Unit information: International Corporate Finance and Governance in 2023/24

Unit name	International Corporate Finance and Governance
Unit code	EFIMM0123
Credit points	15
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Neufeld
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	School of Accounting and Finance - Business School
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Unit Information

The aim of this unit is to provide an understanding (from both a theoretical and empirical standpoint) of the corporate financial decision making in an international context rather than focusing only in an Anglo-Saxon corporate governance system.

Your learning on this unit

1. Explore and analyze different sources of financing available to firms.
2. Critically assess how firms decide on which source of financing to utilize considering various firm-specific, manager-specific, and country-specific characteristics.
3. Critically assess the role of various non-financial stakeholders including customers, suppliers and labour unions in corporate financial decision making.
4. Understand how firms decide about their IPO (initial public offering) process.
5. Critically assess how firms decide on various aspects of their M&A (mergers and acquisition) and leveraged buyout deals.
6. Understand how different country-specific institutional set-ups influence M&A decisions.
7. Understand how governance mechanisms including hedge fund activism influence corporate financial policies.
8. Understand how R&D (research and development) investments are financed in different institutional settings.

How you will learn

Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions including lectures, tutorials, drop-in sessions, discussion boards and other online learning opportunities

How you will be assessed

Summative:

This unit will be assessed by

• Exam 60% (1.5 hours). This covers ILO 1, ILO 2, ILO 3, ILO 4, ILO 5, ILO 6, ILO 7, and ILO 8.
• Group coursework 40% (2500 words). This covers ILO 5.

The exam re-assessment will be a like for like assessment and the group coursework re-assessment will be a piece of individual coursework (1000 words)

Formative:

There are take-home questions in some lectures; others in preparation for our tutorials, where answers are discussed in class.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. EFIMM0123).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.