BE300-4-FY-CO:
Quantitative Methods and Finance

The details
2021/22
Essex Business School
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Thursday 07 October 2021
Friday 01 July 2022
30
18 October 2021

 

Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

BE312, BE314, BE317, BE334, BE339, BE610, BE910, EC251, EC252, EC322, EC368, EC371, EC372, EC383, MA212

Key module for

BSC N400 Accounting,
BSC N401 Accounting (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N402 Accounting (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N404 Accounting (Including Placement Year),
BSC N420 Accounting and Finance,
BSC N422 Accounting and Finance (Including Placement Year),
BSC NN43 Accounting and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC NNK3 Accounting and Finance (Including Year Abroad),
MACCN440 Accounting and Finance,
MACCN441 Accounting and Finance (Including Placement Year),
MACCN442 Accounting and Finance (Including Year Abroad),
BSC NN24 Accounting and Management,
BSC NN27 Accounting and Management (Including Placement Year),
BSC NN42 Accounting and Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC NNK2 Accounting and Management (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N4L1 Accounting with Economics (Including Foundation Year),
BSC NKL1 Accounting with Economics (Including Year Abroad),
BSC NL41 Accounting with Economics,
BSC NL44 Accounting with Economics (Including Placement Year),
BSC N390 Banking and Finance,
BSC N391 Banking and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N392 Banking and Finance (Including Placement Year),
BSC NH90 Banking and Finance (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N200 Business Management,
BSC N201 Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N202 Business Management (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N204 Business Management (Including Placement Year),
BSC N300 Finance,
BSC N301 Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N302 Finance (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N304 Finance (Including Placement Year),
BSC N2N5 Management and Marketing (Including Foundation Year),
BSC NN25 Management and Marketing,
BSC NN2M Management and Marketing (Including Placement Year),
BSC NNF5 Management and Marketing (Including Year Abroad),
BA L147 Financial Economics and Accounting (Including Placement Year),
BA L148 Financial Economics and Accounting,
BA L149 Financial Economics and Accounting (Including Year Abroad),
BA LX14 Financial Economics and Accounting (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N344 Finance and Management,
BSC N345 Finance and Management (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N346 Finance and Management (Including Placement Year),
BSC N347 Finance and Management (Including Foundation Year),
BA LN10 Business Economics,
BA LN11 Business Economics (Including Year Abroad),
BA LN12 Business Economics (Including Placement Year),
BA LX10 Business Economics (Including Foundation Year),
LLB MN10 Law with Finance,
LLB MN11 Law with Finance (Including Year Abroad),
LLB MN12 Law with Finance (Including Placement Year),
LLB MN13 Law with Finance (Including Foundation Year),
MMANNN35 Marketing and Management,
MMANNN36 Marketing and Management (Including Placement Year),
MMANNN37 Marketing and Management (Including Year Abroad)

Module description

The aim of the first half of this module is to provide an introduction to the subject of quantitative methods and their applications in finance, accounting and management. The module is designed to provide a sound foundation for your future studies. The topics covered include maths revision, the time value of money, rates of change (calculus), statistics, probability distributions and simple regression.

The aim of the second half of this module is to provide an introduction to the finance subject area. In particular, the module gives an overview of the financial system, instruments and markets, and ideas about finance concepts and problems. The topics covered include investment companies, return and risk, and behavioural finance.

IMPORTANT: some students find the maths and statistics to be challenging. This is normal. If you find the lectures to be difficult and perhaps moving too quickly, be sure to make use of the additional support available.

Module aims

1) To develop and transmit knowledge about and proficiency in quantitative methods and their applications in finance, accounting and management, at an introductory level.
2) To give students an appreciation of the role that quantitative methods play in finance, accounting and management subject areas.
3) To provide students with a firm foundation for further studies in finance, accounting and management.
4) To develop and transmit knowledge about the financial system, instruments and markets and ideas about finance concepts and problems at an introductory level;
5) To make students aware, at an introductory level, of different ways of thinking about and analysing financial phenomena;
6) To give students an appreciation of the role that finance plays in society;
7) To provide students with a firm foundation for further studies in finance.

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

1) Solve a variety of algebraic problems;
2) Understand and apply the concepts of compounding and discounting;
3) Apply calculus techniques to solve problems in finance and economics;
4) Understand and solve problems involving descriptive statistics and probabilities;
5) Understand and apply significance tests and regression analysis;
6) Discuss the various traditions, concepts and techniques within finance as a subject discipline;
7) Describe the major features of the financial system including markets and institutions;
8) Understand the relationship between risk and return and the concept of diversification;
9) Understand the role of present value in bond and equity valuation models;
10) Have an appreciation of the issues underlying the efficient market hypothesis.

Module information

Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)

1) Improve your literacy and numeracy skills;
2) Develop your IT skills by learning to work in Excel to solve numerical problems with the use of statistical tools;
3) Improve your commercial awareness by familiarising with the current developments in finance
4) Enhance your communication skills in class discussions;
5) Develop your personal plan of setting targets and time management to undertake coursework and exam

Learning and teaching methods

2 Hour Weekly Lecture 1 Hour Weekly Problem Solving Class. Extensive Online Support Available

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 1 - AU     
Coursework   ONLINE TEST 2 - AU     
Coursework   ONLINE TEST 3 - AU     
Coursework   ONLINE TEST 4 - AU     
Coursework   ONLINE TEST 5 - AU     
Coursework   ONLINE TEST 1 - SP     
Coursework   ONLINE TEST 2 - SP     
Coursework   ONLINE TEST 3 - SP     
Coursework   ONLINE TEST 4 - SP     
Coursework   ONLINE TEST 5 - SP     
Exam  Main exam: 24hr during Summer (Main Period) 
Exam  Reassessment Main exam: 24hr 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
50% 50%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
0% 100%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Sam Astill, email: sastill@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Anna Sarkisyan, email: asark@essex.ac.uk.
AU Term: Dr Sam Astill, Dr Udichibarna Bose; SP Term: Dr Anna Sarkisyan and Dr Senyu Wang
ebsugcol@essex.ac.uk

 

Availability
No
No
No

External examiner

No external examiner information available for this module.
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 197 hours, 191 (97%) hours available to students:
6 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

 

Further information
Essex Business School

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