Admission and Unit Information - Master of Finance

This unit is essential to prepare students for applied financial analysis and modelling applications used extensively in other units in the Master of Applied Finance program. It familiarizes the students with the strengths and limitations of contemporary quantitative modelling techniques using multivariate statistical procedures and optimization approaches. The use of appropriate software notably STATA SE V.10.

This unit helps students to: understand the role and nature of financial markets and institutions; develop computational skills for transactions in financial markets; understand the factors that determine share price, interest rates and exchange rates; and understand major derivative products and their use in financial markets. This subject contains financial institutions and markets and the transactions that take place in them.

This unit provides an introduction to the theory, concepts, tools, techniques and applications of portfolio management. The Australian financial system is used for illustration. The unit introduces students to modern portfolio theory and its application to both active and passive investment management strategies.

This unit provides an introduction to the major classes of derivatives: forwards, futures, swaps and options. These are studied in detail with the objective of elucidating the ways in which these instruments can be used for the purposes of hedging, speculation and arbitrage. In addition to the analysis of derivative usage and market growth, considerable attention is given to the objective of gaining an understanding of the fundamentals of derivative pricing.

This unit examines the valuation of assets, firms and securities. The focus is on the attempt by active investors to identify mispriced securities by projecting the future cash flows of a firm based on pro forma financial statements, translating those projections to values and dividing the firm value among the different security holders of the firm. Students develop their understanding of accounting, finance and economic concepts in this applied unit by building models of a firm and conducting analyses of the equity valuation.

As an introductory finance unit, this unit introduces the fundamental concepts of finance theory and tools of financial decision-making in the context of Australian institutional environment. These concepts relate primarily to the time value of money, risk and return, capital budgeting and capital structure. The purpose of the unit is to develop an understanding of the basic practices of financial management from the perspective of a firm (both large and small). Students examine the investment, financing and dividend decisions of corporations.

This unit covers the tactics of financial institution management and the factors which determine short-term managerial decisions in financial institutions. A major part of the unit is the discussion of asset/liability management.

This unit teaches techniques necessary for running a successful lending book. It outlines the steps which must be taken in performing credit evaluation, and provides the analytical techniques necessary to carry out such evaluation. This unit does not cover the legal aspects of financial institution lending.

This unit covers the aspects of the law which are relevant to financial institutions and financing decisions. It describes the legal environment within which the finance industry operates and places special emphasis on the laws regulating the day-to-day conduct of financial business. It provides candidates with the knowledge of legal fundamentals necessary for finance professionals to function in a business and financial environment that is becoming increasingly sensitive to legal pitfalls.

This unit examines real estate/property as an asset class. Sectors considered are industrial, retail, residential, and agricultural/rural. The taxation environment in Australia and in selected overseas countries is examined in detail. The unit considers property performance indices (IPD/PCA Property Index in Australia,and similar property index series in USA, Canada, UK and Europe), lease incentives and effective rentals, unlisted property trusts, and pre-commitment style property valuation, including the increasing use of DCF-based techniques in the property valuation/appraisal profession in Australia and overseas.

This unit outlines the basic principles of marketing and discusses their application to the marketing of financial services. The unit will provide an understanding of how markets function and of customer behaviour, giving students the ability to formulate a marketing strategy for financial services.

This unit examines a range of contemporary issues facing financial services firms in the twenty-first century. The unit provides an in-depth examination of changing demands and needs of the various stakeholders of financial services firms and a major emphasis is put on the evaluation and analysis of resulting implications. For each identified issue, major conclusions are drawn and strategies developed to deal with the associated challenges and opportunities for management. Special topics are covered in line with pertinent events in the industry.

The general aim of this subject is to examine how financial and non-financial firms use key foreign exchange and interest rate products to manage the risk associated with their international investment and financing decisions. This subject compliments other aspects of managerial decision-making, including the marketing and production decisions of the international firm.

This unit concentrates on both Microeconomic and Macroeconomic theories. Microeconomics is concerned with the study of individual units within the economy - the individual consumer, the individual firm, the type of market structure facing the firm and price and output determination. Macroeconomics is concerned with analysis of the factors determining the way in which the economic resources of an economy are utilised or under-utilised.

This unit is concerned with microeconomic policy development in an open economy setting. It applies and extends microeconomic theory to provide an understanding of the principles governing the formulation of international trade and industry policies. The unit reviews traditional and recent models of the behaviour of firms in international economics. It also overviews the traditional and strategic theories of trade performance and the design, formulation and implementation of trade policy.