BE350-7-SP-CO:
Corporate Finance

The details
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)

Key module for

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

Module description

This module provides a standard introduction of the field of corporate finance at the postgraduate level.

Module aims

The aim of this module is:



  • To introduce students to the roles of agency costs and information asymmetries in corporate financial decision making.

Module learning outcomes

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.

Module information

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).

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be delivered via:

  • One 2-hour lecture per week.
  • One 1-hour tutorial per week.

Bibliography

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

Coursework Exam
30% 70%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
30% 70%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Norvald Instefjord, email: ninstef@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Norvald Instefjord and Dr Yiwei Li
ebspgtad@essex.ac.uk

 

Availability
Yes
No
Yes

External examiner

Dr Aris Kartsaklas
Brunel University London
Senior Lecturer
Resources
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).

 

Further information
Essex Business School

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