THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2019/2020

University Homepage
DRPS Homepage
DRPS Search
DRPS Contact
DRPS : Course Catalogue : Business School : Common Courses (Management School)

Postgraduate Course: Research in Corporate Finance (CMSE11418)

Course Outline
SchoolBusiness School CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits15 ECTS Credits7.5
SummaryThe course considers aspects of financial management, the funding of companies and capital budgeting believed to be of academic interest and practical importance.
Course description The aims are to introduce students to current thinking and empirical research on the chosen topics and to develop skills of understanding and analysis. The course builds on the corporate finance learned in semester one, and so it assumes some knowledge of discounted cash flow, the cost of capital, and the main ideas relating to debt policy, dividend policy and raising equity. Advanced Corporate Finance adds to students' knowledge mainly by introducing them to empirical research on the topics studied. Research in corporate finance is a social science. Its aim is to understand about value creation and financial decision-making as observed in the corporate sector. Students will learn about the current state of knowledge regarding each topic studied, and they will learn about how research in this field is conducted, through studying the research design of selected papers.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2019/20, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 150 ( Lecture Hours 20, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 2, Formative Assessment Hours 35, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Revision Session Hours 1, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 87 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 70 %, Coursework 20 %, Practical Exam 10 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Assignment (30%). The assignment will consist of an essay written on an individual basis, and a presentation related to the essay. The presentation will count for 10% and the essay for 20%.


Exam (70%). The exam is at the end of the second semester (date to be announced). It lasts for two hours, and consists of five essay-style questions, of which you should answer three.
Feedback All students will be given at least one formative feedback or feedforward event for every course they undertake, provided during the semester in which the course is taken and in time to be useful in the completion of summative work on the course. Such feedback may be at course or programme level, but must include input of relevance to each course in the latter case.

For this course specifically students will receive written feedback on the assignment and general feedback on the exam.
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)Research in Corporate Finance2:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Understand and critically discuss arguments and debates concerning the topics covered
  2. Know and apply advanced methods of empirical research in corporate finance
  3. Understand and critically evaluate the financing arrangements of companies
  4. Critically discuss complex lines of argument and reasoning as found in journal papers in corporate finance
Reading List
Most readings in the programme are journal papers available in the Library via the electronic journal service DiscoverEd, through which students can download full-text copies of papers. The website is: https://discovered.ed.ac.uk/primo-explore/jsearch?vid=44UOE_VU2&lang=en_US

A full list of readings will be provided separately. The course is not based on a particular text but reference is made to the following texts where possible. Do not worry too much about obtaining the most up-to-date edition; they do not change much from one edition to the next.

Brealey, R.A., Myers, S.C. & Allen, F., Principles of Corporate Finance, McGraw-Hill, 2017.

Berk, J. & DeMarzo, P., Corporate Finance, Pearson, 2014.

These texts cover similar ground and are very good, but there are other good texts.

Another useful resource is the website of Aswath Damodaran:
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/

He writes papers on specific aspects of corporate finance, aimed at students and practitioners.


https://eu01.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/leganto/public/44UOE_INST/lists/20514271350002466?auth=SAML
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Cognitive skills:

On completion of the module, students should have developed their ability to:
* Understand complex lines of argument and reasoning of the sort found in journal papers in corporate finance;
* Write answers to essay-style questions.
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Woon Sau Leung
Tel:
Email: WoonSau.Leung@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Kelly-Ann De Wet
Tel: (0131 6)50 8071
Email: K.deWet@ed.ac.uk
Navigation
Help & Information
Home
Introduction
Glossary
Search DPTs and Courses
Regulations
Regulations
Degree Programmes
Introduction
Browse DPTs
Courses
Introduction
Humanities and Social Science
Science and Engineering
Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Other Information
Combined Course Timetable
Prospectuses
Important Information