Course Detail (Course Description By Faculty)

In previous accounting and financial analysis courses, you developed skills essential to understanding how a firm tracks its day-to-day operations, how its activities translate into periodic financial statements, and how those statements may be used to assess a firm's value. Outside of 'normal' business activities, firms periodically undergo dramatic transformations through acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, or bankruptcy. This course builds on knowledge from other Booth courses and equips you with tools to build financial models that better understand the financial reporting, tax, and legal implications of structuring complex deals.

This course is essential for investment bankers, consultants, restructuring and turnaround specialists, private equity professionals, corporate development/internal M&A professionals, and entrepreneurs who want a competitive advantage by understanding how financial reporting, tax, and legal considerations affect deal structures. 

You will benefit greatly from this course if you wish to acquire tools to:

• understand the financial reporting, tax/legal implications of structuring complex deals.
• build merger and restructuring models to evaluate various deal structures;
• work for C-level roles (CEO, CFO, SVPs/GMs) and to serve on boards of major corporations as it provides an executive viewpoint on financial reporting and investor messaging implications for significant business investments.

Main topics to be covered include: (1) Financial Reporting and Tax implications of influence and control situations; (2) Financial reporting and Tax Implications of M&A deals; (3) Financial reporting and tax implications for restructuring via sales, spin-offs, and equity carve-outs; (4) Financial reporting implications and Tax implications for distressed firms operating in bankruptcy and emerging from bankruptcy (5) Building Merger Consequences and Restructuring models to evaluate the feasibility of deals. Here is a video introduction for the course.

The 1st Class Assignment is mandatory. It requires you to prepare a statement of cash flows. If you find the assignment difficult, you should not take the class. It will be available in January 2027. Note that it is your responsibility to submit the 1st Class Assignment, even if you are not registered for the course by the 1st day of class, as long as you intend to do so. You may submit it via email to me or the teaching assistant

 Strict Prerequisites: BUS 30000 - Financial Accounting and at least one of the following:

• BUS 30116 - Accounting and Financial Analysis, BUS 30118 - Taxes & Business Strategy, BUS 30130 - Financial Statement Analysis, BUS 30131 - Advanced Financial Analysis and Valuation for Global Firms. I may grant a waiver based on previous work/academic experience–please contact me at hsapra@chicagobooth.edu.
• 1st class Assignment is mandatory and will be available in January 2027. It is meant to gauge your skills in financial reporting. If you find it difficult, you should not take the course.
• Recommended: Proficiency in Excel & Financial Modelling
• Time Commitment: This class is demanding and potentially overwhelming and stressful if you have a weak foundation in financial accounting and/or are not prepared to dedicate significant amounts of time and energy to keep up with the material. Students should expect 6-8 hours of work per week outside of class for pre-recorded videos, reading, preparation, and cases.

 

Restrictions

Course handouts and course readings posted on Canvas.

The course grade will be determined by (1) an attendance policy, (2) In-class midterm and final exams (3) individual assignments, (4) an M&A modeling group project. Both the midterm exam and the final exam will be closed-book and note. Students may bring a one page double-sided (A4) notes sheet.

Grades

Restrictions