Content, progress and pedagogy of the module

In this module students will learn the main fundamentals of corporate finance, the role of finance in business; the role of financial markets, the nature of available financial instruments and determinants of the prices of marketable securities; investment decisions, risk management methods, and capital structure.

The module is designed for students who are learning about finance for the first time. The foundational concepts covered in this module will include: Time value of money, investment appraisal methods, debt and equity financing, security valuation, cost of capital, capital structure, risk and return, among others. During the module students will learn about long-term financial strategies, asset valuation principles, basics of company valuation, effective investment decisions, capital asset pricing, basics of financial risk management, and the impact of digitalisation in the financial services industry. Finance theories, tools and techniques covered in the module can be utilized in any management decision-making process in any business sector.

By the end of this module students will gain an understanding of the fundamental concepts in corporate finance as well as knowledge regarding the factors that go into a firm’s most critical decision making.

Learning objectives

Knowledge

The objective is that the student after the module possesses the necessary knowledge on:

• main foundational concepts in corporate finance, such as NPV, Time value of money, risk return tradeoff, cost of capital, asset valuation, investment decision rules, among others.
• the characteristics of the financial resources used by corporations and the factors that go into a firm’s most critical decision making.
• capital budgeting and the impact of financial structure on firm value.

Skills

The objective is that the student after the module possesses the necessary skills in:

• applying basic valuation models to determine value of financial securities, and evaluating the viability of capital investments using appropriate appraisal techniques.
• understanding the debt markets, instruments and the risks associated with such investments; calculating risk and returns to optimize investments, and assessing the right set of financial information to achieve better returns for a firm.
• analysing investment opportunities and deciding among alternatives, and formulating finance decisions aimed at delivering returns to shareholders. 

Competences

The objective is that the student after the module possesses the necessary competences in:

• logical thinking, critical analysis, analysing investment, financing, strategic corporate decisions.
• identifying various sources of finance for organisations and applying various analytical frameworks and techniques used for financial and risk management in business.
• using the major financial theories as a framework for real world business analysis.

Type of instruction

For information see §17.

Exam

Exams