It is rare to have a textbook in management that combines the knowledge and insights of academics and practitioners. Philippine Corporate Finance is such a book. The chapters and cases in this textbook are written by members of the Finance faculty of the UP Virata School of Business and by individuals who are prominent Finance practitioners in the Philippines. The blend of academic and practitioner perspectives is a hallmark of the activities of the Development Center for Finance – one of the main sponsors of the book.

Philippine Corporate Finance: Textbook Edition is now available in two volumes. All the chapters on the mathematics of discounting, financial statement analysis, financial forecasting and the management of working capital have been put together to form Volume 1. Volume 2 on the other hand has been assembled to include all chapters dealing with long-term financial management, including advanced topics such as foreign exchange risk management and project finance. Both volumes retain the text, cases and exercises of their respective chapters in the original textbook edition.

By making the textbook available in two volumes, the publishers hope to make Philippine Corporate Finance more accessible to a greater number of students all over the country. Furthermore, a 2-volume treatment should result in a better fit between course content and textbook, given the variation in the coverage of basic and advanced corporate finance courses in the nation’s schools.

Volumes 1 and 2 contain in all seventeen original cases on Philippine companies and situations – in keeping with the Philippine focus of the book. These, together with the short exercises at the end of each of the chapters should make this edition a very suitable and contemporary textbook for the teaching of Corporate Finance in Philippine schools.

I congratulate the editors and writers, the publishers and the project donors from the private sector for a worthwhile contribution to financial management education and practice in this country.

RAFAEL A. RODRIGUEZ

Former Dean

Virata School of Business

University of the Philippines