Financial Strategy

Program Overview

This advanced financial management course enhances your decision-making abilities in capital budgeting, capital structure, and dividend policy. Additionally, you can apply this knowledge towards an Accounting and Finance BA (Hons) Top-Up, reducing its credit requirements.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This course will focus on the advanced aspects of the investment decision (capital budgeting) and the way in which the organisations capital structure can be strategically adjusted to ensure the maximisation of shareholder wealth / added value. It will explore how the financing decision and the investment decision interrelate with each other and with the dividend or reallocation of funds decision. The course will introduce relevant theory and models, practical financial tools and techniques, with appropriate references to real life organisations. In addition it is vital you can confidently and effectively communicate the rationale behind your decisions. With this in mind the course will utilise every opportunity to expose you to situations where you will be required to lead a seminar, facilitate a workshop, chair a meeting and or present a report. The course will also equip you with knowledge and competencies that will enable you to critically analyse, evaluate and communicate the financial decisions that will help transform the organisation to address its key priorities.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of the course, you will be able to:

• Critically evaluate and analyse a business situation from a strategically financial perspective.
• Accurately apply relevant accounting tools and techniques to support strategic decisions

Outline:

Course Content:

• The advanced capital budgeting decision will build on the basic methods of appraising a project / investment by building in real life considerations such as tax, limited capital and inflation.
Practical applications of advanced investment appraisal through mini case studies will be used in the course. Reference to real life scenarios will be informed by research in this area, relating to what real life companies actually do.
• Capital structure will be explored by considering theoretical models and the empirical evidence that has been put forward in this area of finance.
Key ratios will be referred to in order to analyse the impact of various sources of finance on the performance and position of the company. The relevance of accounting information available in the organisation and how it can help evaluate implications of a decision will begin to become apparent. The concept of the cost of capital will be explored and its relationship with the investment appraisal process will be discussed.
• The dividend policy of the organisation will be explored by considering theoretical models and the empirical evidence that has been put forward in this area of finance The impact this has on shareholder wealth and the capital budgeting and capital structure decision is further explored.
• You will begin to appreciate the need to be able to communicate the derivation and implications of strategic decisions.
The analysis and evaluation is just one aspect of financial strategy, the delivery and communication of this strategy followed by the ability to reflect on the outcomes is what completes the strategy.

Pace of Study:

For this short online course, we recommend about 20 hours of study per week to complete one 20-credit module over a 10-week trimester.

Assessment:

This course is assessed through 100% coursework with a range of methods, such as essays, research reports, presentations, group work and practical reports which will be handed in and assessed at the end of the 10 week trimester. There will be 1/2 virtual classrooms over the 10 week trimester and if you are unable to attend you will be able to download the session to view in your own time.

Other:

• Offset course credits towards another qualification: Once you’ve completed this course you may be able to offset the 20 credits towards our online Accounting and Finance BA (Hons) Top-Up.

UK/EU fee: £875 (2024/25) ‡ International fee: £875 (2024/25) ‡