgeting decision depends on this foundational time value of money concept

Get Help With FIN320

SNHU FIN-320 principles of finance assignments.

Place Your OrderView All Services

Related courses

Frequently asked questions

Why is time value of money treated as such a foundational concept in FIN-320, underlying so many other finance topics?

Nearly every core finance decision — whether to invest in a project, how to value a bond, how to compare different investment returns — ultimately requires comparing cash flows that occur at different points in time, and time value of money provides the essential mathematical framework for making these comparisons meaningfully by accounting for the fact that money available sooner is worth more than the same amount later. FIN-320 establishes this concept first because capital budgeting, valuation, and risk-return analysis are all, in a genuine sense, applications of this single foundational principle.

Why does FIN-320 require hands-on Excel modeling rather than teaching finance concepts through calculation by hand alone?

Real-world financial analysis is almost universally conducted using spreadsheet modeling tools, and building genuine competency with Excel-based financial models — not just understanding formulas conceptually — reflects the actual practical skill finance professionals use daily. FIN-320 requires this hands-on modeling because job-relevant financial literacy includes this practical tool fluency, not just theoretical understanding of financial concepts.