Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE BFI5401

 
TITLE Advanced Corporate Finance

 
UM LEVEL 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course

 
MQF LEVEL 7

 
ECTS CREDITS 5

 
DEPARTMENT Banking, Finance and Investments

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit will provide a comprehensive understanding of the environment and contexts of corporate finance in organisations, and the key concepts and techniques which are used by contemporary financial managers in making financial decisions.
This study-unit will enhance the theoretical, analytic, evaluative decision making skills and capabilities of students related to financial evaluation of sources, organisational investment, financing and dividend policy contexts.

Study-Unit Aims:

The study-unit aims at providing participants with a detailed overview of the trends, risks and vulnerabilities, the regulation, context of corporate finance decision in real world corporations. This study-unit explores in depth all the aspects of the three main decisions in corporate finance, i.e. the investment decision, the financing decision and the dividend decision.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. Explain why investment decision are important for corporations ;
2. List the various financial methods that are used in order to appraise investment decisions;
3. Describe the fundamental differences between debt and equity and the respective advantages and disadvantages of both;
4. Explain what are the various financing methods that are available to corporations in order to finance their day-to-day operations as well as long-term growth;
5. Discuss what is captial structure and the various theories related to capital structure;
6. List the fundamental academic articles in corporate finance;
7. Outline the latest trends in corporate finance research and how empirical research is done in corporate finance;
8. Outline the importance of shareholder value and how it can be achieved while undertaking the main activities in corporate finance.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. Integrate and work out investment appraisal evaulations using all the relevant financial methods;
2. Decide and select investment projects according to financial and non-financial criteria so that shareholder value is maximised;
3. Compute the cost of capital/WACC of a company;
4. Recommend the optimum financing solution for a company given its current business and financial circumstances;
5. Recommend the optimum dividend policy for a firm;
6. Conduct empirical research in corporate finance.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Core texts:

- Berk, J. & DeMarzo, P., (2013), Corporate Finance, (3rd edition), Pearson Education ISBN: 9780273792277

Guided reading :

- Details of what to read and when will be provided in the VLE site.

Independent study :

- to receive high grades you will need to demonstrate your wider reading. The following resources provide useful background reading for the material in this study-unit.
Asquith, P and Weiss, L.A. (2016), Lessons in Corporate Finance: A Case Studies approach to financial tools, Financial Policies, and Valuation Wiley
Berk, J., DeMarzo, P. and Harford, J., (2014), Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (3rd edition) Pearson
Boakes, K., (2010), Reading and Understanding the Financial Times Updated for 2010-2011, 2nd edition, Financial Times Prentice Hall (e-book)
Brealey, R. A. & Myers, S. C., (2013,) Principles of Corporate Finance, (11th global edition, McGraw-Hill ISBN: 978-0077151560
McLaney, E., (2014), Business Finance, (10th edition), Pearson
Ross, S. A., Westerfield, R. W., Jaffe, J. F. & Jordan, B. D., (2014), Corporate Finance Core Principles and Applications, International Edition, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill
Vernimmen, P., Quiry, P., Dallocchio, M., Le Fur, Y. & Salvi, A., (2014), Corporate Finance Theory and Practice, 4th edition, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Watson, D. and Head, A., (2013), Corporate Finance: Principals and Practice (6th edition) Pearson

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Pre-requisite Qualifications: B.Com. (Hons.) Banking & Finance, B.Com. Banking & Finance Major or equivalent

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM2 Yes 30%
Examination (3 Hours) SEM2 Yes 70%

 
LECTURER/S Robert M. Suban

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit