BE350-7-SP-CO:
Corporate Finance
2024/25
Essex Business School
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Monday 13 January 2025
Friday 21 March 2025
20
23 June 2023
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
MSC N30012 Finance,
MSC N30024 Finance,
MSC N39012 Investment and Wealth Management,
MSC N39024 Investment and Wealth Management,
MSC N30212 Finance and Management,
MSC N30224 Finance and Management
This module provides a standard introduction of the field of corporate finance at the postgraduate level.
The aim of this module is:
- To introduce students to the roles of agency costs and information asymmetries in corporate financial decision making.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Understand, demonstrate knowledge of, and solve problems related to capital structure.
- Understand, demonstrate knowledge of, and solve problems related to agency costs and information cost of financing.
- Understand, demonstrate knowledge of and solve problems related to financial constraints and various topics covered in the lectures.
The module will teach students communication skills and problem solving skills, in particular how to structure and break down a large problems into smaller manageable bits.
The first part of this module looks at the classical areas of Modigliani-Miller irrelevance, Taxes and capital structure, Trade-off theory and Pecking order theory of capital structure. The second part looks at the more modern areas, which are essentially based on contract theory. Here we look at agency based models and asymmetric information based models of corporate finance.
The final part looks at empirical evidence - some time will be allocated to the area of financial constraints - and if time permits, some special topics in corporate finance such as corporate restructuring (mergers, takeovers, workouts, buyouts etc).
This module will be delivered via:
- One 2-hour lecture per week.
- One 1-hour tutorial per week.
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Online Test |
25/02/2025 |
100% |
| Exam |
Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 120 minutes during Summer (Main Period)
|
| Exam |
Reassessment Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 120 minutes during September (Reassessment Period)
|
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Norvald Instefjord, email: ninstef@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Norvald Instefjord and Dr Yiwei Li
ebspgtad@essex.ac.uk
Yes
No
Yes
Dr Aris Kartsaklas
Brunel University London
Senior Lecturer
Available via Moodle
Of 34 hours, 22 (64.7%) hours available to students:
12 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
Disclaimer: The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its Module Directory is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can
be necessary to make changes, for example to programmes, modules, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include a change of law or regulatory requirements,
industrial action, lack of demand, departure of key personnel, change in government policy, or withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to modules may for example consist
of variations to the content and method of delivery or assessment of modules and other services, to discontinue modules and other services and to merge or combine modules.
The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications and module directory.
The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.