What is Corporate finance?

Corporate Finance is a financing area that deals with sources of finance, corporate capital structure, and actions taken by managers to increase the value of a company to its shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources.

The primary goal
Increase or maximize shareholder value. Although it is fundamentally different from management finance, which studies the financial management of all companies, not just corporations, the key concepts of corporate finance research are applicable to the financial problems of all types of companies.

Capital budgeting
Capital budgeting is concerned with the set of criteria about which value-adding projects should receive investment funding, and whether to finance that investment with equity or debt capital.

Working capital
Working capital management is the management of the company's monetary funds that deal with the short-term operating balance of current assets and current liabilities; the focus here is on managing cash, inventories, and short-term borrowing and lending (such as the terms on credit extended to customers).