Unit information: Finance in 2020/21

Unit name	Finance
Unit code	EFIMM0125
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Zheng
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Accounting and Finance - Business School
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

This unit is designed to give students a thorough grounding in the fundamentals of finance and financial markets. This unit will serve as the foundation for TB2 optional units in finance. The following areas of finance will be covered: discounting, investment appraisal, cost of capital, portfolio diversification, asset pricing, and financing decisions (debt and dividend policies). The unit will also include key areas in financial accounting relevant to the study of finance and financial markets: understanding and interpretation of financial statements.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit a student will be able to:

1. Recognize the structure of company financial accounts, and be able to construct and interpret such accounts and describe key performance indicators such as price earnings ratios and measures of return on capital and gearing;
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the principles of investment appraisal, including knowledge of the basic financial mathematics;
3. Explain the principles of portfolio theory and appraise the use of alternative asset pricing models;
4. Review the operation of financial markets and evaluate the issues in market efficiency;
5. Solve financial problems in the context of uncertainty, such as calculation of the cost of equity using the CAPM and of the weighted average cost of capital in the presence of debt.
6. Describe the sources of long-term finance and analyze corporate capital structure decisions and dividend policies.
7. Discuss foreign investment decisions in an international environment.

Teaching Information

Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions including lectures, tutorials, drop-in sessions, discussion boards and other online learning opportunities

Assessment Information

This unit will be assessed by 100% individual coursework

Reading and References

Many introductory texts are available. However, the course notes will refer to the following:

Pike, Neale, Linsley and Akbar 'Corporate Finance and Investment - Decisions and Strategies', 9th edition, published by Pearson, 2018.

Also, for the accounting portion of the unit: Atrill and McLaney, "Accounting and Finance: An Introduction", 8th edition, published by Pearson.