What will I learn on this module?
This module is designed for business students to develop a non-technical understanding of the key aspects of corporate financial theory and practice. The module covers the core aspects of raising capital and determining financing, though to investing capital in major corporate decisions, and finally returning value to shareholders.
Specifically you will study in the module; Sustainable Value Management, Stock Market Efficiency, Capital Asset Pricing Model, Portfolio Theory, International Cost of Capital, Capital Structure Decisions, Dividend Policy, Corporate Valuation and International Merger & Acquisition activity.
The module has a focus on business responsibility of all of those areas, concentrating on professional codes of conduct in areas such as the banking industry, accounting and similar finance areas, and the types of dilemmas that graduates could face in professional practice. This module will develop you as a critical and reflective practitioner. In the module you will become more aware of the issues that responsible businesses face when attempting to implement financial concepts and theories into practice.
On completion of this module you will have produced a reflective learning journal (in the form of a Blog) based on your evaluation of theory to real world scenarios. As part of that journal will have watched and reflected on appropriate financial documentaries and movies which explore responsible financial management issues. Finally you will be apply your academic knowledge to a real world case and be able to critically evaluate the tensions between the financial academic theories as a responsible business attempts to maximise shareholder wealth.
critically evaluate the tensions between the financial academic theories as a responsible business attempts to maximise shareholder wealth.
How will I learn on this module?
The module has two hours of weekly lectures in which financial concepts, theories and practice are introduced. Before and after the lecture you will be given reading on a teaching and learning plan, and you will be able to access this reading directly through an online reading list on the modules Blackboard site and through the Library website. In the teaching and learning plan you will also find weekly directed multimedia support where you are directed to access through the Blackboard site a range of appropriate financial documentaries and financial movies.
This module uses has two main core textbooks, which are eBooks available to freely access through the library. On a weekly basis you will be referred by the teaching and learning plan and in lectures to various chapters in the core textbooks, and these core textbook’s have numerous end of chapter self-assessment exercises for students to practice upon.
You will have a weekly one hour seminar. The weekly seminar will reinforce the concepts introduced in the preceding week’s lectures with real world news stories drawn from the Financial Times, Bloomberg, business cases and other relevant examples of professional practice and appropriate research papers. You will be encouraged by your lecturer as post-seminar study to use your FT.com subscription and the associated FT.com phone app to explore similar relevant business stories occurring in the press at that time.
As part of the modules continuous learning strategy you will be reflecting upon the theory you’ve been exposed to on a weekly basis and comparing and contrasting this to contemporary events, and then writing these reflections into a learning journal (which is in the form of a weekly blog). You will at the end of this period of writing your learning journal write a Statement of Learning, which is your reflection on your complete learning journey as you have progressed through the module.
How will I be supported academically on this module?
The academics in the teaching team taking both the lectures and seminars will provide input and support to you. Lectures are recorded on this module and made available to you through a variety of means including direct streaming and portable MP3 and MP4 files which you can download to use offline. This allows you to access and digest the lecture materials post-lecture at your own pace, and review and revise the lecture material on a variety of platforms and devices. The seminars provide you with weekly opportunities for direct and interactive formative feedback on progress and understanding. At least one of the seminars will be dedicated to giving you a formative feedback opportunity on your reflective journal entry, and another seminar will be dedicated to the assignment requirements and advice.
This module is supported with a site on the e-Learning Portal (Blackboard). This site stores for you the lecture materials, the lecture recordings and supplementary seminar materials. The site is also the launchpad for you to access a variety of e-Learning resources including videos, documentaries and radio broadcasts using the “Box of Broadcasts” Library service. In addition the site has instructions for how you access a Financial Times subscription news service, contains links to news clippings from the FT.com for you to access and read on a weekly basis, and has instructions on how you can download the FT.com app for a variety of mobile devices.
The modules Online Reading List can be reached through the e-Learning Portal. This list provides you with a single comprehensive list of links from which to access all of the modules eBooks, news resources and directed learning academic articles. The site also has a discussion board, on this board you are encourages to post your weekly Blog posts and participate in peer review of your fellow students as part of your learning on the module.
directed learning academic articles. The site also has a discussion board, on this board you are encourages to post your weekly Blog posts and participate in peer review of your fellow students as part of your learning on the module.
What will I be expected to read on this module?
All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.
What will I be expected to achieve?
Knowledge & Understanding:
• You will be able to come to reasoned, critical judgements regarding the impact of financing and dividend decisions on shareholder wealth with an ability to contrast theory from practice. [LO1]
• You will be able to propose justifiable, sustainable and responsible solutions, based on your critical evaluation of empirical academic evidence, to complex real world financial problems. [LO2]
Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
• You will be able to display developed reflection and critical analysis skills through exploring financial practice and real world financial decisions.[LO3]
Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
• You will be able to critique the codes of conduct that finance professionals are governed by, and be able to evaluate dilemmas that responsible businesses face when making financial decisions with complex consequences. [LO4]
How will I be assessed?
The assessment will be by 100% assignment, with a range of tasks which fully covers all the module learning outcomes. [LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4]
Pre-requisite(s)
None
Co-requisite(s)
None
Module abstract
Responsible financial management is at the heart of business decision making. How much should we spend? How much should raise the money? What sustainable value are we creating? These are all crucial international corporate finance questions. This module takes a holistic and reflective approach to your learning, with you developing a portfolio of your consideration of financial topics. You will engage with financial news stories in the Financial Times or Bloomberg and apply your learning on the module to them, as well as your reflections on financial documentaries, movies and leading applied research in the area which are available on the modules eLP. This module will develop you to have an awareness of contemporary financial events and the underpinning academic literature surrounding them, so that when you go for an interview with an employer you are able to display a reflective, evaluative and critical understanding of the financial challenges modern business face.
Course info
Credits 20
Level of Study Undergraduate
Mode of Study 3 years Full Time
Department Newcastle Business School
Location City Campus, Northumbria University
City Newcastle
Start September 2025
All information is accurate at the time of sharing.
Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.
Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.
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