Accounting and Finance for Actuarial Science

Module overview

This module is designed to provide an introduction to financial accounting, corporate finance and financial management of organisations. The module is intended for students from any academic discipline who have an interest in accounting and finance as an adjunct to their principle area of study.

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• financial strategy including capital structure, dividend policy and corporate governance of firms.

• cost analysis in the context of short and long term decision making and the use of discounted cash flow analysis;

• the assumptions underlying the preparation, interpretation and analysis of the Income Statement, Financial position statement and Cash Flow Statement;

• the purpose, limitations, layout and presentation of financial statements;

• the importance of capital structure and dividend policy decisions;

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• understand the role of accounting information in the collection, collation, decision making and analysis of business performance;

• evaluate the competing theories on the roles of dividend policy and the debt-equity mix in the determination of firm value;

• evaluate the processes by which the value of both real and financial assets can be estimated;

• appraise the role financial strategy within the business model of a firm;

• show awareness of the different sources of business finance and the range of financial instruments, and how they are incorporated in a business’s capital structure.

• apply real options capital investment appraisal to simple examples;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• benefit from improved skills in learning, problem solving, numeracy, written communication and self- management.

Syllabus

• Introduction to accounting and finance

• Measuring and reporting financial position

• Measuring and reporting financial performance

• Measuring and reporting cash flows

• Interpreting financial statements. Ratio analysis and non- financial indicators

• Analysing Accounts for limited companies

• Accounting for decision making

• Introduction to Investment Appraisal: NPV and Relevant Cost. The Strategic context

• Cost of capital and Capital structure

• Liquidity/working capital management

• Financing and dividend policy

Teaching and learning methods

Learning activities include:

Lectures

There will be one double session per week. The lecture will be used to introduce and outline topics and give a structure for students own work.

Classes

There will be one per week. The work for the classes will be set in advance for the students to prepare in order to facilitate a good discussion in the classes.

Individual work

In addition to work for lectures and classes, students need to spend 6 - 7 hours per week on further reading, and on working through computational examples in order to develop a good understanding of underlying principles and to gain practice at applying them.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Set exercises - non-exam

• Assessment Type: Formative

• Feedback: Formative feedback will be provided during the lecture and classes on the students’ performance in problem solving exercises and multiple choice questions.

• Final Assessment: No

• Group Work: No