Postgraduate Diploma In Financial Services (Management Accounting)

This course offers specialized studies in finance, management and investment. This program is designed to provide students with the conceptual and managerial decision-making skills necessary for effective management in the continuously changing domestic and international financial market environment. 

Students will acquire new knowledge and skills, develop positive attitudinal changes towards efficiency and effectiveness in enterprise management and appreciate the use of financial information for organizational planning, development and control.

Learning Outcome:

• On completion of this course, students should be able to:
• use the financial tools needed to make good business decisions
• identify and apply techniques that aid decision-making to maximize financial performance, including the valuation of real and financial assets, risk management and financial derivatives, the trade-off between risk and expected return and corporate financing
• make sound investment decisions through in-depth knowledge of the financial markets, rigorous analytical thinking and precise mathematical derivation

Admission Requirements:

• The minimum entry requirement is either one of the following criteria:
• Min. age 19 years old
• Applicants must be holders of Bachelor Degrees related to Accounting, Finance and Business Management
• Applicants from non-related degrees with CITECH Foundation in Management Accounting
• Other qualifications will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis
• Min. English IELTS 5.5 or equivalent

Modules:

• FM536 CORPORATE REPORTING
• This module covers the preparation of the full financial statements for a single company and the principal consolidated financial statements for a simple group. This module will also include understanding of the regulatory and ethical context of financial reporting, which is vital to ensuring that financial statements meet users’ needs. Principles of taxation are included, not only to support accounting for taxes in financial statements, but also as a basis for examining the role of tax in financial analysis and decision-making within subsequent papers.
• Continuous Assessment 1 - 25%
• Continuous Assessment 2 - 25%
• Final Written Examination - 50%
• Total Assessments - 100%
• FM431 ENTREPRENEURIAL FINANCE
• This module looks at the holistic, integrated view of management across the organisation and building on important concepts in strategic management. This module develops tools and techniques for identifying the key types of competitive environment. The skills and tools of project management are also addressed.
• Continuous Assessment 1 - 25%
• Continuous Assessment 2 - 25%
• Final Written Examination - 50%
• Total Assessments - 100%
• FM433 INVESTMENTS
• This module focuses on the application of information in the management processes of decision-making and control, so as to optimise performance. The first two sections deal respectively with the key contributors to operational performance – revenue (decisions of what to produce, at what price) and costs (how to manage them to maximise profitability). The role of control in monitoring and improving performance then comes to the dealing with principles and practices in the use of responsibility centres and budgeting.
• Continuous Assessment 1 - 25%
• Continuous Assessment 2 - 25%
• Final Written Examination - 50%
• Total Assessments - 100%
• FM415 STRATEGIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
• This module covers the preparation of full consolidated financial statements; issues of principle in accounting standards dealing with more complex areas; developments in external reporting; and the analysis and interpretation of accounts.
• Continuous Assessment 1 - 25%
• Continuous Assessment 2 - 25%
• Final Written Examination - 50%
• Total Assessments - 100%
• FM402 FINANCE THEORY
• This module deals with the key elements in designing and managing the organisation’s financial strategy, in the context of contributing to achieving the organisation’s objectives and within its external constraints, such as the general regulatory and investment environment. The features and implications of the full range of major financing instruments are covered.
• Continuous Assessment 1 - 25%
• Continuous Assessment 2 - 25%
• Final Written Examination - 50%
• Total Assessments - 100%
• MA311 BUSINESS STRATEGY
• This module builds on the students’ knowledge of management theory and practice gained from prior study of business and management and integrates different functional aspects of business in order to provide the student with a holistic perspective of how organisations determine their strategic direction. The module examines the strategic decision-making process through an investigation of the external and internal environment, strategic options and implementation issues facing an organisation. It will cover challenges facing business in the 21st century ranging from globalisation and the rise of the emerging economies, governance and corporate social responsibility and sustainability.
• Continuous Assessment 1 - 25%
• Continuous Assessment 2 - 25%
• Final Written Examination - 50%
• Total Assessments - 100%
• MA312 MANAGING ENTREPRENEURIAL OPERATIONS
• This module addresses several functional areas of business, as well as introducing students to the economic, social and political context of international business. For each of the sections dealing with information systems, operations, marketing and managing human capital, the learning requirements alert students to major developments in the field as well as tools and techniques important to each functional area.
• Continuous Assessment 1 - 25%
• Continuous Assessment 2 - 25%
• Final Written Examination - 50%
• Total Assessments - 100%
• MA313 MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING
• This module primarily deals with the tools and techniques that generate information needed to evaluate and control present and projected performance. Thus, forecasting key variables, recognising uncertainties attached to future events, is a basis for budget construction; the budget is then used with costing systems to evaluate actual performance. Project appraisal relies similarly on future financial projections to provide the information on which managers can evaluate expected performance and actual outcomes. Both budgeting and project appraisal emphasize the critical importance of optimising cash flow and the final section of the paper continues this theme from the perspective of managing working capital.
• Continuous Assessment 1 - 25%
• Continuous Assessment 2 - 25%
• Final Written Examination - 50%
• Total Assessments - 100%