News: The chapters on this website will remain "as of early April 2008." They are still useful for reading the book, prepping a course, etc. I have used them for my own course. However, the book will likely come out this September. The chapters on my website here are not far off in content and structure relative to what the printed book will be, but they do not reflect any changes after April 2008—and there are many small ones, many little accuracy corrections, and so on.

A First Course in Corporate Finance
© Ivo Welch, 2005. All Rights Reserved.

The only meaningful constraint that I am imposing for permitting downloads is that you must not be currently involved in writing or publishing a finance textbook. If you are, please exit this site now. (If you are not, you can freely read this book; reading or registering will not prevent you from writing a book in the future.)

NEWS: A Full Online Version of the Book

We now have a full online version of the book with only minimal restrictions.

• You are not authorized to print this. Buy the book if you want a printed version.
• You must not make any changes to this page.
• You must not make it available to others.
• If you are writing a competitive textbook or are working for a publisher, you do not have permission to read this. To get such permission, please email ivo welch for permission first.

Errata to Version 0.9.1c

Freely Downloadable Chapters without Registration:

If you are not involved with a competitive book right now, then...

• you can get a quick taste of the book from (possibly an older version of) Chapter 2 on The Time Value of Money. It is not the best, nor the most unique chapter, but it will give you an idea of the style of the book. If you like it, you can register below and read the rest.

• The epilogue, which has thoughts about finance education.
• The chapter on ethics. It will be the basis of a course I am teaching in Fall. (And, no, it is not about teaching students things that they should already know, or an exercise in politically correct preaching!)

Book Innovations

Among the book's innovations are:

• Based on numerical examples, with easy 1-to-1 formula correspondence.
• Half the size of a traditional text --- less is more.
• Conversational tone.
• Closely tied and easily integrated into the finance curriculum.
• Clean design --- not just another clone.
  (The book can serve not only as a substitute, but also as a complement to a traditional textbook.)
• Many, many other innovations.
  (Pro formas are the "capstone" chapter. There is a good stand-alone chapter explaining financials from a finance perspective. Comparables are put into perspective. Capital structure reflects more recent findings and is thus much more modern. WACC and APV and the direct approach from financials have clear explanations. Robustness and errors are emphasized throughout the book. The default premium and risk premium are clearly distinguished from one another. There is one intuitive CAPM explanation anyone can understand, and (in the investments book) a hands-on explanation so anyone will really understand it. There is an ethics chapter. The governance chapter is more skeptical. And many more.)
• For now, free online. Try it!

Access License

Here is my intent in English: before publication, this book should be freely available to professors or students and with minimal use restrictions --- except to direct and current competitors in the financial textbook business. Access to this book is granted (without fee) until end of summer 2006 if you agree to the following, simple conditions.

1. You must not change or remove any parts of the book, especially copyright notices. You understand and respect that the book is the sole copyright of Ivo Welch, and that your free use permissions will lapse at end of summer 2006. (I expect that you will be able to download the next version by then.)
2. You must not share the book with any third parties. Such parties must register themselves to obtain access.
3. You must register your true name and a correct and working email address through this form.
4. If you are the author of an introductory finance textbook (or you are currently actively working on such), or if you are working for a textbook publisher, please email Ivo Welch to receive explicit permission. This form alone is not enough to receive permission. Again, if you are not in the process of writing or seeking to market a direct competitor right now, this clause neither applies to you, nor restricts you from writing textbooks in the future. I have no intent to prevent my readers from writing finance textbooks in the future.
5. If you know that you are working on a legal case in which Ivo Welch is involved, you must receive explicit permission from Ivo Welch. This form alone is not enough to receive permission.

Instructors: More related resources are available post registration, and from my course website. You can receive permission to host the book yourself.

No Longer Recommended: The Registration Form: Access is logged!

You should use the web version instead. However, if you absolutely need the document in pdf format, and want to register, then the followin registration form will help email the access instructions to your account.

Name:   First   Last 

Email:  

Institution:  

Undergraduate Student
MBA Student
PhD Student
Faculty
Other

Please bookmark the next (post-registration) page, so that you will not have to repeat this registration. Your registered information will not be shared under any circumstances with third parties. Your information may be saved in a cookie, so that you will not have to fill out this form again.