The courses in Finance Studies give an overview on corporate finance and option pricing theory and its applications. The courses also describe the investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, options and futures contracts in internationalised financial markets. The courses are divided into autumn and spring semesters.
Courses in this programme are part of the Master’s Degree Programme in Finance and they are meant for students who are on Master level in their studies in the field of finance.
Courses 2011-2012
- Investment and Finance in Russia, 5 ECTS, spring semester
- Financial Markets of the EU, 5 ECTS, spring semester
- Corporate Finance, 8 ECTS, autumn semester
- Investments, 8 ECTS, spring semester
- International Financial Reporting (change of course name possible), 6 ECTS, spring semester
- Option Theory, 8 ECTS, autumn semester
- Practical Econometrics for Finance and Economics
- Mathematics of Financial Derivatives
Please note that the students who wish to take courses in Finance should be on a master level in their studies in the field of finance. The course descriptions will be updated.
Course Descriptions 2011-2012
LASK3003 Investments and Finance in Russia
Credit Units: 5 ECTS
Time: Spring semester.
Content: Russian securities and derivatives markets: foundation of the market, reforms of the 1990s, financial crisis of 1998, current situation on the Russian securities market, its legal regulation, problems and perspectives. Banking in Russia: banking system’s formation in the early 1990s, Central Bank of Russia, its role and structure, commercial banking and last tendencies in the field. Russian accounting and taxation systems: present state of accounting system and its legal regulation, tax legislation in Russia, types of taxes and estimation examples of payable tax amounts. Direct and portfolio foreign investments in Russia: forms and methods of foreign investments to Russia, legal, tax, and riskiness peculiarities in foreign investments.
Learning outcomes: The course provides firm knowledge and understanding of the Russian financial market. Students will be able to describe the period of formation of the Russian market economy with accent on the stock market, banking sector, and accounting and taxation systems. Further, the course leads to inner look at the current situation on the Russian financial market. By the end of the course participants should be also familiar with the ways and forms of making foreign investments to Russia, including the most important features in the Russian financial legislation. Besides, lectures contribute to the development of analytical and conceptual skills of students.
Teaching: Lectures 20 h.
Assessment: Exam.
Literature: Materials provided by the lecturer.
Prerequisites: Participants are assumed to have basic knowledge in corporate finance, accounting and investments theory.
Rating: 1-5 or fail
Contact person: M.Sc. Denis Davydov (teacher: Professor Ivan Darushin)
Additional information: -
LASK3002 Financial Markets of the European Union
Credit Units: 5 ECTS
Time: Spring semester, periods IV & V.
Content: The European bond market, with new issues and market structure, the European stock exchanges and trends in the capital markets. The European union environment for banking, including bank legislation, the EMU, the European system of Central Banks with an outline of ECB monetary policy, the BIS rules of Capital adequacy in banking: the Euro as a new international currency and the problem of the real exchange rates, derivative products and market in Europe, and the theory of market efficiency.
Learning outcomes: By the end of this course students should know and understand the products, the various interest rates and the importance of interbank liquidity in the European money markets, have an ability to calculate money market yields and product prices, know the European Central Bank´s monetary policy instruments and posses an insight into euroarea monetary policy thinking. Furthermore, by the end of this course students are expected to understand the mechanism of bonds and bond issues as capital market products, become familiar with the European bond market, platforms, processes and properly appreciate the central role of expectations and risks in the financial markets and in the cost of finance.
Teaching: Lectures 30 h.
Assessment: Exam.
Literature: Howells, P. & K. Bain (2005). The Economics of Money, Banking and Finance, a European text, 3rd edition.
Articles distributed as handouts during lectures.
Prerequisites: Basics in foreign exchange concepts as well as capital market concepts; purchasing power parity, interest rate parity, basic instruments (bonds).
Rating: 1-5 or fail
Contact person: Student Advisor (teacher: Professor Roy Dahlstedt)
Additional information:-
LASK3017 Corporate Finance
Credit Units: 8 ECTS
Time: 1. year, autumn semester, periods I-II.
Content: Overview of corporate finance including valuation of stocks and bonds, capital budgeting, cost of capital, long-term financial policy and other topics in corporate finance.
Learning outcomes: A student will have a deep understanding and ability to solve comprehensive problems in various areas of corporate finance. Students are expected to learn to analyze a company's capital budgeting questions and long term financial policy needs, as well as other topics in the area of corporate finance. The course will strengthen theoretical understanding of the subject and enhance the development of critical thinking skills.
Teaching: Lectures 40 h.
Assessment: Exam.
Literature:
- Brealey, R. – S. Myers – F. Allen: Principles of Corporate Finance. McGraw-Hill Inc., Latest edition.
- Material provided by the lecturer.
Prerequisites: Bachelor-level knowledge of accounting and finance.
Rating: 1-5 or fail
Contact person: M.Sc. Emilia Peni
Additional information: -
LASK3018 Investments
Credit Units: 8 ECTS
Time: 1. year, spring semester, periods III-IV.
Content: Investment process, financial systems, institutions and markets, securities trading, investment strategies, asset allocation and diversification, pricing models, security valuation, efficient market hypothesis, performance evaluation, security analysis, international diversification and their Excel applications.
Learning outcomes: By the end of this course students should be able to know an in-depth approach for analysis of investment strategies, portfolio management and financial instruments. Moreover, students are expected to learn to use excel applications within the context of asset allocation and diversification, securities pricing models and security and portfolio analysis. Students should also be able to understand financial instruments, evaluate the general macroeconomic environment and understand the roles of governments and central banks. The written assignments of the course will support report writing, analytical and critical thinking skills.
Teaching: Lectures (approx. 30h), exercises, seminar presentations and excel applications.
Assessment: Exam and written assignments.
Literature:
- Bodie, Z., & Kane, A., & Marcus, A. (2005). Investments, 6th or latest edition.
- Zimmermann, H., & Drobetz, W., & Oertmann, P., (2003). Global Asset Allocation, Wiley.
- Selected research papers announced by the lecturers.
Prerequisites: Theory of Corporate Finance, Financial Markets and Investments, Principles of Finance.
Rating: 1-5 or fail
Contact person: Ph.D Jarkko Peltomäki
Additional information: -
LASK3037 International Financial Reporting
Credit unit: 8 ECTS
Time: Spring
Content: The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are used by publicly traded companies in Europe as well as in a large number of other countries. The main objective of this course is to develop students’ knowledge about the IFRS standards as well as students’ ability to utilize aspects of accounting theory to resolve major reporting issues. Financial accounting is during the course discussed both from a preparer’s and a user’s perspective.
Learning outcomes: By the end of the course students should be able to: Understand and apply the IFRS accounting rules in basic, intermediate as well as some more advanced situations. Examples of topics covered are accounting for fixed assets, financial instruments, revenues, deferred taxes, provisions, business combinations and share-based payments. Identify places where there is accounting flexibility in the IFRS standards and evaluate the appropriateness of companies’ accounting policies and choices.
Discuss and evaluate accounting choices from an ethical point of view. Use accounting principles and theory in order to evaluate and criticize accounting standards.
Teachings: Lectures, exercises and case presentations (42 hours)
Assessment: Written exam, exercises and case presentations
Literature: Alfredson et al (2009). Applying international financial reporting standards
2nd edition; IAS/IFRS standards; articles.
Prerequisites:
Rating: 1-5 or fail
Contact person: Professori Stefan Sundgren
LASK3011 Option Theory
Credit Units: 8 ECTS
Time: Autumn semester, periods I-II.
Content: Options and futures markets, financial engineering, arbitrage pricing, binomial option pricing model, Black & Scholes model, alternative OPMs, implied volatilities, volatility smiles, management of market risk, and empirical research. VB and SAS will be used for implementation of the methods discussed.
Learning outcomes: Upon completion of the course a student will have developed the skills necessary to understand and apply the option pricing theory.
Teaching: Lectures 30 h.
Assessment: Written examination.
Literature:
- Hull, John C.: Options, futures, and other derivatives , 5th, 6th or 7th edition.
- Material provided by the lecturer.
Prerequisites: Knowledge of the fundamentals of financial markets and principles of financial derivatives (e.g. Financial Derivatives).
Rating: 1-5 or fail
Contact person: Student Advisor (teacher: Professor Jukka Perttunen)
Additional information: -
STAT3090 Practical Econometrics for Finance and Economics
Credit Units: 5 ECTS, 6 credit points, for PhD students (in particular economics) the course is possible to extend 7 credit points with additional reading package described below.
Time: Spring 2012 (January–February).
Content: Financial and economic data, panel data models, portfolio and risk management¨econometrics, time series models and cointegration.
Learning outcomes: Introduce the student modern econometric tools applied in empirical finance and economics. The topics cover econometric applications in analysis of financial time series including risk measurement, panel data econometrics and cointegration analysis. The emphasis is in empirical modeling and interpretation of the results with real data examples. The potential of solving complicated estimation and modeling problems with modern software (SAS, Stata, EViews) are illustrated by examples.
Teaching: Lectures 42 h, demonstration 12 h (classes and notes in English) Home page: http://lipas.uwasa.fi/~sjp/Teaching/ecmii/lectures/index.html.
Assessment: -
Literature:
- Alexander, C. (2008) Practical Financial Econometrics, Wiley
- Greene, W.H. (2008) Econometric Analysis 6e, Prentice-Hall. PhD package (for 7 cp):
(a) Time series analysis: Hamilton, J (1994). Time Series Analysis, Princeton Univ. Press, Chapters 1–5.
(b) Econometrics: Hayashi, Fumio (2001), Econometrics, Princeton Univ. Press, Ch. 5, 8–10 and Pagan, A (1987). Three econometric methodologies: A critical appraisal, Journal of Economic Surveys, 1(1), 3–24. Software: SAS, Stata, EViews.
Prerequisites: Basic Econometrics (STAT.2020) and Mathematical Analysis (ORMS.1010) recommended (including working knowledge in differentiation, integration, solving elementary differential equations, elasticity
concept and continuously compounded interest rate calculus, and matrix algebra).
Rating: 1-5 or failed
Contact person: Professor Seppo Pynnönen (www.uwasa.fi/~sjp/).
Right to participate: -
