Business Finance (BS0052)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : MSE-P-BS0052

This course builds on your foundation course in Finance. It will provide you with a good understanding of the key decisions a chief finance officer (CFO) or senior financial manager in a large or medium-size corporation has to make and the issues that need to be considered. The option will be of particular value to those of you who may be interested in future careers in corporate finance or financial management, investment banking or management consulting, or more generally if you want to know more about the underlying principles of business finance and their vital relevance to all corporate activity. By the end of the course you will have a much better understanding of the key financial issues confronting the firm and the range of possible solutions.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : PGs Only

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Business Studies, (Management School and Economics, Schedule H)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

On successfully completing this course:

You will have an appreciation of some of the main strands of theory on which finance practice and its development depends.

You will have an understanding of the key financial decisions the corporation has to make and the relevant issues that need to be considered.

You will be able to appraise critically the criteria and systems adopted by firms for assessing and approving major capital investments.

You will understand how firms make capital structure decisions and how they finance themselves.

You will understand growth opportunities open to firms and problems associated with mergers, acquisitions and divestments.

You will have a broad understanding of issues associated with financial distress and the prediction of corporate bankruptcy.

You will understand some of the key considerations of good corporate governance, and their relevance in practice.

You will be aware of some of the ethical issues confronting financial managers.

You will be able to draw on the new discipline of behavioural corporate finance to help understand why financial managers may not behave "rationally" in practice.

Course members will be expected to apply what they are covering on the course to current events in the financial news. They will be required to contribute to discussion of case material and some credit will be given for such a contribution.