Financial management in hospitality

BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION
To manage a company effectively, it is important to know the external and internal factors that can affect the choice of the financial corporate strategy. The subject is part of the compulsory specialization in Hospitality Management and is essential to achieve the study of knowledge management and leadership that companies require in today’s economy. Financial Management draws upon the knowledge that the student has acquired from other courses (accounting, economic and financial analysis, and revenue management). The course objective is to teach how to define, design and implement appropriate financial strategies to face the real problems in the hospitality industry, as well as to teach the several decision-making methods for investments.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Know the basic principles of hotel management.
2. Know the necessary instruments to be able to evaluate the most usual investment and financing operations in the accommodation companies.
3. Know the main methods of financial planning to optimize financial resources.
4. Prepare and analyze the items that make up a hotel budget, specified in specific areas or departments.
5. Know instruments and mechanisms for obtaining financial resources.

ACADEMIC CONTENTS
1. Unit ]
1. Main topics on Corporate Finance in Hospitality
1.1. Introduction 1.2. Economic and Financial Flows
1.3. Balance Sheet and Income Statement
1.4. Break Even Point
1.5. P&L Budget
1.6. Business Case
2. Unit 2. Cash Flow and Cash Flow Forecast
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Working Capital and Cash Cycle
2.3. Cash Flow and Tourism Business
2.4. Business case
3. Unit 3. Financial Strategy
3.1. Types of financial needs
3.2. Main Financial sources
3.3. Business case
4. Unit 4. Investment decisions
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Main ratios for decision-making: NPV, IRR, Payback
4.3. Business Case

LEARNING METHODOLOGY
The learning methodologies planned for the subject combine a number of processes being the most remarkable the cognitive methods related to the comprehension of the principles of tourism and the global tourism system as well as the inclusion of a set of skills, mainly technical. The activities and methodologies -both group and individual- designed for this subject are the following:
• Lectures
• Case studies 
• Guided discussions
•Practical exercises
• Problem-based learning

ASSESSMENT SYSTEM