Programme Summary

COURSE SYNOPSIS

CFI 5101 Financial Statement Analysis and Planning                                                          18 Credits

The module examines concepts; conventions, standards, issues, the regulatory regime and, the reasons and progress towards harmonization of the preparation of Financial Statements and the Analysis of the Financial Statements prepared on these bases.

CFI 5111 Advanced Corporate Financial Strategy                                                               18 Credits

The objective of the module is to examine advanced concepts and issues in corporate financial management. Topics to be covered include: The main building blocks of financial theory of: Efficient Markets Hypothesis, Agency Theory, Asset Price Theory [CAPM, APT], Option Pricing Theory, Portfolio Theory.

CFI 5114 Global Financial Markets                                                                                    18 Credits

The module tracks developments in global financial markets in terms of institutional, regulatory, legal, and product innovation.  Material covered in the course includes the evolution of global financial infrastructure and the systemic complexities associated with increasing volumes of global financial transactions, as well as institutional and legal reforms to manage the potential impact of financial contagion on the global economy.  Furthermore, the course examines the emergence of new global financial centres and the other dynamics of the global financial system.  The course seeks to keep students abreast with latest developments in world financial markets with a view to motivate them to come with innovative financial technology to exploit emerging opportunities and alleviate impending crises.

CFS 5101 Public Finance and Debt Management                                                                18 Credits

The thrust of the module is to develop among students an understanding and appreciation of Public Finance and Debt Management from the theoretical and practical point of view. It also enables the students to analyse the financial systems of Zimbabwe and other countries. The major aspects of the module will include sources of public revenue, public expenditure, financial administration, and budgeting principles.  For Debt Management, the major aspects will comprise corporate debt management, public debt management, origins of debt crisis, and the oil price shocks, the external debt difficulties of low-income Africa, debt reduction and reconstructing.

CFS5105 Research Methods                                                                                            18 Credits

The overall aim of this module is to acquaint candidates with the techniques of both quantitative and qualitative research and to discuss issues relating to research design, implementation, and data analysis. Research methods are oriented towards the collection (or conversion) of data in both numerical or qualitative form and use of numerals and statistics in the analysis of data collected. This will enable the researcher to make statistically valid generalizations and inferences about the topic of study. This module describes the types of both qualitative and quantitative methods and their advantages and shortcomings in application. Students will understand:  the scope and purpose of writing a research proposal; the key components of research methods;  types of research methods (e.g. descriptive, correlational, cause-comparative, experimental); methods of data collection;  the advantages and challenges of using quantitative or qualitative methods; Use of statistical software to define, manipulate, explore, tabulate, and sort data; and the research topics to which the use of quantitative or qualitative research methods is most appropriate.

CFI 5215 Applied Financial Econometrics and Data Analysis                                               18 Credits

The module examines statistical and econometric techniques for empirical finance and model, ARCH, GMM, and Regime Switching Models, test of the CAPM, term structure models and volatility models (implied stochastic volatility).  Students will also learn aspects of the time series econometrics for both stationary and non-stationary variables at different time frequencies, with emphasis on financial/economic variables.  The module also focuses on the use of statistical techniques to understand market behaviour, including methods for organizing, accessing, and ensuring the quality of data.

CFI 5217 Investment Analysis                                                                                          18 Credits

The module will focus on the tools available in analysing investments, the investment decision criteria used to select assets to invest from the local and international investment markets.  It provides a comprehensive coverage of theories, applications and decision-making rules in financial investments.  In particular, the course material will be tilted heavily towards equity and bond markets since there are separate courses that cover alternative investments and derivative securities. Topics to be covered to include: Stock Market architecture and market microstructure; Top-down Fundamental and Technical Analysis, Analysis of Risk, Return and Higher moments, Capital allocation and Optimal Risky Portfolios, Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), Term Structure of Interest rates, Duration and Convexity, Although the ultimate objective of the course is to develop a conceptual and theoretical background for investment decisions, emphasis will be put on practical applications.

CFI 5207 Fund Management                                                                                            18 Credits

To familiarize the student with fund management strategies, investment performance measurement tools available to fund managers and the suitability of these two different client requirements and other constraints including the regulatory environment. Topics to be covered include: Statement of Investment Policy (SIP), Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA), Asset Picking, Tactical Asset Allocation (TAA), Classical immunization, contingent immunization, Cash flow matching portfolio insurance, (through State Allocation and Dynamic Asset Allocation, and portfolio performance measurement.

CFI 5208 Risk Management                                                                                             18 Credits

The module focuses on teaching and developing risk management models such as VaR for purposes of handling risk by investors. It also looks at tools for and constraints in quantifying and managing an individual firm’s risk exposure.

CFI 5304 Structured Finance                                                                                            18 Credits

The module is aimed at designing debt, equity and hybrid financing techniques in order to resolve particular issues or investor problems that cannot be resolved by conventional methods. The focus is on identifying situations that call for nonstandard corporate finance solutions, and the design and pricing of the situation-specific financing instruments. Such situations include, stress-induced financial restructuring, recapitalisations, private equity and leveraged buyouts, and arbitrage-driven hybrid notes; security issues that arise in securitisation transactions, financing with asset-backed securities; medium term notes and equity-linked structured notes; design and pricing of convertible, hybrids and mezzanine debt; structured leveraged finance; high leveraged bridge loans and interim financing; presale investments; sale leaseback transactions; complex domestic and cross-border leasing transactions; a variety of project financing structures, including programs provided by the World Bank, IFC, ADB and other governmental and multinational risk insurance lending agencies.

CFI 5301 Multinational Business Finance and Trade                                                           18 Credits

The module is designed to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of the operational aspect of the interface between the multinational firm and international financial institutions, markets and systems it elucidates on how decisions about financial management are made and applied in the modern multinational enterprises. The module covers such areas as the multinational firm and its environment, evolution of the international monetary and financial system, the foreign exchange exposure management, financing the multinational corporation, multinational capital budgeting and investment, taxation of the multinational firm, international accounting and control of foreign operations, working capital management, portfolio and direct foreign investment, financing international trade, the global debt issue, other issues impacting multinational financial management, etc.

CFI 5302 Financial Engineering                                                                                        18 Credits

The module examines, in more detail, and including practical case studies, the types, uses and valuation of derivative products and the derivation of synthetic instruments for the purpose of hedging, speculation or arbitraging and also looks at the regulatory environment for these derivative products. The module also looks at latest developments in innovative Corporate Finance issues such as option embedded issues, swaps, etc.

CFI 5303 Financial Modelling and Trading Rules                                                                18 Credits

The module involves the financial use of computer software packages to model corporate finance problems such as: Operating Budgets, Capital budgeting, Decision Tree Analysis, Sensitivity Analysis, Computer Simulations, Business and Securities Valuations.  In addition, the course examines the dominant technical analysis tools in the stock exchange markets, foreign exchange markets, and other financial markets.  Furthermore, the course seeks to equip students with advanced skills needed to test for the weak-form, semi-strong form, and strong form versions of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), in the process of identifying opportunities for successful application of technical analysis tools.  The learning process is not limited to the study and evaluation of existing technical analysis tools, but also equips students with skills to develop new skills.

CFI 5305 Corporate Ethics and Governance                                                                      18 Credits

The module focuses on how ethical and moral considerations are included in the public issues facing organizations and the decision-making process of managers.  It covers the following areas: principles of business ethics, ethical dilemmas, unethical business practices and approaches to improve ethical conduct, fraud detection and reduction; corporate control strategies; getting insight in different corporate governance systems; understanding of different board models and how boards are elected; corporate governance aspects relating to shareholders, board of directors, management and other stakeholders of corporations; audit committees; banks and institutional investors as external monitors; legislations on corporate governance and responsibility; ethical issues in Finance; analysis of corporate scandals along with corporate best practices. The module also touches on contemporary issues relating to globalization and sustainability. The module relies mostly on standards and best practices in professional fields, especially, the Finance and Investment fields.

CFI 5306 Alternative Investments                                                                                     18 Credits

This advanced module gives an investment approach for evaluating the opportunities and pitfalls of alternative investments. Alternative investments generally include real estate, hedge funds, venture capital, private equity, commodities, as well as some other specialized areas. While this module covers some of the basics, it revolves around examples and discussions in class in order to enrich the knowledge of this topic. It is expected that students already have familiarity of introductory finance topics.

CF1 5401 Research Methodology                                                                                     20 Credits

At the end of this course, the students should be able to: • understand some basic concepts of research and its methodologies • identify appropriate research topics • select and define appropriate research problem and parameters • prepare a project proposal (to undertake a project) • organize and conduct research (advanced project) in a more appropriate manner • write a research report and thesis • write a research proposal (grants) focusing on the field of economics, finance and investments.

CFI 5400 Dissertation                                                                                                      70 Credits

The dissertation, which is compulsory, helps students to consolidate theoretical knowledge gained in the taught section of the programme by completing a research project under the supervision of the Department of Finance staff and/or professionals in the Financial Sector.