LER 568: FIRM PERFORMANCE & HRM
School of Labor and Employment Relations
Office hours: By appointment, LER 211

Andrew Weaver, PhD
Email: aweaver5@illinois.edu
Phone: (217) 265-5087

REQUIRED TEXTS (purchase prior to class)
Brealey, Myers, & Marcus. Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (8th Edition)
Note: please buy a version that comes with the online “Connect” access.
We will use Connect for problem sets.
HBS Press & SHRM. The Essentials of Finance and Budgeting (Business Literacy for HR
Professionals)
Link: https://hbr.org/product/the-essentials-of-finance-and-budgeting-business-literacy-for-hrprofessionals/5720-PBK-ENG
Additional materials, including case studies, may need to be purchased throughout the semester.
OPTIONAL TEXTS (do not purchase prior to class)
*Berman, Knight, & Case. Financial Intelligence for HR Professionals: What You Really Need to
Know About the Numbers (Harvard Financial Intelligence)
†Fridson & Alvarez. Financial Statement Analysis: A Practitioner’s Guide (4th Edition)
†Koller, Goedhart, & Wessels. Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies,
University Edition (5th Edition)
*This text covers the “big picture” aspects of accounting and finance, especially as they relate to HR management. I will start the class at a very basic level, but if you think I’m speaking a foreign language after our second or third class this book may help.
† These texts take an in-depth look at financial statement analysis (Fridson & Alvarez) and technical valuation techniques (Koller et al.). Most students will not need these texts for our class. However, if you are interested in going deeper into the “nitty gritty” of corporate finance, these books are a good place to start.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The course objective is to enable students to better understand how HR practices relate to classic theories, issues,
and