At a Glance
Core Courses
The intensive core curriculum centres around finance and accounting courses. The finance courses cover a comprehensive range of topics to develop skills and knowledge in applying financial principles to complex financial transactions, while the accounting courses build a foundation for account valuation and entity accounting as important parts of financial analysis. The core curriculum consists of four courses:
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Finance I – Financial Markets and Corporate Finance
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The objective of this course is to provide an introduction to capital markets and corporate finance at the foundational level. Topics covered include the time value of money, evaluation of bonds and interest rates, and a definition of the cost of capital. The course will also focus on basic valuation of stocks using Modern Portfolio Theory and Asset Pricing Models. Market anomalies, statistical models and market efficiency will be discussed. Furthermore, the course will define the concept of Capital Budgeting and use it to evaluate investment decisions. A framework for company valuation will be provided and applied to choosing value-enhancing corporate policies such as optimal capital structure, dividend policy and share repurchase.
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Accounting
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Financial accounting and reporting is concerned with the financial information that is disclosed and disseminated by a firm to persons that are external to the company. The objective of this course is to provide a strong foundational understanding of basic financial accounting concepts, methods, and uses, with an emphasis on analysing, interpreting, and evaluating corporate financial statements and related disclosures.
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Finance II – Capital Markets and Corporate Finance
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This course covers the main corporate finance activities and provides participants with the basic understanding of derivatives and corporate liabilities as derivatives. It will focus on specific corporate events that track the life of a company from the beginning to the end. The following topics will be covered: Initial Public Offerings, Seasoned Equity Offerings, Merger & Acquisition (both Valuation and Takeover defences), Leveraged Buyouts, Distressed Restructurings, as well as an examination of the role of Executive Compensation. The course also covers Forwards and Futures, Swaps, Options, Equity and Debt as Derivatives and Hybrids.
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Introduction to Modelling
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Regardless of the setting, management decisions are necessarily made under conditions of uncertainty. This course introduces a framework for thinking about problems involving uncertainty and, building on this framework, develops some tools for interpreting data. While some technical analysis is essential, the course material is developed and presented from a practical, managerial perspective. The goal is to provide an appropriate foundation in probability and statistics for subsequent courses at INSEAD and for your managerial career.
