Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this module, the student should be able to:
• appreciate the role of budgeting, performance management and measurement in strategic decision making;
• Ability to calculate, explain, interpret and advise on the full range of variances – sales variances, cost variances, incl. planning and operational variances
• Ability to calculate, explain, interpret and advise on performance measurement and management – financial and non-financial KPIs (including divisional performance management involving transfer pricing)
• understand the risk and return characteristics of equity, debt and other financial instruments;
• advise on the appropriate use of different sources of finance;
• carry out company valuations; and
• evaluate firm investment decisions and have an awareness of the factors that influence corporate financing and dividend decisions.
Indicative Module Content:
• Strategy and the Master Budget
• Strategy and the Analysis of Capital Investments
• Sales, Direct Cost Variances, and the Role of Nonfinancial Performance Measures
• Indirect Cost Variances and Resource Capacity Management
• Further Analysis of Productivity and Sales
• Cost Centers, Profit Centers, and the Balanced Scorecard
• Investment Centers and Transfer Pricing
• Management Compensation, Business Analysis, and Business Valuation
• Financial Ratio Analysis, Prospective Analysis: Forecasting Pro forma Financial Statements
• Capital Structure, CAPM, Weighted Average Cost of Capital
• Discounted Cash Flow Method, Bond Pricing Basics, Equity Security Analysis
• Corporate Valuation Methods, Mergers and Acquisitions