Corporate Finance: Free Online Course

About this course

Corporate finance becomes easier to apply when each decision can be traced to a clear financial principle. This free online course with Aswath Damodaran presents the subject in short, organized lessons. It connects business objectives, required returns, investment analysis, financing and dividends before bringing those ideas together through valuation.

Course at a glance

What you’ll learn

• Explain how a business objective shapes corporate finance choices.
• Connect risk-free rates, premiums and betas with hurdle rates.
• Assess the logic of investment returns and financing decisions.
• Relate dividend policy and valuation to the cash-generating capacity of a business.

Skills you’ll gain

• Financial decision frameworks
• Capital budgeting
• Capital structure analysis
• Payout policy

Course Overview

After the setup and introductory sessions, the course develops the risk inputs used to estimate hurdle rates. It then examines investment returns and several approaches to the financing mix. A sequence on dividend policy considers measurement, trade-offs, assessment and action. The valuation sessions at the end connect cash flows, growth, terminal assumptions, control and relative valuation. The format supports steady self-paced study and targeted revision.

How the course develops

• Objectives and hurdle rates: build the framework from business purpose through risk inputs and the cost of capital.
• Investment and funding: follow the progression from project cash flows to the amount and type of financing.
• Payouts and valuation: connect dividend assessment with the valuation concepts that close the course.

The classroom retains every entry from the selected source playlist, including introductory or review videos when present. Follow the lesson sequence, or use the lesson search to return to a specific explanation. The source lesson titles are preserved so that you can match your place with the instructor’s materials.

Who is this for?

Students, managers and independent learners seeking a structured online corporate finance course with shorter sessions than the full MBA classroom track.

Before you start

Basic accounting, percentages and algebra are recommended. Foundations of Finance is a useful preparation course if present value or risk concepts are unfamiliar.

Put the lessons into practice

Create a one-page financial decision map for a business you understand. Add an investment question, a funding question and a cash distribution question, then state how each connects to business value. As you finish each section, update the assumptions and note any decision that conflicts with the others.

This optional activity is provided by WikiFree for independent study. It is not a graded assignment from the instructor. Keep your working notes and separate evidence from assumptions so that you can review your reasoning as you progress.

Certificate / Assessment

The public YouTube videos are free to watch. Viewing them through WikiFree does not include a certificate, academic credit, an NYU degree, instructor feedback or admission to a university program. Separate enrolled or certificate programs can have different requirements and fees.

Mark complete records your study progress; it does not assess your work or award a qualification. Examples and figures belong to the source recordings. Use the lessons to learn the analytical methods and verify current inputs before applying them to a real decision.

Frequently asked questions

Provider: Aswath Damodaran. Videos play from the Aswath Damodaran channel on YouTube.