This course requires that you can and want to analyze financial statements. If your accounting and analysis skills are rusty, please refresh them before taking this course, or expect to spend a significant amount of time figuring out the "numbers" underlying the analysis of renewable energy companies.

Please contact NYU IT (askit@nyu.edu, 212-998-3333) or NYU Stern IT (helpdesk@stern.nyu.edu, 212-998-0180) for all Zoom/email/NYU Brightspace/Admin/CapitalIQ issues. Some systems email @nyu.edu, while others email @stern.nyu.edu. I do not control this. You must check BOTH emails and use the correct browser profile. Please contact IT to figure this out. Do not write to Almaris or me if you do not get Almaris emails because this issue is between NYU and you.

Overview

Offered in spring 2024.

MBA ACCT-GB-3153 (1.5 credits for MBAs) specializations:

Undergrad ACCT-UB-53 (2 credits for undergrads) concentration:

We analyze renewable energy and electric vehicles industries from the perspective of entrepreneurs, managers, and investors by examining the following: (1) Financial statements of renewable energy and electric vehicle companies. (2) Their business drivers and trends. (3) Simplified financial models of renewable energy projects.

Takeaways

Prerequisites

Core course in Financial Accounting

Help and Office

Materials

Attendance and penalty for missing classes

Requiring attendance is necessary for several reasons. First, you incorrectly assume you can catch up on a missed class by watching a recording (if available). Videos do not engage your brain as much as a live class. Second, less than 20% of you watch the recording (if available). You are then lost in class, which provides wrong signals to me as an instructor. Third, your absence hurts class discussions. Fourth, you miss out on feedback if you do not work through the questions I pose in class. Fifth, I lose the feedback since there are fewer questions.

The policy below will be in effect only after the add/drop period.

Without mandatory attendance, attendance is often below 50%. Therefore, though I dislike doing this, I penalize absences. If you anticipate being absent for good reasons, please email me well in advance. Please enter "Excused" on the attendance sheet described below to avoid the penalty if I approve. If you miss a class due to emergencies and cannot tell me in advance, do not panic. Take care of the emergency first, and then email me. I will permit you to change the "Absent" to "Excused." But, if you miss a class without a valid reason, there is a penalty, as stated below.

For sections meeting in 150-190 minute sessions, you will lose one grade (A to A-, A- to B+, B+ to B, B to B-, and so on) for EVERY missed session unless you were explicitly excused via email. Thus, if you miss two class sessions, you will lose two grades, and so on.

For sections meeting in 75-80 minute sessions, you will lose one grade (A to A-, A- to B+, B+ to B, B to B-, and so on) for EVERY TWO missed sessions unless you were explicitly excused via email. Thus, if you miss four class sessions, you will lose two grades, and so on.

Please sit in the same seat in every class and display your name tags. For Zoom classes, you must keep your video on AT ALL TIMES. You must also have a good working headset or mic, as it is extremely rude to be inaudible and force me to ask you to repeat yourself. After entering the class, please mark yourself present in the first 20 minutes on the OneDrive sheet (link posted on Brightspace). You will be marked absent if you are more than 20 minutes late unless it is because of factors beyond your control (traffic, subway, interviews running late). You will also be marked absent if you leave the class early unless you have my permission or get it afterward. You will get an F in the course if you are caught cheating on the attendance sheet.

Exams and Grading

There are no in-class quizzes, midterms, or final exams.

System Requirements

Assignments

Topics

Topic 1: Building simplified financial models of solar energy projects

Electricity pricing and modeling revenues

How does solar fit into the overall energy landscape?

Utility-scale solar photovoltaic project

Commercial solar photovoltaic project

Topic 2: Analysis of solar hardware manufacturers, solar EPC, and solar utility companies

Overview

In-depth financial statement analysis

Topic 3: Analysis of distributed solar companies

Overview

In-depth financial statement analysis

Topic 4: Building simplified financial models of wind energy projects

How does wind fit into the overall energy landscape?

Onshore wind energy projects

Offshore wind energy projects

Topic 5: Analyzing wind turbine makers, wind EPC, and wind utility companies

Overview

In-depth financial statement analysis

Topic 6: Analysis of electric vehicle companies

Building a financial model from the perspective of an electric vehicle owner

Industry dynamics

In-depth financial statement analysis