Financial Management

This course equips learners with the financial management knowledge and skills necessary for both personal and corporate finance. The first area covers the basics of financial valuation, introducing the most important financial concept of the time value of money and teaches learners how to perform stock and bond valuation.

Exploring financial operations in a corporation and how firms make financing and investment decisions to maximise shareholder wealth is also being covered. This course is suitable for anyone interested in finance for business with minimal exposure to this field at a tertiary academic level.

• Explain how to achieve shareholder wealth maximization.
• Explain the workings of the financial markets.
• Apply Time Value of Money concepts to solve financial problems.
• Value bonds, stocks, projects, and firms. 
• Estimate the risk-return trade-off and provide an estimation of the cost of capital of a firm.
• Differentiate between capital structure and dividend distribution policy and the value implications of these choices.

Financial Statement Analysis

• Understand and interpret basic financial statements. 
• Explain the concepts and applications of financial accounting standards underlying key economic transactions. These economic transactions include revenue recognition, assets (inventory, property, plant and equipment, intangibles) and liabilities.   
• Interpret complex situations such as financial instruments, leases, and income taxes. 
• Analyse financial statements and business strategies.   

Investments

This course provides a rigorous introduction to the fundamentals of modern finance and its applications to business challenges in investments. Models of investments are at the heart of every investment decision, whether it is to buy, sell, or hold. As global financial markets evolve, pricing financial assets has become increasingly complex. 

Learners will be equipped with the basic understanding and tools to conduct portfolio analysis, make investment decisions, and manage portfolios. This course is suitable for anyone interested in investment and finance for business, but who possesses minimal exposure to this field at a tertiary academic level.

• Explain various financial assets and instruments and the mechanics, risks, and calculations involved in trading financial assets. 
• Explain the relationship between risk and return and capital allocation. 
• Explain the optimal risky portfolio and efficient diversification. 
• Apply the Capital Asset Pricing Model, Arbitrage Pricing Theory, and multi-factor models. 
• Distinguish different forms of Efficient Market Hypothesis and explain their implications on investment decisions. 
• Conduct market research on assigned topics.
• Evaluate the performance of mutual funds and other portfolios.
  

Sustainable Finance: Principles and Practices

Sustainable finance integrates environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into business and investment decisions for long-term sustainable outcomes. This course covers three pillars of sustainable finance: companies adopting more sustainable business practices, investors providing financing with ESG considerations, and governments setting regulations to incentivise good—and discourage bad—behaviors.

The knowledge acquired from this course applies to investors, corporate decision-makers, and regulators. This course is suitable for anyone interested in sustainable finance but possesses minimal exposure to this field at a tertiary academic level.

• Apply the necessary theoretical and conceptual tools for sustainable financial analysis.
• Evaluate the sustainability of a corporate/investment project by means of appropriate accounting/metrics/models.
• Analyse research papers on various topics on sustainable finance.
• Explain how markets react to the new standards of sustainable finance and investment.

Contemporary Finance: Strategies and Innovations

Blockchain is a secure, decentralised, and transparent ledger technology that offers a secure and decentralised approach to verifying, storing, and managing transactions. As part of the suite of technologies expected to drive the 4th Industrial Revolution, blockchain distributed ledger technology has the potential to reshape businesses and industries. This technology may potentially disrupt the way enterprises are managed, create value, and interact across their value chain.

This course helps you understand the impact of technology on financial markets and services and could potentially help professionals in corporations lead digital transformation initiatives and drive the adoption of fintech to improve customer experience and operational efficiency. This course is It is also suitable for anyone interested in Fintech for business but possesses minimal exposure to this field at a tertiary academic level.

• Describe recent developments of blockchain technology and analyse their impact on financial services and the business environment.
• Explain the technologies underlying cryptocurrencies and blockchains.
• Design smart contracts and decentralised applications.
• Compare stablecoins, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and other digital currencies.
• Describe the scenarios/ Identify the situations in which the use of blockchain is appropriate.
• Identify the possible use cases of blockchain.