June / November

Saturday / Sunday

* MODULE 1
INTERNATIONAL FINANCE & RESPONSIBLE FINANCAL MANAGEMENT

This module is designed for business students to develop a non-technical understanding of the key aspects of corporate financial theory and practice. The module covers the core aspects of raising capital and determining financing, though to investing capital in major corporate decisions, and finally returning value to shareholders.
Specifically you will study in the module; Sustainable Value Management, Stock Market Efficiency, Capital Asset Pricing Model, Portfolio Theory, International Cost of Capital, Capital Structure Decisions, Dividend Policy, Corporate Valuation and International Merger & Acquisition activity.
The module has a focus on business responsibility of all of those areas, concentrating on professional codes of conduct in areas such as the banking industry, accounting and similar finance areas, and the types of dilemmas that graduates could face in professional practice. This module will develop you as a critical and reflective practitioner. In the module, you will become more aware of the issues that responsible businesses face when attempting to implement financial concepts and theories into practice.

* MODULE 2
CONTEMPORARY REPORTING

You will learn how to read and critically interpret both the financial information and narrative content of company reports. To do this, you will study the theory and context of corporate reporting, including ethical issues, and the international framework for reporting, as well as very practical techniques such as ratio analysis. Building on the calculation of ratios, you will use them to help you analyse a company’s performance by selecting appropriate comparators and considering the figures in the context of a company’s industry and its business strategy. You will also consider the role of integrated reporting and sustainability reporting.
The aim of this module is to equip you with the ability to comprehensively understand corporate reports, including financial statements. You will learn to analyse the performance of a company and critically evaluate the quality of the information given in its corporate reports, from an end user’s perspective. This is essential for many business roles, and not limited to roles in finance. In studying this module, you will learn about current reporting issues both from an academic, research-based perspective, and from a practical, business perspective. The assignment and the exercises you will be using for practice are based on actual company reports, so that you are working with and experiencing real world documents.

* MODULE 3
SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES

This module will provide you with a perspective on core strategy from the vantage of an organisation and the ability to analyse, formulate and critique business strategies. You will be able to understand and reflect on the scope and limitations of tools and techniques deployed to inform business strategies and their sustainability premises. It will, as a bolt on, impart an emphasis for stepping back and looking at strategies from a macro level sustainability perspective as is very topical and at the forefront of policy and business concerns.

* MODULE 4
CRITICAL ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS

The module provides a comprehensive guide to Organisation Theory, and offers practical guidance to application of theoretical perspectives to organising practices. It offers an introduction to main theoretical perspectives dominant in Organisation Theory, i.e. modern, symbolic and contemporary perspectives. It highlights the implications of contrasting theoretical perspectives in practice, and further explores the latest development in organising practices. Through challenging conventional understanding of organisation and management, the module enables you to critically approach Organisation as a field of theory and practice, and to construct your own knowledge and understanding of ‘management’. It helps you to situate yourself within this field as critical thinkers, and as capable and reflective practitioners. As such the module contributes to your enhanced employability, and informed employment decision making.

* MODULE 5
DISSERTATION

The dissertation module aims to equip you with the necessary intellectual and practical skills for undertaking an individual student-led, ethical investigation into an applied business (or the named degree) problem or issue. In addition, the dissertation aims to equip you with key transferable, employability skills, including: time management, project management, communication (written and verbal), negotiation, persuasion and influence, discovery, initiative, creativity and innovation in problem-solving, analysis.