The financial management field continues to experience exciting change and growth. Financial practitioners are increasingly employing new financial management techniques and sophisticated computer resources to aid in their decision making. ´Financial engineers´ have created new derivative financial instruments and transactions, such as options, financial futures contracts, options on futures contracts, foreign currency swaps, and interest rate swaps, to help managers manage risk and increase shareholder wealth. Many domestic industries have been restructured because of the pressures of foreign competition. Leveraged buyout transactions also have forced managers to make more careful use of their firm?s resources. Corporate reformers have focused attention on the structure of corporate governance relationships and the impact of alternative managerial compensation packages on firm performance. Bankruptcy filings increased dramatically at the end of the 1980s and remained at high levels through 2004. The Internet is transforming the way securities are bought and sold and the way companies access new capital. At the same time, financial researchers have made important advances in the arcas of valuation, cost of capital, capital structure theory and practice, option valuation (including ´real´ options associated with capital investments), risk management, and dividend policy. Access to and content of the Internet have greatly expanded, making timely financial information increasingly available to customers, investors, and financial managers.
