Accounting and Finance for Actuarial Science

Module overview

This module is designed to provide an introduction to financial accounting, corporate finance and financial management of organisations. The module is intended for students from any academic discipline who have an interest in accounting and finance as an adjunct to their principle area of study.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

the purpose, limitations, layout and presentation of financial statements;
the importance of capital structure and dividend policy decisions;
cost analysis in the context of short and long term decision making and the use of discounted cash flow analysis;
financial strategy including capital structure, dividend policy and corporate governance of firms.
the assumptions underlying the preparation, interpretation and analysis of the Income Statement, Financial position statement and Cash Flow Statement;

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

show awareness of the different sources of business finance and the range of financial instruments, and how they are incorporated in a business’s capital structure.
evaluate the competing theories on the roles of dividend policy and the debt-equity mix in the determination of firm value;
appraise the role financial strategy within the business model of a firm;
apply real options capital investment appraisal to simple examples;
evaluate the processes by which the value of both real and financial assets can be estimated;
understand the role of accounting information in the collection, collation, decision making and analysis of business performance;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

benefit from improved skills in learning, problem solving, numeracy, written communication and self- management.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Learning activities include: Lectures There will be one double session per week. The lecture will be used to introduce and outline topics and give a structure for students own work. Classes There will be one per week. The work for the classes will be set in advance for the students to prepare in order to facilitate a good discussion in the classes. Individual work In addition to work for lectures and classes, students need to spend 6 - 7 hours per week on further reading, and on working through computational examples in order to develop a good understanding of underlying principles and to gain practice at applying them.

Study time
Type	Hours
Teaching	34
Independent Study	116
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

Company websites. These are likely to include copies of the annual report, investor information press releases etc

Quality daily and Sunday papers (in particular, the Financial Times). Newspapers

FAME. A web-based service covering 2.8 million UK and Irish companies and other businesses. It is also accessible through the library, as above

Nexis UK. This is a web-based service giving key business news and financial information on listed companies, and 250,000 unlisted companies in the UK. It is accessible from the library’s homepage

Journal Articles

Trigeorgis, L (2005). 'Making use of real Options simple: An overview and applications in flexible modular decision making. The Engineering Economist, 50(1), pp. 25 – 53.

Brounen, D, Jong Abe de and Koedijk, K (2006). Capital structure policies in Europe: Survey evidence. Journal of Banking & Finance, 30(5), pp. 1409-1442.

Textbooks

McLaney, E (2011). Business Finance: Theory and Practice. FT Prentice Hall.

(2005). Oxford Dictionary of Accounting. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Watson, D. and Head, A (2010). Corporate Finance: Principles and Practice. FT Prentice Hall.

Atrill, P. (2011). Financial Management for Decision Makers. FT Prentice Hall.

Gowthorpe, C (2011). Business Accounting and Finance. Cengage Learning.

R. Vaitilingam (2005). The “Financial Times” Guide to Using the Financial Pages. FT Prentice Hall.

Atrill, P. and McLaney, E. (2013). ‘Accounting and Finance for Non-specialists’. FT Prentice Hall.

Assessment

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Set exercises - non-exam

Assessment Type: Formative
Feedback: Formative feedback will be provided during the lecture and classes on the students’ performance in problem solving exercises and multiple choice questions.
Final Assessment: No
Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Multiple choice Test	10%
Examination	90%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Examination	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Examination	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External