If you have not studied accounting and finance but have a keen interest in the subject and intend to broaden your career opportunities then this is an excellent course for you. The course will provide you with a comprehensive grounding in financial management. The emphasis of the course is to impart key skills and to relate understanding of financial management issues to the real world. You will develop the technical skills needed to interpret and critically evaluate financial statements and you will develop and apply decision-making skills to complex situations.

• This professional postgraduate course is designed for graduates and professionals who wish to become familiar with accounting techniques and financial tools and to understand their impact on the day-to-day management of operational and corporate affairs.

• Open to graduates without a background in accounting or finance.

• Our lecturing staff have international commercial experience and many are well-known for their pioneering work in academia and industry.

• Lecturers based at our London campuses fly out to Hong Kong for teaching.

• Access to the University’s online learning environment to stay in touch with lectures and fellow students.

• Professional Recognition

  
  
  This programme has been recognised by the Canadian Certified General Accountants Association of Hong Kong (CGA-Hong Kong). Upon successful completion of the MSc programme, graduates having five years of senior managerial working experience and completed the Certified General Accountant of Canada (CGA) Certification modules are eligible to apply for membership of CGA.

  (Please visit http://www.cgahk.org.hk or contact Eva Sung of CGA Hong Kong at (852) 2858 1712 for details)

Normally a second class honours degree or above in any discipline, or an acceptable equivalent consistent with the University’s admissions criteria. Exceptionally, students without a first degree might be considered on the basis of professional experience or other qualifications. If English is not your first language you will need an IELTS score of 6.5 or TOEFL 575 (paper based) 233 (computer based).

This course is an excellent preparation for a financial career in a diverse range of business organisations. It leads to a wide range of attractive and rewarding opportunities, including banking, insurance, pensions, privatisation, and funds management. Many of our graduates have found employment in areas such as corporate finance, financial analysis, credit analysis, commercial lending, financial consulting, risk management and investment banking.

The course is taught by lecturers from our London campus. For each module you will have two weeks of ‘block’ teaching. Each block consists of the Saturday, Sunday and three evenings within a single week.

Each taught module is studied separately - you will start and finish each one over approximately three to four months before starting the next. After completion of the taught modules you will undertake the Dissertation.

Core modules:

You will receive an overview of financial reporting that will enable you to understand and evaluate the role of published financial statements. It provides an insight as to how accounting systems are affected by society and the environment. The module grounds the accounting work in conceptual, regulatory and governance context. On the applied side you will interpret financial statements using commonly used techniques.

The unifying theme of this module is the role played by management accounting information in organisational control and decision making processes. In this module, different concepts in strategic management accounting together with emerging issues in a wide range of related topics will be discussed and critically analysed.

You will develop a rigorous theoretical grounding for corporate financial decision-making. You examine the development of analytical frameworks of corporate finance together with a critical appreciation of the interaction between financial decision-making and capital market behaviour. The module requires a minimum level of algebra and mathematics although a proper understanding of these issues requires some investment in a few formulae used.

You will examine the evolution of corporate governance mechanisms from theoretical and practical view points. The governance mechanisms in a number of major countries together with their high profile cases of corporate failure are discussed. In this module, the traditional corporate governance theoretical framework is extended to address issues underlying corporate social responsibility. Some of these issues include the significance of corporate transparency and social audit in maintaining corporate accountability.

Students then complete the dissertation:

You will have the opportunity to select a topic in the area of financial management and undertake your own specialised research topic under the supervision of an academic member of staff. You will be expected to apply relevant theoretical frameworks and research methodologies/methods whilst conducting your research. The module requires you to independently plan, organise, and coherently produce a limited but well researched work.

Your knowledge and understanding will be assessed through a combination of presentations, group and individual coursework and written examinations.

24 months part time

 8th October 2010

HKD 95,000