Financial strategy
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| 3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| Examination | No residential school |
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This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees may vary by country.
Summary
Middle and senior line managers meet a multiplicity of financial problems in their organisations. This course will interest those wanting to develop their knowledge of the area. It introduces finance and accounting problems that organisations face at board level, and enables you to feel at ease working with finance and accounting experts. You’ll examine how finance and accounting interact (covering both public and private sector finance issues), develop a grasp of the fundamentals of corporate financial theory, and learn how to tackle the main financial problems you’re likely to encounter. You’ll also be able to understand and analyse company accounts in different situations.
This course is offered with a combination of face-to-face and online tuition. If you would prefer entirely online tuition please use the course code BZX821.
Course content
Most accounting and finance courses in business schools treat accounting and finance as separate topics, failing to exploit the relationships that the two have in practice; for example, managers might be judged on their ability to achieve the financial objective of maximising share value through internal accounting performance measures. The course explains how accounting and finance interact, as well as giving you the key techniques applicable to both accounting and financial analysis. Another difference between this course and more conventional courses is that it considers both public and private sector finance issues. The boundary between public sector and private sector is, in any case, increasingly blurred as public sector organisations are forced to compete in the private sector or are privatised while private sector organisations are made to be accountable to society as a whole, not just to shareholders.
Many students are alarmed at the thought of taking a finance course because they expect it to be dull and difficult. This course is neither. It is full of case studies and other examples that show how relevant finance is to all aspects of management. It also uses multimedia to get the concepts of financial theory across. From spreadsheets, CD-ROMs, a DVD and the Course Reader, you will have substantial support in learning the key concepts of finance. By the end of the course you should have no difficulty with financial jargon and you will be more than able to hold your own in the world of finance.
The course has ten principal modules, designed to take you from an introduction to corporate finance through to relating finance to the other activities of an organisation. The topics are financial analysis, understanding accounts, financial appraisal, finance and investment, finance tools, project appraisal, company appraisal, risk management and instruments, strategic implications, internal and external finance. Online forums and use of the internet are also part of the course.
By the end of the course you should:
- Appreciate the financial strategy issues that affect organisations.
- Understand the relevance of finance and accounting both within the organisation and to stakeholders.
- Be able to undertake a financial analysis of an organisation and interpret the results in the context of lending and investing decisions.
- Be able to make investment and financing decisions, both for projects and for companies.
- Be aware of the financing choices available to organisations, and how financial structure should be determined.
- Assess the financial risks that organisations face, in particular credit, interest and foreign exchange risk, and be able to adopt risk-hedging strategies that suit the risk profile of the organisation concerned.
- Understand how organisations measure financial performance internally and how their financial performance is assessed by stakeholders in a global context.
Vocational relevance
The course is related to N/SVQs in operational management and strategic management at Level 5.
Entry
You can take this course on its own, or include it in a number of our postgraduate programmes including our MBA programme. To register for our MBA you must normally have an honours degree or equivalent professional qualification, and you must have a minimum of three years’ experience in a managerial, professional or technical role. Usually this means that you are at least 25 years old.
If you are taking the course as part of an MBA we expect you to have already completed Stage 1 and the compulsory Stage 2 course Strategy (B820). In its structure and approach the course recognises that most students are not specialists in finance and accounting, but it does build on the considerable knowledge of accounting and finance issues developed in those courses. If you have not taken them or have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Qualifications
B821 is a compulsory course in our
B821 is an optional course in our
- Postgraduate Certificate in Systems Thinking in Practice (C72)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Technology Management (C49)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Information Systems (E10)
- #Postgraduate Diploma in Management of Software Projects [E19]
- Postgraduate Diploma in Systems Thinking in Practice (E28)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Technology Management (E08)
- MBA (F02)
- Master of Public Administration (F44)
- MBA (Technology Management) (F03)
- MSc in Information Systems (F37)
- #MSc in Management of Software Projects [F43]
- MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice (F47)
- MSc in Technology Management (F36)
Some postgraduate qualifications allow study to be chosen from other subject areas. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this course can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
Excluded combinations
Sometimes you will not be able to count a course towards a qualification if you have already taken another course with similar content. To check any excluded combinations relating to this course, visit our excluded combination finder or check with our Student Registration & Enquiry Service before registering.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
Some of the course material is presented on DVD/video and some on audio CD, and one of the CD-ROMs has a high audio content. Transcripts of most of the audio material should be available. The course depends heavily on reading and writing text on computer screens. The course materials are available in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader. Large print versions of the course materials can be provided on request. Other alternative formats of the course materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
You will need to spend considerable amounts of time using a personal computer and the internet.If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our booklet Meeting Your Needs which you can download or request from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
You can also find information about accessible course materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Course materials
What's included
Course books, other printed materials, CDs, DVD, CD-ROMs, online forums, course website.
You will need
DVD and CD player.
Computing requirements
This course has online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave. The course software is provided on CD-ROM or DVD.
You will need internet access and a computer with Microsoft Excel installed (other spreadsheet products are not suitable). If you have purchased a new Windows computer since 2002 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual. Please note that you can use an Apple Mac or Linux computer if you can run Windows using Boot Camp or similar.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will help you with the course material and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. You will contact your tutor by telephone, correspondence, email and online forums. We may be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where tutorials are held depends on the distribution of students taking each course. Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You must use the online eTMA system to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs).
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in November 2009 and May 2010. We expect it to be available once more, in November 2010.
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button. For more information and advice about registration see OU Study Explained.
About this page
A postgraduate course in Business and Management.
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Student Reviews
The course team should be proud of such an excellent course which manages to engage with students who have little ...
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I found B821 a stretching course, as I had not done much finance or accounting beyond what was in B713. ...
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