The Fourth Edition includes a greater emphasis on the Internet, with Web addresses provided for real world applications of the related topics. Each chapter opens with a list of interesting Web addresses that students will find helpful. Inside each chapter are typically two Internet Insider boxes that highlight useful Web sites and suggest how they can be used to answer some simple questions. Students will use and learn from the vast amount of financial resources available on the Internet.

The use of Excel spreadsheets has been greatly expanded in the Fourth Edition to reflect the importance of spreadsheet skills and how they can be used in corporate finance. They have been added to applicable topics, such as dividend discount models, risk and return, financial planning, and more.

S&P Market Insight Problems are included in end of chapter material. These problems require the use of the Educational Version of Market Insight, taking advantage of Standard & Poor's powerful and well-known Compustatâ database. These problems provide instructors with an easy, online way to incorporate current, real-world data into the classroom. Access to this rich online resource is FREE with every new copy of the book.

Chapter 2 "The Financial Environment" is a brand new chapter that surveys financial markets and instruments and also sets out the functions of those markets and instruments, showing why they are important and useful to the financial manager.

Chapter 3 (Accounting and Finance) is revised to include a discussion of quality of earnings issues, profits and cash flows and recent problems with GAAP accounting. These revisions are of particular interest given the recent attention on financial reporting and accounting scandals.

Chapter 5 (Valuing Bonds) introduces callable bonds and sinking funds. These updates are in response to market feedback.

Chapter 6 (Valuing Stocks) includes new discussions on P/E ratios, the market crash of 1987, the dot.com debacle, market efficiency and behavioral finance, important and current topics that students should know about.

Chapter 9 (Project Analysis) introduces real options, which is an important hot topic of interest to students. The authors have also integrated economic value added into this chapter, to show how EVA can be used to evaluate projects, emphasizing the opportunity cost of the capital employed in the project.

Chapter 14 (How Corporations Issue Securities) includes a new discussion on IPOs, provides new examples of venture capital, and shows excerpts from a sample prospectus. Students are very interested in these topics.

Based on market reviews, material from previous edition Chapter 12 (Corporate Financing and the Lessons of Market Efficiency) has been dispersed throughout the text where appropriate and is eliminated as a separate chapter.

Parts VI and VII on long-term and short-term financial planning contain significant new material. Chapter 17 (Financial Statement Analysis) includes several new sections, including examples and discussions of industry and historical benchmarking for evaluating ratios, of important caveats surrounding the use of financial statements in light of the accounting scandals of the last few years, and of EVA. Chapter 18 (Financial Planning) has a new introduction that provides context for the role of financial planning models; the chapter also includes an enhanced financial planning spreadsheet model. Chapter 20 (Cash and Inventory Management) has additional treatment of just-in-time inventory policy.

Part VIII has also been updated. Chapter 22 on mergers contains additional discussion of synergies (and failed synergies) in mergers. Chapter 23 (International Financial Management) contains a new discussion of exchange rate hedging. The authors have introduced a brief introduction to Black Scholes option valuation (and a Black-Scholes spreadsheet) in Chapter 24 (Options), and have shown how real options play a role in capital budgeting.

Student CD ROM includes new interactive tutorial modules on the Time Value of Money, Stock and Bond Valuation, and Capital Budgeting. Each module asks students to answer questions and solve problems to assess their understanding of the subject as well as their ability to apply that understanding to real world business situations. The practice mode teaches students as they go by providing in-depth feedback on each response before proceeding to the next question. The program also anticipates common misunderstandings, such as incorrect calculations or assumptions and provides feedback when making that specific mistake. In test mode, students can assess their current knowledge and are provided an extensive evaluation report after they have completed the test. The CD also includes Excel spreadsheet templates, an Excel tutorial, PowerPoint, online quizzes, web links, and video clips

Fresh, invigorating new design provides greater student appeal and interest.