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Corporate Finance and Reporting

Module description

The module focuses on four specialised areas of investment analysis whose importance has accelerated significantly with the global expansion of corporates since the 1990s: inter-corporate investment, currency translation, pension accounting and capital structure. It also looks at measures of earnings quality, accruals manipulation and cash flow.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module adds to the material developed in Quantitative Research Methods and Financial Statement Analysis. It aims to improve the depth to which students can analyse financial statements to identify whether and how accurately they report the company’s true financial performance and position.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. explain US GAAP and IAS rules for treatment of investments, business combinations, pension & other post-retirement liabilities, overseas subsidiaries and corporate governance;
• 2. analyse and adjust financial statements to achieve true and fair statements of underlying net income, comprehensive income, sustainable cash flow and net equity value.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. demonstrate the ability rigorously to analyse problems in finance;
• 4. demonstrate ability to interpret financial data and reach conclusions about a company’s historic and likely future performance and shareholder value;
• 5. demonstrate the ability to access a wide body of empirical research literature and critically appraise it.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. plan and manage his/her own study both individually and within a group;
• 7. make appropriate use of learning resources, including sophisticated computer datasets;
• 8. analyse critically problems arising in both academic and practical contexts;
• 9. present effectively results and achievements of individual and collaborative projects as developed through the mode of instruction using both individual and group assignments.

Syllabus plan

• Analysing the firm’s environment;
• Accounting: Analysis of inter-corporate investments;
• Analysis of business combinations;
• Measuring accounting exposure;
• Analysis of multinational operations;
• International Accounting Standards and US GAAP contrasted;
• Understanding retirement benefit accounting and disclosures for financial analysis;
• Assessing the quality and sustainability of a company’s reported net income

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Quantitative Methods for Investment Analysis, Richard A. DeFusco, Dennis W. McLeavey, Jerald E. Pinto, and David E. Runkle (AIMR, 2001)

The Analysis and Use of Financial Statements, 2nd edition, Gerald I. White, Ashwinpaul C. Sondhi, and Dov Fried (Wiley, 1998)

Key words search

Investment research;