Overview
This unit covers the basic concepts, tools and techniques that financial managers use in the contemporary business context. You will learn about the principle functions of financial managers, the different business structures, and capital markets and financial securities. You will also examine the valuation of investments and portfolio, project evaluation, the cost of capital, market efficiency, risk management, basics of foreign exchange and international financial market, and dividend policy. Completion of the unit will raise your awareness on how businesses and corporate organisations decide on short and long term investment decisions, and the global and domestic economic and contextual factors which influence these decisions.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
(ECON11026 or ECON11030) or STAT11048
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2020
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Self-reflection
Revision of slides for a greater link to contemporary circumstances and less dependency on textbooks will be beneficial.
Several slides across weeks will be revised to make contents even more understandable for this highly technical subject.
Feedback from Student and Self-reflection
Reducing number of slides per week is recommended.
For the weeks which contain a large number of slides, changes will be made to reduce number of slides and which will expectantly reduce students' cognitive loads.
- Identify and explain the critical problems corporate financial managers encounter and solve
- Apply finance theories and synthesise related information for corporate valuations, financial decision making and dividend policy formulation
- Analyse and form investment decisions using sound capital budgeting techniques
- Analyse risk and return for financial decision making
- Explain the valuation of financial securities (bonds, shares etc.) and the role of efficient markets.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Practical and Written Assessment - 30% | |||||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 10% | |||||
| 3 - Take Home Exam - 60% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Practical and Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 10% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Take Home Exam - 60% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
Business Finance
Edition: 1 (2017)
Authors: Parrino, Kidwell, Au Yong, Dempsey, Morkel-Kingsbury, Ekanayake, James & Murray
John Wiley and Sons
Milton Milton , QLD , Australia
ISBN: 9780730350651
Binding: Other
Additional Textbook Information
If you prefer to study with a paper copy, they are available at the CQUni Bookshop here: http://bookshop.cqu.edu.au (search on the Unit code). eBooks are available at the publisher's website.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Different online resources indicated on Moodle.
- MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) or compatible software
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
- American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
- American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
g.small@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction to finance and time value of money [TVM]
Chapter
1 & 3 (Partial)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Cash flow and valuation
Chapter
3 (Partial) & 4 (Partial)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Risk and return
Chapter
5 (Partial)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Bond valuation and loans
Chapter
4 (Partial) & 6
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Share valuation, risk of portfolio, and foreign currency market
Chapter
5 (Partial) & 7 & Additional resources on Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Capital budgeting basics & capital budgeting for foreign investment
Chapter
8 & Additional resources on Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Advanced issues in capital budgeting
Chapter
9 & 10
Events and Submissions/Topic
Knowledge and Valuation Assessment Due: Week 7 Friday (4 Sept 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Cost of capital
Chapter
11
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Raising capital
Chapter
13
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Capital structure policy
Chapter
14
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment 2 (Online Quiz) opens on Friday (22 May 2020) 9:00 am (AEST)
Module/Topic
Dividends and dividend policy
Chapter
15
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Revision
Chapter
Review of key concepts covered in prior weeks
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Practical and Written Assessment
- The explanations in discussion questions should aim at one brief paragraph or multiple paragraphs depending upon the question and marks allocated. If you use sources to support your decisions, please use in-text referencing to acknowledge the source. However, you are not expected to reference the formulae.
- You should submit as a doc/docx/rtf format through the submission link on Moodle.
The assessment constitutes a set of mathematical problems and associated theory and discussion questions and case studies (real world scenario, or hypothetical or virtual world scenario). The contents are based on weeks 1-5 (inclusive). The assessment aims at both judging your competence regarding the topics encountered and making you familiar with the applications of these concepts in real-world information processing. Further details, including the specific questions to be answered, will be provided within the Assessment block in Moodle..
Some points to note:
Week 7 Friday (4 Sept 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 9 Friday (18 Sept 2020)
Return information will be advised on Moodle
The assessment judges your ability to solve the set problems and discuss the relevant issues, further to your capability to use online resources. Marks allocated for this assignment consider the following aspects:
- Completeness
- Accuracy of the calculations
- Quality of explanations
- Presentation
- Proper use of references
- Model construction (if any) using Microsoft Excel
More details are on Moodle.
- Identify and explain the critical problems corporate financial managers encounter and solve
- Analyse risk and return for financial decision making
- Explain the valuation of financial securities (bonds, shares etc.) and the role of efficient markets.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
2 Online Quiz(zes)
Complete an online quiz through the relevant link in Moodle. The quiz will open on Friday of Week 10 at 9 am (AEST) and will close on Monday of Week 12 at 11:59 pm (AEST). It consists of questions relating to weeks 6-10 inclusive and covers both theoretical concepts and math problem-solving. You have 65 minutes to complete this online quiz. You will be unable to re-open the quiz after the indicated dates and times. Take care with time allocation as it is your responsibility to complete the quiz within the specified period. If you experience a computer problem you cannot solve, you are required to contact the unit coordinator by email at the earliest. Notably, the online system records your attempt on the quiz and decisions regarding any computer issue are likely to consider these records (if any). Further details on the quiz structure will be advised on Moodle by the end of Week 9.
1
Other
Week 12 Monday (5 Oct 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
The quiz will be available for ten days. You may take the quiz at any time during that time, so long as it is completed before the due time. Once you open the quiz your time will be limited for completion, so make sure you are well prepared and in a situation where any likelihood of computer or internet malfunction is minimised as it is your responsibility to submit successfully and in a timely manner.
Your online quiz results will be automatically generated and displayed upon when the quiz is closed.
You will be assessed on your problem-solving and critical thinking skills. The nature of this assessment item indirectly assesses your information technology competence.
- Apply finance theories and synthesise related information for corporate valuations, financial decision making and dividend policy formulation
- Analyse and form investment decisions using sound capital budgeting techniques
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Technology Competence
3 Take Home Exam
A take home examination will be available via Moodle. It will examine the whole unit. It will be similar in content to past formal examinations. Further details will be published on the Moodle site.
The date for the examination will be set as part of the university virtual examination timetable and will be published during term. The examination will be written to have a nominal duration of three hours, but will likely be available for a wider window of time to permit flexibility in completing it.
As a final exam no feedback will be issued.
Normal examination criteria will be expected. Accuracy, completeness, presentation and style will be the basic expectations, with evidence of insightful mastery of the material including wider reading and understanding for the higher grades.
- Identify and explain the critical problems corporate financial managers encounter and solve
- Apply finance theories and synthesise related information for corporate valuations, financial decision making and dividend policy formulation
- Analyse and form investment decisions using sound capital budgeting techniques
- Analyse risk and return for financial decision making
- Explain the valuation of financial securities (bonds, shares etc.) and the role of efficient markets.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
