Course Catalogue

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The course focuses on providing an understanding of the concepts, tools and framework in analysing various financial and investment decisions to achieve the objective of the firm.

Workshops: 2 hours of workshop x 10 weeks, including active learning activities.

Tutorials: 1 hour tutorial x 8 weeks.

A number of asynchronous activities will take place online such as moodle quizzes and moodle forums etc

Only available to students on one of the BAcc programmes, or students studying a joint honours degree in Maths/Statistics with Accounting or Finance. For alternative courses see Introduction to Finance, Investments and Institutions.

Please refer to the current undergraduate prospectus at: https://www.gla.ac.uk/undergraduate/.

Introduction to Finance, Investments and Institutions, Business Reporting & Financial Management, and Introduction for Business Reporting and Financial Accounting.

1 group project (25%) and 1 degree exam (75%)

This course focuses on identifying the financial objective of the firm and on understanding how the principal financial and investment decisions should be made within the firm in order to achieve this objective. Coverage will include sources of company finance, an introduction to capital markets, the cost of capital, the principles of security valuation, projection of cash flows for projects, methods of investment appraisal, financial statement analysis and planning and forecasting for businesses.

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Explain the function of financial management within an organisation.

2. Identify the various sources of long and short term finance available to the firm.

3. Demonstrate an understanding of time value of money techniques and use these concepts for the valuation of various securities.

4. Apply finance theory in practical investment decision making.

5. Critically analyse the various investment appraisal techniques found in practice, under conditions including inflation and capital rationing.

6. Describe and evaluate the role of financial ratios and statistics in decision making.

7. Explain the financial aspects of business planning and forecasting processes. 

8. Work collaboratively in a group to produce a comprehensive report based on the concepts covered in the course.

The minimum requirement for the award of credits is the submission of at least 100% by weight of the course's summative assessment (including any examinations). Further requirements may include monitored attendance at classes and examinations and completion of formative assessment. All such requirements shall be specified by the subject concerned; details will be available via Moodle. Normally no grade or credits shall be awarded to a candidate who has not met these requirements.