Corporate Finance Course Descriptor

Course Overview

This course is designed to develop the financial skills and thought processes necessary to understand and discuss market-related and corporate financial decisions in a global economy. Students are asked to carry out calculations using concepts such as present-value discounting, asset valuation for a range of asset classes, and the cost-of-capital for corporations.

The course is assessed by two examinations and set exercises. The first examination tests students’ knowledge of key financial terminology and concepts; the second tests both financial knowledge and applications. The set exercises provide an opportunity to complete weekly homework for course credit.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students  in their  studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures/seminars/workshops

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

or

• Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or on the VLE; this indicative reading list is a general guide and part of the approval process only.

Key textbooks:

• John C. Hull, Fundamentals of Futures and Options Markets, 9^th edition, Pearson (2016)
• Denzil Watson and Anthony Head, Corporate Finance: Principles and Practice, 8th edition, Pearson (2019)

Further academic readings can be found, for example, in the following top Finance journals:

• Journal of Finance
• Journal of Applied Quantitative Methods
• Econometrica

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below are used as a general guide and part of the approval process only:

• Present-value discounting
• Global capital markets
• Asset valuation, corporate valuation and cost-of-capital calculation
• The capital asset pricing model