Corporate Financial Management

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Use quantitative and qualitative data, financial and non-financial data and techniques to make appropriate corporate leadership and management decisions
• Measure the returns and risks associated with financial assets
• Value company assets and financial securities
• Determine the optimal capital structure and the costs of capital
• Interpret financial statements and show how a business measures and manages its performance

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Write effectively for business purposes
• Manage individual tasks, personal resources and time effectively
• Interpret and analyse quantitative data related to business issues, using appropriate financial and/or statistical skills and models to solve complex problems for senior business leaders

Knowledge and Understanding

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

• Combining detailed financial and non-financial data in evaluating managerial and corporate performance
• Budgeting and costing systems as a means of encouraging and evaluating managers’ actions
• How to evaluate a firm's operating, financing, investing and wealth distribution decisions
• How to make corporate investment decisions as well as how to measure investment and corporate performance
• The operations of a finance department and the raising of capital across international boundaries
• How to manage, grow and develop a portfolio of internationally based investments and financial assets as well as assess the risk-return trade off

• Issues in preparing financial reports – measurement and recognition with particular reference to knowledge based assets and other intangibles, economic substance over form, accounting for groups and changes in exchange rates
• Regulation of financial reporting – financial reporting incentives, earnings management, economic substance over form, activities of IASB’s including IASB-FASB convergence project
• Univariate and multivariate ratio techniques, relationship between accounting income and equity market value and equity valuation models
• Role of budgets and potential conflicts, process of budgeting, divisional performance evaluation, responsibility centres, divisional performance in control and evaluation decisions.
• Balanced scorecard - quantification of organisational goals, identification of perspectives and corresponding metrics, ensuring accountability for KPIs or other indicators.
• Costing, breakeven, relevant costs, relevant revenues and investment appraisal methods, in order to allocate resources effectively.

Measurements of financial performance

• Management of Short-term and long-term finance
• Investment appraisal methods
• Portfolio theory and the capital asset pricing model
• The cost of equity and debt capital and the optimum capital structure
• Dividend policy and the methods to distribute wealth to shareholders

Teaching methods include

• Lectures
• Informal group work sessions
• Presentations
• Student led mini-debates.

Learning activities include

• Exercises on interpretation of financial reports and costing analysis
• Evaluation of live company using accounting and non-accounting data sources, requiring preparation of report and presentation
• Private study – directed reading and analytical activities

Formative

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

Formative Assessment

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: Computational exercises, case studies and in-class presentations by students are a regular part of the module, and allow students to obtain feedback on their work
• Final Assessment:
• Group Work: No

Summative

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

Referral

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

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.