BUSI1652 Financial Aspects of International Business

The aim of this course is to deepen your understanding of contemporary business economic concepts and theories. You will then apply them to understand current and past economic and business events. It will enable you to critically evaluate economic decisions and policies.

Learning Outcomes (LO):

Upon successfully completing this course you will have gained knowledge on two specific areas of interest: Financial environment

• Develop an understanding of the key objectives that guide financial decision-making processes;

• Cultivate an understanding of attaining financial capital in the funds marketplace;

• Improve your understanding of and critically evaluating financial statements;

• Calculate and interpret measures aimed at evaluating a firm’s financial performance. Valuation of financial assets, risk and rates of return

• Understanding the main techniques in calculating and moving money at specific times;

• Develop your ability to measure risk and returns associated with investment decisions;

• Understanding the relationship between stock value and cost of capital.

An element of EBL which involves faculty introducing students to their own research where it is relevant to the curriculum being taught as well as drawing on their own knowledge of research developments in the field, introducing them to the work of other researchers. RLT sees students as active participants inthe research process, not just as an audience. This is achieved by discussing such developments inlectures and classes and setting reading lists including recent research publications at the frontier of the field. The definition of a diverse assessment regime at the programme level (incorporating an expectation of familiarity with, and use of, such publications in assignments) and the inclusion of projects at every level of the programme is also fundamental to achieving these objectives. In this module you will be expected to engage with the research undertaken by the lecturer, as well as other members of staff in the department and researchers worldwide.

Introduction to the course: What will I learn from the course and how will I be assessed?

Brainstorming session on (a) the importance of reading financialrelated press; (b) the ability of using Excel to calculate and

tabulate; (c) gaining proficiency in using a specific financialoriented database.

At the end of this session you will have gained clarity on how to select and smart-read financial press sources, and how to use the database Orbis and Microsoft Excel

What are the principles that guide actions in the financial management of a firm? How would you describe the relationship between the objectives of profit maximization and maximization of shareholder wealth short term or long term?

Why are financial markets so important for a firm’s ability to raise funds? Should business managers look at the real or nominal interest rates?

What should we look at to evaluate whether a firm is financially doing well?

What are the three basic attributes of the firm’s performance?

How to solve the issue of the value of money considering time constraints?

What is common stock and how do we measure its price?

How does a bond’s par value differ from its market value?

We will discuss the process through which a firm’s profit or losses are calculated over a specified period (typically over a one-year period), and the financial position of the firm on a particular date.