FINN42710: Finance (EBS)

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• To develop students' understanding of the external economic and financial context in which organisations operate and of the financial management of organisations.
• To enable students to acquire and demonstrate knowledge and understanding of those elements of economic analysis that are relevant for managing in the global economy.
• To develop skills in the application of economic analysis in business decision making and planning.
• To develop a critical understanding of key economic aspects of the global business environment and the impact of changes in that environment at national and international levels.
• To provide students with a critical appreciation of the financial tools of accounting and finance, in particular, the techniques of financial statement analysis and investment appraisal.
• To provide students with a critical understanding of the factors affecting the financial planning and risk assessment of a firm and of the financing and capital structure decisions, giving insight into topical issues

• An introduction to financial markets, financial decisions and organisational goals;
• The cost of capital;
• Capital structure decisions;
• Financial risk management;
• Dividend Policy;
• An introduction to firm valuation.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Upon successful completion of the module, the students will have an advanced knowledge and critical appreciation of:
• the fundamentals of financial markets in which firms operate;
• the investment decision, the financing decision and the dividend decision and how these relate to each other and to firm value;
• concepts of risk and return;
• key elements of financial risk management;
• the estimation of cost of capital and its application;
• the theory and practice of dividend policy;
• key introductory techniques for firm valuation.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Upon successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
• Apply their financial understanding in relation to management decisions that impact on the investment decision, the financing decision and the dividend decision in a global context;
• Apply the knowledge acquired to analyse specific finance problems;
• Use the tools and techniques covered to estimate key finance metrics such as the weighted average cost of capital and use these in computing firm valuations;
• Be adept at identifying and evaluating methods by which financial risks can be managed.

Key Skills:

• Written communication;
• Planning, organising and time management;
• Problem solving and analysis;
• Using initiative;
• Computer literacy.

• Learning outcomes are met through classroom-based workshops, supported by online resources. The workshops consist of a combination of taught input, groupwork, case studies and discussion. Online resources provide supplementary material for the workshops, typically consisting of directed reading and video content.
• The formative assessment consists of classroom-based exercises involving individual and group analyses of specific business situations/problems relevant to the learning outcomes of the module. Feedback will be given as appropriate.
• The summative assessment is an individual project which requires students to conduct a financial analysis of an individual firm.

Classroom-based exercises involving individual and group analyses of specific business situations/problems relevant to the learning outcomes of the module. Oral and written feedback will be given on a group and/or individual basis as appropriate.

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