Unit information: Cases in Financial Management in 2016/17

Unit name	Cases in Financial Management
Unit code	ECONM2021
Credit points	15
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Korczak
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Economics, Finance and Management
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

The purpose of the unit is to examine how firms make financial decisions in practice. The unit examines actual financial management cases and applies the theories of corporate finance and financial markets to understand why managers took the decisions they did, and whether these decisions were the right ones. The unit will examine performance of fund managers, estimating the cost of capital issuing new equity, the capital structure decision and mergers.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be expected to have a detailed knowledge and understanding of the following topics:

1. Cost of capital and firm valuation
2. Initial Public Offerings and the new issue market
3. The actual capital structure decision of companies, and the factors that affect a firm’s choice of equity and debt
4. Foreign exchange risk management
5. The implementation of mergers and acquisitions
6. Tactics in hostile takeovers

Teaching Information

Lectures, tutorials

Assessment Information

Two-hour examination in the Summer term (50%) – testing learning outcomes 1-6

Written assignment (50%) - testing learning outcomes 1-6

Reading and References

Selected case studies published by Darden School of Business, Harvard Business School and other institutions are the main study materials. Case work and preparations require referring to a variety of finance textbooks and other resources.