Accounting and Finance - Master's Programme

The specialisation in Corporate Finance expects you to hold previous knowledge in corporate finance equivalent to the advanced undergraduate level. You should, for example, be familiar with basic concepts such as net present value (NPV), discounted cash flow (DCF), and weighted average cost of capital (WACC), but also with basic theories such as trade-off theory, information asymmetry, and agency theory. You are also expected to hold basic knowledge of statistics, including central statistical concepts. In addition, you are expected to be able to read and understand financial statements.

The School’s programme portfolio is continuously developed and sometimes changes to modules may occur after you have accepted your study seat.These changes are usually a result of student feedback, or research development. Changes can take the form of altered module content, teaching formats or assessment styles. Any such changes are intended to enhance the student learning experience.

Period 1
The first study period consists of two mandatory courses covering corporate finance theory and company valuation, and one elective course in management control, either focusing on strategic management accounting or strategic risk management. The courses are: 

• Corporate Finance (mandatory) 
  The course examines the constraints posed by market imperfections on valuemaximizing financial decision making. Market inefficiencies covered include agency problems, information asymmetry, taxes, and financial distress. It also provides advanced knowledge of corporate finance, covering topics such as the interaction between internal and external financing and risk management, contracting between a firm and its management and stakeholders, dividends and stock repurchases, and financial distress and its resolution. 
• Corporate valuation (mandatory) 
  The course focuses on analysing businesses, corporate performance, and financial reporting. The participants will gain in-depth knowledge of interpreting corporate financial reporting and of valuing companies, primarily using cash-flow-, income-, and comparables-based valuation methods. 
• Strategic management accounting and control (elective) 
  The course gives the participants thorough understanding of advanced management accounting and control issues from both a theoretical and a practical perspective, with a particular emphasis on the role of management accounting in realising strategic objectives. Throughout the course, the participants are confronted with the latest developments in management accounting and control in research as well as practice. 
• Financial accounting and risk management (elective) 
  The course deals with the identification and assessment of risks that could impede the realisation of strategic objectives, and the role of audit in effective risk management and control. The course also covers prevention and detection of mismanagement and corporate fraud through the examination of internal and external control systems and evaluation of the role of gatekeepers and the regulatory environment.

Period 2:
The second study period consists of two mandatory courses. The first course focuses on credit financing, financial restructuring, and credit risk assessment. The second course covers both private and public corporate equity financing. The courses are: 

• Corporate financing tactics (mandatory) 
  The course provides students with a rigorous and applied understanding of corporate credit financing, financial restructuring, and credit risk assessment. The overarching idea of the course is the optimization of corporate capital and risk structures through active capital management. The course deals with corporate financing using straight, hybrid, structured, and contingent credit solutions. It also trains students in corporate credit risk assessment. 
• Equity financing and governance (mandatory) 
  The course deals with equity-financing solutions of particular importance when financing corporate growth, such as venture capital, private equity, initial public offerings (IPOs), and seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). The participants will also gain knowledge of corporate governance issues that arise in the context of financing, as well as of the use of event study methodology, applied to equity financing.

Period 3: 
The third study period will extend the knowledge of analytical techniques and financial decision-making acquired during the two first periods. In the third study period participants choose three elective courses out of the following four available courses:

• Corporate restructurings (elective course):
  The course provides participants with thorough and practical understanding of how to analyze, compare, value, structure, and finance corporate restructurings, such as mergers and acquisitions, alliances, joint ventures, buyouts, spinoffs, carveouts, etc.
• Corporate risk management (elective course):
  The course deals with strategies and tactics for value-enhancing risk management, with particular emphasis on integrated risk-management solutions. The course also deals with treasury risk management from the perspective of a Chief Financial Officer, using different financial instruments for risk management.
• Empirical corporate finance (elective course):
  The course deals with empirical research techniques for analyzing corporate finance data. The course emphasises choosing and using appropriate statistical techniques for modelling cross-sectional and panel data and dealing with endogeneity. The course expects participants to know of cross-sectional regression analysis, including the classical linear regression model, ordinary least squares, and properties of the OLS estimator.
• Financial Accounting and Communication (elective course):
  The course focuses on the textual communication of the accounting numbers presented in financial reports. In order to understand such communication it is necessary to also understand principles for solving advanced accounting problems, i.e., to have an understanding of the origin of the performance measurements that are reported in annual and interim reports, annual meetings, press releases, etc. The course covers financial discourse and communication and is organized in different theoretical themes, such as accounts, intertextuality, linguistic hedging, metaphors, and narrative or storytelling.

Period 4: 
Study period 4 is devoted to the degree project where participants conduct their own research and demonstrate their ability to independently apply the knowledge gained from the course work. In the project work, participants further enhance their knowledge and understanding of accounting and corporate finance. The degree project is written in pairs.

The specialisation in Accounting and Management Control expects you to be able to read and understand financial statements, including the consolidated statements of financial position, profit or loss, changes in equity, and cash flows, and to calculate and interpret profitability, profit margin, asset turnover, and growth.

The School’s programme portfolio is continuously developed and sometimes changes to modules may occur after you have accepted your study seat.These changes are usually a result of student feedback, or research development. Changes can take the form of altered module content, teaching formats or assessment styles. Any such changes are intended to enhance the student learning experience.

Period 1: 
The first study period focuses on corporate financial and financing tactics and strategies and on strategic management control, both focusing on strategic management accounting and strategic risk management. Participants follow three compulsory courses:

•  Strategic corporate finance (compulsory course):
  The course trains participants in analyzing and solving complex and unstructured practical corporate financial problems. It provides advanced knowledge of corporate finance, covering topics such as the interaction between internal and external financing and risk management, contracting between a firm and its management and stakeholders, and dividends and stock repurchases.
• Strategic management accounting and control (compulsory course):
  The course gives participants thorough understanding of advanced management accounting and control issues from both a theoretical and a practical perspective, with a particular emphasis on the role of management accounting in realizing strategic objectives. Throughout the course, participants are confronted with the latest developments in management accounting and control in research as well as practice.
• Financial accounting and risk management (elective course):
  The course deals with the identification and assessment of risks that could impede the realization of strategic objectives, and the role of audit in effective risk management and control. The course also covers prevention, and detection, of mismanagement and corporate fraud through the examination of internal and external control systems and evaluation of the role of gatekeepers and the regulatory environment.

Period 2: 
The second study period focuses on advanced knowledge and applications in the areas of performance measurement and management and strategic investment decision-making or corporate valuation. Participants follow one compulsory and one elective course:

• Performance measurement and management (compulsory course):
  The course provides participants with advanced knowledge about the use of performance measurement to improve decision making and the motivation of individuals. The process of collecting, analyzing, and reporting financial and non-financial performance may relate to an individual, group, organization, or system. This process may be guided by a balanced scorecard approach or similar framework, linking performance measurement with objectives and strategies. Special emphasis is given to how biased decision-making related to assessment of performance can be avoided, and how different forms of financial and non-financial incentive schemes influence individual motivation.
• Corporate valuation (elective course):
  The course focuses on analyzing businesses, corporate performance, and financial reporting. Participants will gain in-depth knowledge of interpreting corporate financial reporting and of valuing companies, primarily using cash-flow-, income-, and comparables-based valuation methods.
• Strategic investment decisions (elective course):
  The course provides participants with deepened and thorough knowledge of investment analysis within a strategic framework. It provides participants with tools to investigate business problems, value drivers, and strategic investment options, specialized knowledge about investment planning on an aggregate level, and detailed knowledge about model building. The course also familiarizes participants with major and recent literature in their field as well as introduces important research techniques.

Period 3: 
The third study period will extend the knowledge of analytical techniques and management accounting acquired during the two first periods. In the third study period participants choose three elective courses out of the following four available courses:

•  Digital accounting (elective course):
  The overall goal of the course is to combine advanced theoretical and practical perspectives of Digital Accounting to provide an understanding of data- and information flows in organizations, digital accounting architecture including validation and risk management including the COSO model. In the course we also focus on the role of digital accounting in decision making, including end-user development of digital accounting for business intelligence and business analytics.
• Empirical corporate finance (elective course):
  The course deals with empirical research techniques for analyzing corporate finance data. The course emphasises choosing and using appropriate statistical techniques for modelling cross-sectional and panel data and dealing with endogeneity. The course expects participants to know of cross-sectional regression analysis, including the classical linear regression model, ordinary least squares, and properties of the OLS estimator.
• Financial Accounting and Communication (elective course):
  The course focuses on the textual communication of the accounting numbers presented in financial reports. In order to understand such communication it is necessary to also understand principles for solving advanced accounting problems, i.e., to have an understanding of the origin of the performance measurements that are reported in annual and interim reports, annual meetings, press releases, etc. The course covers financial discourse and communication and is organized in different theoretical themes, such as accounts, intertextuality, linguistic hedging, metaphors, and narrative or storytelling.
• Innovations and management control (elective course):
  The course provides participants with knowledge about how management control is influenced by different business models, strategies, organizational characteristics and objectives, and market and societal factors. Special emphasis is given to complex situations that require balancing management control systems towards multiple and competing demands. Contexts covered include management control and management accounting techniques to support innovation strategies and professional services firms with knowledge-intensive work.

Period 4: 
Study period 4 is devoted to the degree project where participants conduct their own research and demonstrate their ability to independently apply the knowledge gained from the course work. In the project work, participants further enhance their knowledge and understanding of financial and management accounting. The degree project is written in pairs.