Unternehmerisches Finanzmanagement – Meilensteine der Entwicklung

This article structures the core topics of what is known today as “Corporate Financial Management”. This key discipline of business has evolved from corporate financing, but today comprises a much richer spectrum of topics. Corporate valuation on the one hand and corporate financing on the other still represent the backbone of the field. However, a number of further topic areas has grown over the years such as risk management, corporate governance, and investor relations. The analysis at hand focuses on the milestones and key drivers of this discipline’s development since the early 20th century. Central milestones are identified as the inclusion of capital markets in research on investment and financing, the notion of replication for the purpose of valuation, and the consideration of different types of asymmetric information. All these findings and paradigms have contributed to a widening of further progress both in research and corporate practice. Examples include research on conglomerates and shareholder value as well as on announcement effects and contract theory. Future developments can be expected in the areas of corporate social responsibility, entrepreneurial finance, insurance risk and pension management as well as in financial disintermediation and crowd solutions. Further challenges may arise from the automation in valuation and financing services.