Postgraduate Course: Corporate Finance and Accounting (CMSE11095)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | This course provides an introduction to the core concepts and skills in corporate finance and financial accounting. |
| Course description |
The corporate finance section considers the main financial decisions facing a company, reviews current academic thinking on how these decisions are made, and introduces analytical tools that can assist in financial decision-making. The accounting section explains what the accounting information produced by companies means, and presents certain techniques of analysing those numbers for the purpose of understanding what is going on in the company, and what its prospects are. The emphasis is on mainstream ideas and techniques at the level of a good textbook, with use of numerical examples to reinforce understanding. We shall also refer to research findings as appropriate.
Syllabus
Accounting
Accounting theory and practice 1
Accounting theory and practice 2
Measuring accounting income and value
Ration analysis
Earnings management
Corporate Finance
Discounted cash flow
Cost of capital
More on cost of capital and project selection
Gearing and dividend policy
Risk management: the use of forward contracts, swaps and options
Student Learning Experience:
Students will be introduced to the empirical academic research on some of the topics.
The learning occurs primarily through thinking about, understanding and remembering the material in the lectures and in the recommended reading. The course involves numerical calculations and so practice at this type of problem is also part of the learning process. Attendance at the lectures is necessary but not sufficient to ensure understanding and retention of the subject matter. You must expect to devote several hours per week to private study. It may be helpful to discuss aspects of the course with other members of the class. You will be expected to work in a small group to prepare a short report and presentation, which will be assessed by both the tutors and your peers. You will also have listen to the other group presentations, ask questions if deemed necessary and to provide thoughtful feedback to your peers which will be assessed as well.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Business School Postgraduate Students Only |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2016/17, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 4,
Formative Assessment Hours 40,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
81 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
Preparatory Reading 63 hrs; Revision 18 hrs
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework - 50% - There is a group report worth 20% of the coursework mark and peer assessment worth 5% AND a group presentation worth 20% of the coursework and peer assessment worth 5%.
Final exam 50%
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| Feedback |
Students will get feedback to questions asked in class and verbal feedback on the practice presentations. There will be written feedback for the assignment and general feedback on the exam. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Corporate Finance and Accounting | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and critically evaluate core concepts and techniques in corporate finance and accounting
- Understand and apply knowledge of academic finance relating to key financial decisions facing a company
- Understand and apply specified tools for managing risk
- Carry out analysis of accounting information
- Prepare a critical analysis and evaluation in a report and presentation, working in a small group
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Reading List
Most readings in the programme are available in the Library, either in hard copy or via the electronic journal service, through which students can download full-text copies of papers. The website is
http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/collections/serials/ejintro.shtml
Please learn at an early stage how to search for and download articles in academic journals from the e-journal site. It is a very useful to know how to do this.
Neither the accounting nor the finance sections of the course are based on a particular text. However, chapter references are given from the following texts. These are recommended, not required, texts. Additional reading references will be given in class at the discretion of the lecturer.
Accounting
Penman, S.H., Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation, McGraw-Hill.
Corporate Finance
Selected chapters from:
Hillier D. et. al., (2010) Corporate Finance, 1st European Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Damodaran, A., (2010) Applied Corporate Finance, 3rd Edition, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Other good corporate finance texts include:
Brealey, R.A., Myers, S.C. & Allen, F., Principles of Corporate Finance, McGraw-Hill.
Berk, J. & DeMarzo, P., Corporate Finance, Pearson.
Hillier, Ross, Westerfield, Jaffe & Jordan, Corporate Finance, European edition, McGraw-Hill.
Megginson, W.L., Smart, S.B. & Gitman, L.J., Corporate Finance, Thomson South-Western.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Intellectual skills and personal development:
Cognitive skills
* Ability to follow complex lines of argument
* Ability to write answers to essay-style questions
* Ability to conduct certain subject-specific types of numerical analysis
Key skills
On completion of the assessed course work (a presentation and report) students should:
* have gained experience in preparing a short report and presentation, working in a small group
* have gained experience and confidence in speaking in front of an audience.
Subject-specific /career skills
On completion of the course, students should have textbook-level knowledge of certain key topics in corporate finance and accounting. This will be useful for the courses in the second semester, and is seen by employers as part of the core body of knowledge of someone who has studied finance .
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| Additional Class Delivery Information |
The course will be taught via lectures. The lectures will consist mainly of presentation of information by the lecturer, but they will include some time for questions, discussions, working through numerical examples, and revision for the final exam. In addition, students will be given a training session for their presentation, and two PC lab tutorials. |
| Keywords | finCorporateFinanceandAccounting |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Sebastian Hoffmann
Tel: (0131 6)51 5462
Email: Sebastian.Hoffmann@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Rachel Allan
Tel: (0131 6)51 3757
Email: Rachel.Allan@ed.ac.uk |
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