BSc (Hons) Financial Management (Banking and Finance)*
Next intake:
- June 2013
- Final year only: 1 year
- 1st & 2nd years or 2nd & 3rd years: 2 years
- Full programme: 3 years
- Full programme (accelerated study mode): 2 years
- For information regarding fees, funding and scholarship please fill in the enquiry form on the right.
InterActive - complete online learning resource puts your study and career goals within reach regardless of your circumstances. With InterActive you can now earn a specialised UK bachelor’s degree in your own time.
This degree course offers you the skills and knowledge you require to develop a career in financial management, risk management, merchant banking and management consultancy.
This undergraduate degree is offered through interActive learning platform and validated by Glyndŵr University*.
What will you learn?
The world of banking and finance is a dynamic, high-stakes environment requiring in-depth knowledge and specialised skills - InterActive delivers this in the format that suits you and your commitments.
During the course you will explore the central management concerns and real world issues encountered in the banking and finance industry. You will also explore financial risk management and the functioning of multinational corporations in terms of investment, financing and working capital decisions in the global context.
On completion of the course you will have developed an understanding of banking and finance as well as the technical and managerial skills required for a career in the banking industry.
The course syllabus is designed to equip you with advanced and practically applicable skills in corporate finance, financial economics, financial markets and personal finance. In the later stages of the programme you will explore international financial management, risk management, money and banking and governance and ethics.
(1st Year) Certificate of Higher Education in Financial Managementread more
Quantitative Methods
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Identify and apply appropriate data collection techniques to central location and dispersion measures in the analysis of business data
- Apply regression, correlation and time series forecasting in the prediction of business relevant inputs for planning and designing solutions
- Compute probability and utilise hypothetical tests for single and two population variables
- Implement linear programming in business decisions
Topics covered
- Data Collection and Presentation, Central Location and Dispersion, and Index Numbers
- Regression and Correlation
- Time Series and Forecasting
- Probability and Probability Distributions
- Sampling and Tests of Hypotheses and Linear Programming
Introduction to Marketing
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Design a market research plan
- Differentiate between the elements of various types of marketing (product/service/face to face/ B2B/ industry)
- Understand the dynamics of digital age marketing and its impact on the global market place
Topics covered
- Marketing and Its Environment: Marketing dynamics and the global marketing environment
- Customers and Markets: Consumer behaviour, B2B buying behaviour, segmenting markets, marketing information and research
- The Marketing Mix and The Application of The Concepts
- Marketing Planning, Management and Control
Introduction to Finance
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Understand and apply basic financial tools appropriate for decision making
- Explain the concept of the time value of money in a business and financial context
- Compute the present and future values
- Prepare report inputs using financial tools such as discounting, compounding, annuities and perpetuities, while outlining their features
Topics covered
- Introduction to Finance, The Financial Environment and The Principles of Finance
- The Concept of The Time Value of Money
- The Mathematics of Finance Finding, Interest Rates and Time Requirements
- Compounding to Determine Future Values and Discounting to Determine Present Values
- Perpetuities and Annuities, and Inflation or Purchasing Power Implications
- Future Value of an Annuity and Future Value of an Annuity Due
- Frequent Compounding or Discounting Intervals
- Annual Percentage Rate Versus Equivalent Annual Rates of Interest, and The Cost of Consumer Credit.
Micro Economics
Learning outcomes
At the end of the module, the students should be able to:
- Critically evaluate intermediate microeconomic theory and be able to apply economic reasoning to the analysis of economic questions and policy
- Identify, present and critically evaluate standard theoretical economic models
- Apply standard theoretical economic models to analyses of economic questions and policy issues
- Communicate concepts/definitions/arguments both in writing and orally
Topics covered
- Economic models
- Utility and choice
- Demand (market and individual) and elasticity
- Production and costs
- Profit maximisation
- Perfectly competitive markets
- Risk and uncertainty (economics of information)
- Externalities
- Asymmetric information (basic concepts)
- Monopoly
- Capturing surplus
- Market structure and competition
- Revision
Macroeconomic Environment
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Analyse the macroeconomic environment of business and evaluate their impact on business
- Compute measures of inflation
- Explain the concept of national income and discuss the methods used in measuring a country’s output
- Outline issues in labour market, unemployment, taxation and government spending, and assess their impact on business at a fundamental level
Topics covered
- Introduction to Macroeconomics and the Macroeconomic Environment
- Measuring the Rate of Inflation, The Inflationary Process and Money Value and Their Impact on Businesses
- Determination of National Income and Measuring a Country’s National Output
- Foreign trade, Introduction to Exchange Rate Computations and Balance of Payments
- The Labour Market and Unemployment, and Their Impact on Businesses
- Taxation and Public Spending and Their Impact on Businesses
Business Law
Learning outcomes
At the end of this module, student should be able to:
- Discuss and explain the fundamentals of legal systems
- Identify and apply legal concepts in local and business transactions and scenarios
- Differentiate and analyse from a legal point of view different types of business and their legal ramifications
- Discuss and explain the legal regulation of companies and evaluate the options available to companies in a financial crisis
Topics covered
- The fundamentals of legal systems
- Local and international business transactions and their legal ramifications
- Local and international forms of business and their legal ramifications
- Legal aspects of business relationships with specific consideration of joint ventures and partnerships
- Legal aspects of raising capital and financing businesses
- The legal regulation of companies
- Legal aspects to managing crisis and bankruptcy businesses
(2nd Year) Diploma of Higher Education in Financial Managementread more
Management Accounting
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Discuss different types of costing systems and use them to compute cost
- Evaluate the effect of costing systems and stock costing methods on income statements
- ompute and evaluate break even points using cost volume analysis as a tool for decision making
- Explain the concepts of activity based costing and design pricing systems, as well as discuss information used in business decision-making
Topics covered
- Fundamentals of Management Accounting I: An introduction to cost terms and purposes, job costing systems and process costing systems
- Fundamentals of Management Accounting II: Cost allocation, joint cost situation and income effects of alternative stock costing methods
- Management Accounting Information for Decision Making I: Cost-volume-profit relationships, determining how costs behave and relevant information for decision making
- Management Accounting Information for Decision Making II: Activity-based costing, pricing, target costing and customer profitability analysis
- Budgeting and Planning as Control Systems I: Motivation, budgets and responsibility accounting, flexible budgets, variances and management control I
- Budgeting and Planning as Control Systems II: Flexible budgets, Variances and Management Control II and measuring yield, mix and quantity effects
Financial Accounting
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Prepare financial statements using complete and incomplete data
- Explain key accounting concepts in financial accounting and their application
- Analyse financial statements to explain company performance and position, based on company annual reports
- Critique main points in the company's annual reports
Topics covered
- The Framework of Financial Reporting: Introduction to Financial Accounting and key accounting concepts
- Financial Position (Balance Sheet) and Financial Performance (Income Statement); An overall view of the nuts and bolts
- Preparation of Financial Statements: How to record transactions and prepare financial reports for a single enterprise
- Measuring and Reporting Cash Flows
- Analysis and Interpretation of Financial Statements
Corporate Finance
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Analyse fundamental corporate finance decisions and their implications
- Apply investment decision rules of the traditional and discounted cash flow methods, in analysing investment decisions and discussing outputs
- Explain the concepts of risk and returns, as well as compute the cost of capital
- Examine working capital policies and apply cash management models in analysing business working capital policies
Topics covered
- Fundamentals of Corporate Finance: The types of financial management and corporate finance decisions
- Investment Decision: Traditional and discounted cash flow investment decision tools
- Financing Decision I: Capital structure theories and financing decisions
- Financing Decision II: Risk and return trade-off, the cost of equity, cost of debt and the weighted average cost of capital
- Working Capital Decisions: Working capital policies, computations and cash flow management models
Financial Economics
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Discuss the foundation of financial economics, household incomes and their impact on investment decisions
- Use financial economic tools to discuss resource allocation, principles of financial economics and market valuation
- Compute basic valuation from known cash flows
- Identify risks in business design and basic risk management plans
- Explain the capital asset pricing model, the arbitrage pricing model and efficient market hypotheses
Topics covered
- The Microeconomic Foundation of Financial Economics
- Household Savings and Investment Decisions
- Allocating Resources Over Time
- Principles of Financial Economics and Principles of Market Valuation
- Basics of Valuation of Known Cash Flows
- Principles of Risk Management
- The Capital Asset Pricing Model and The Arbitrage Pricing theory
- The Efficient Markets Hypothesis
Financial Markets
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Analyse and carry out a basic computation of instruments in the equity markets
- Identify and carry out a basic computation of instruments in the fixed income markets
- Critically discuss and carry out a basic computation of instruments in the derivatives markets
- Evaluate and carry out a basic computation of instruments in the mortgage markets
Topics covered
- Overview of the Main Financial Markets: Equity, fixed income, derivatives and mortgages
- Equity Markets: Fundamental concepts of equity markets and the valuation of securities in equity markets
- Fixed Income Markets: Fundamental concepts of fixed income markets and the valuation of securities in fixed income markets
- Derivatives Markets: Fundamentals of and computations in derivatives markets
- Mortgage Markets: Fundamentals of and computations in mortgage markets
Personal Finance
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Design personal financial plans, utilising time value of money concepts
- Use personal finance tools to assess and manage credit scores
- Prepare and assess an integrated personal financial plan utilising personal finance tools
Topics covered
- Overview of a Financial Plan and Tools for Financial Planning: Planning with personal financial, statements, applying time value concepts and using tax concepts for planning
- Managing Personal Liquidity: Banking and interest rates, managing money, assessing and securing your credit and managing credit
- Personal Financing and Protecting Wealth: Personal loans purchasing and financing a home, auto and homeowner’s insurance, health and disability insurance and life insurance
- Personal Investing: Investing fundamentals, investing in stocks, investing in bonds, investing in mutual funds and asset allocation
- Retirement and Estate Planning: Retirement planning and estate planning
- Synthesis of Financial Planning: Integrating the components of a financial plan
(3rd Year) BSc in Financial Managementread more
Research Methods
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Differentiate between research philosophies, and the link between research philosophy and research design
- Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different research methods and small to large projects
- Identify and apply data acquisition, transformation and analysis tools
- Develop an understanding of how research findings must be used within clear ethical constraints (i.e. avoiding data mining to support biased objectives)
Topics covered
- Research Philosophy
- Research Approaches
- Research Design
- Methodology
- Methods
- Literature Review
- Data Acquisition
- Data Transformation
- Data Analysis
- Data Presentation
- Research Ethics
International Financial Management
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Critically analyse the financial goals of a multinational enterprise and evaluate the challenges faced by multinational firms
- Examine foreign exchange theories and discuss international parity theory
- Evaluate foreign exchange risk and design tools to manage this risk, while considering possible payoffs
- Compute the global cost of capital and analyse issues in sources for international financing
- Discuss international portfolio theory and diversification, and analyse investment decisions in an international context
- Explore working capital management issues in an international operation, and discuss financing international trade (exports or imports)
Topics covered
- The Global Business Arena and International Financial Management (An Introduction): Globalisation and the multinational enterprise, financial goals and corporate governance, as well as the International Monetary Fund
- The Balance of Payments
- Current Multinational Financial Challenges
- Foreign Exchange Theories and Markets
- International Parity Considerations
- Foreign Currency Risk and Tools used in Managing Them (Derivatives, Swaps and Forward Markets)
- Foreign Exchange Rate Determination and Forecasting
- Financing the Global Firm, Global Cost and Availability of Capital, Sourcing Equity and Debt, as well as International Finance
- Foreign Investment Decision Considerations: International portfolio theory and diversification, foreign direct investment and political risk, as well as international capital budgeting
- Managing the Finances of Multinational Operations: Working capital management and international trade finance
Risk Management
Learning outcomes
At the end of the module, student should be able to
- Demonstrate and critically evaluate the tools used in forwards markets, their application to financial risk, and design and analyse tools for financial risk management in the forwards market
- Explain and critically analyse the tools used in futures markets, their application to financial risk, and design and analyse tools for financial risk management in the futures market
- Discuss and explain the tools used in options markets, their application to financial risk, and design and critically analyse tools for financial risk management in the options market
- Discuss and explain the tools used in swaps markets, their application to financial risk, and design and analyse tools for financial risk management in the swaps market
Topics covered
- Forwards markets: Financial Risk management and speculation in the forward markets
- Futures markets: Financial Risk management and speculation in the Futures markets
- Options markets: Financial Risk management and speculation in the Options markets
- Swaps markets: Financial Risk management and speculation in the Swaps markets
- Current Developments in Financial Risk Management
Money and Banking (Project)
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Design and plan research projects on money and banking topics
- Discuss financial intermediaries and their roles in creating value within the financial services industry (banking)
- Evaluate the role of money in the macro economy, the money creation process in banking and the different forms of measuring money
- Analyse the behaviour of interest rates as well as their determinants, and compute interest rates for various banking activities
- Research and present information to a variety of audiences
Topics covered
- Overview of Money, Banking and Financial Markets
- Financial Markets, Financial Intermediaries, Their Roles and The Nature of Financial Intermediation
- The Role of Money in the Macro Economy: Money and money measurement criteria, the economy and inflation, as well as money supply theories
- Interest Rate Behaviour and Measurement: The term structure of interest rates and the yield curve, calculating interest rate and the determination of interest rates
- Money, Capital Markets and Banking, Depository Institutions and Trends, as well as The Regulation of Banks
Governance and Ethics (Project)
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Design a research project based on a governance and ethics
- Research and critically evaluate ethical views and their implications
- Analyse the dichotomy of business and ethical requirements and reconcile the differences which may exist
- Carry out in-depth analysis of models that can be used in ethical dilemmas and apply these in simulated scenarios
- Examine the role of the professional in society as well as demonstrate professional values and judgement within ethical frameworks and models
Topics covered
- Ethical Views and Frameworks Within a Multi-cultural, Multi-religious and Multi-view world, and Their Application to Business
- Business and Ethics: Can They Co-exist? A critical consideration of the dichotomy
- Corporations, corporate governance and corporate responsibility
- Working Models for Ensuring Ethical Decisions Are Taken
- The Professional: What Does Being a Professional Entail? Expectations and reality
- Sustainability and Corporate Reporting
Personal Finance
Learning outcomes
You will gain the ability to:
- Design personal financial plans, utilising time value of money concepts
- Use personal finance tools to assess and manage credit scores
- Prepare and assess an integrated personal financial plan utilising personal finance tools
Topics covered
- Overview of a Financial Plan and Tools for Financial Planning: Planning with personal financial, statements, applying time value concepts and using tax concepts for planning
- Managing Personal Liquidity: Banking and interest rates, managing money, assessing and securing your credit and managing credit
- Personal Financing and Protecting Wealth: Personal loans purchasing and financing a home, auto and homeowner’s insurance, health and disability insurance and life insurance
- Personal Investing: Investing fundamentals, investing in stocks, investing in bonds, investing in mutual funds and asset allocation
- Retirement and Estate Planning: Retirement planning and estate planning
- Synthesis of Financial Planning: Integrating the components of a financial plan
*programmes subject to approval of association and programmes of study
