2021/22 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

LUBS2205 Corporate Finance

20 creditsClass Size: 195

Module manager: Dr Efthymia Symitsi
Email: E.Symitsi@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2021/22

Pre-requisites

LUBS1035

Foundations of Finance

This module is mutually exclusive with

LUBS2035	Finance for Small Business
LUBS2206	Corporate Financial Management

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

Corporate Finance is an intermediate level module and is intended to provide a critical appreciation of the fundamental theories and concepts in corporate finance as a pre-requisite for further study of the more specialist aspects of finance and the financial markets covered in the advanced finance modules in level 3. The module relates theory to current corporate business practice and requires you to be able to confidently use, interpret and manipulate financial formulas and numerical data.

Objectives

The module aims to provide students with knowledge of the fundamental concepts of corporate finance and the key underpinning theoretical principles and also the skills to apply that knowledge to explore current knowledge boundaries in corporate finance. It further aims to enable students to develop a practical understanding of the use of financial theory in business and the financial markets.

Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the module students will be able to:
- Critically appraise the key theoretical concepts underpinning corporate debt and investment risk appraisal and apply these to evaluate investment opportunities
- Research and critically evaluate contemporary theories and the empirical research evidence base on corporate dividend policy and outline the current knowledge boundaries in this area
- Recognise and explain the significance of some of the alternative religious perspectives on the concept of interest and outline Islamic finance in practice

Skills outcomes
Upon completion of the module students will be able to:
Transferable
- Independently extract, synthesise and communicate complex and conflicting information
- Acknowledge and reference appropriate research sources

Subject Specific
- Competently apply current theory and appropriate analytical tools to solve more advanced financial problems
- Extract relevant information from structured and unstructured scenarios and data and apply this to the solution of more advanced financial problems
- Apply core mathematical and statistical skills to address a range of financial problems

Syllabus

Indicative content
The syllabus provides coverage of some of the fundamental current concepts and theories underpinning current corporate finance and indicative content includes: corporate governance, corporate capital structure and the practicalities of debt and equity financing, advantages and limits on the use of corporate debt, financial distress, risk and capital budgeting, dividend policy, leasing, more advanced aspects of the Capital Asset Pricing Model, the Efficient Market Hypothesis, an introduction to behavioural finance, mergers and acquisitions, an introduction to international corporate finance, and ethics in finance. The compulsory essay question in the exam provides an opportunity to evaluate the current theoretical explanations of corporate dividend payout policy against actual business practice.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	21	1.50	33.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Independent online learning hours			20.00
Private study hours			137.00
Total Contact hours			43.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Students are required to undertake specified pre-reading and question preparation in advance of the classes based on the material introduced in the lectures. This includes some online pre-reading and formative questions. Students are also required to conduct substantial independent research on an area of current academic debate.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Students will be able to monitor their progress through fortnightly seminars. Model answers and answers and marking schemes for workshop and past examination papers against which students can assess their own performance;
- Formative feedback is provided at the end of each semester in the form of a thirty minute closed book MCQ class test. The results of the class test do not contribute to the final mark but provide the student with a benchmark for their understanding of the material covered. Solutions for the class tests will be provided after the test to allow students to assess their performance.

Methods of assessment

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)	3 hr 00 mins	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		100.00

The resit for this module will be 100% by 3 hour examination.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 24/09/2021

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