Content, progress and pedagogy of the module

The module is composed of two main blocks: financial accounting and financial data analysis.

The Financial Accounting block equips students with the knowledge to read, interpret, and analyze financial statements, enabling them to make informed business decisions regarding investments, credit, or resource allocation. Such skills are required for equity and credit analysts, executives, bankers, auditors, consultants, and other users of financial information. Financial statement analysis represents a crucial part of fundamental analysis (FA), which aims at defining the intrinsic value of a company. The company´s value is the basis for determining the target price of a company’s stock, i.e., an estimate of a stock's future price based on earnings forecasts and assumed valuation multiples. Financial statements translate economic factors, such as assets, sales, margins, cash flows, and earnings, into accounting numbers. This module focuses on how cash flows are generated, considering both management and strategic aspects of the business, as well as the risks related to the business from a financial and operational perspective. After introducing an accounting-based valuation framework that integrates a firm's strategy, business model and intellectual capital with its overall performance, the course specifically concentrates on the analysis of economic and financial performance, with a focus on profitability, liquidity, and solvency.

The Financial Data Analysis block aims to teach students how to understand and apply basic methods for collecting, visualizing, and interpreting financial data. This includes, but is not limited to, data collection, visualization, and data conversions. This block also introduces the basics of panel data econometrics, a key requirement in today’s financial analysis.

Learning objectives

Knowledge

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

• How to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of a company according to different stakeholders’ perspectives (e.g., investors, banks, employees, shareholders, and consultants), by integrating the firm's strategy, business model, and intellectual capital, with its overall performance.
• how to interpret and use accounting information (both financial and non-financial information)
• how to carry out data collection, relevant manipulation, basic exploratory data analysis, and to understand the importance of panel data econometrics for financial analysis.

Skills

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

• calculating and commenting on economic and financial margins and ratios deriving from data contained in financial statements using an IT tool.
• conducting comprehensive analysis, critically interpreting non-financial disclosure of published financial statements and reaching data-driven conclusions with respect to a firm's financial health and market position.
• collecting, analyzing, preparing, converting, and interpreting financial data,  mostly provided in panel data format.

Competences

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

• understanding and applying the fundamental principles of financial accounting, including the structure and purpose of consolidated financial statements
• analyzing and interpreting financial statements to assess a company's financial health and support informed valuation and strategic decisions.
• collecting, transforming, and interpreting financial data using appropriate methods, with an introductory ability to apply time series and panel data econometric techniques in financial contexts.

Type of instruction

For information see § 17.

Exam

Prerequisite for enrollment for the exam

• It is a prerequisite for exam participation that the student has handed in and received approval of specified assignments.
• If the student has not fulfilled the above prerequisite for participation in the ordinary examination, then it must be fulfilled to participate in the re-examination.

Exams