Masters in International Accounting and Finance

An innovative short course designed and developed by Henley faculty on the Futurelearn platform, one of the leading online learning platforms.

This pre-study interactive course is designed by ICMA Centre faculty to prepare you for your learning journey at Henley if you are undertaking postgraduate study in any finance-oriented subject.

This course will provide building blocks of knowledge to help you prepare for your learning journey in the area of your choice as well as equip you with key employability and study skills for successfully navigating your studies and professional career.

The main aim of the module is to enable students to understand and critically evaluate the mapping between underlying economic events and the information in financial statements, and how this mapping affects inferences about the economic activities and position of the firm. The curriculum puts a strong emphasis on the wider social and political implications of financial reporting practice. Students are encouraged to relate economic events to diverse practices in financial statements, and to think critically about ongoing controversies and debates.

Academic authors

Dr Ekililu Salifu

The module aims to equip students with the main principles of Investment Theory. It begins with an overview of the interaction between users and suppliers of capital and the theory behind investor behaviour towards financial risk and reward.

This module focuses on fixed income and equity securities evaluation and provides an introduction to international financial markets and an overview of financial institutions.

Students will critically evaluate the relationship between economic events and the information in sustainability reports, and how this affects inferences about the economic activities and position of the firm.

Students will discuss the wider social and political implications of sustainability reporting practice, viewing sustainability as a social and institutional practice.

Students are encouraged to relate economic events to diverse practices in accounting for sustainability, and to think critically of ongoing controversies and debates.

Academic authors

Dr Maggie Cooper

This module aims to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in financial reporting, management accounting, business finance and finance technology (Excel modelling) through their application to real-world business problems and case study scenarios.

Academic authors

Dr Dan Zhou

Management accounting is a collection of diverse techniques used to measure and analyse the resources, processes and outputs of organisations. While it is important to understand the techniques, it is equally important to study how those techniques are used. A good understanding of costing techniques is assumed as the module explores beyond these to their application in practice and questions their use(s) and role(s) in organisations from a theoretically informed perspective. Much of the research in management accounting and sustainability explores the role of the management accountant and the application of management accounting techniques in practice, through a variety of theoretical lenses. The module will draw on published case studies to analyse contemporary management accounting in practice.

Academic authors

Sue Blackett

This module provides students with a critical understanding of contemporary issues in corporate governance and accountability with a focus on the need for, and in some cases, apparent lack of, ethical corporate conduct.

Academic authors

Rhianydd Dow

This investment portfolio management module covers key topics, techniques and discussions, including investment styles, in relation to constructing and maintaining an optimal investment portfolio. The teaching approaches all topics from academic and market, practical perspectives. More detailed aims and learning outcomes are included below.

This is a very practical course focusing mainly on option/volatility trading and risk management. The seminars all take place in the dealing room, and students will manage the risk of equity options portfolios on ICTrader. There are also 4 practical Excel based case studies (Option Strategist) which focus on option value and risk analysis.

Academic authors

Dr Michael Smith

This module is positioned in the cross-section of Finance and Psychology. It provides an alternative framework to that of traditional neo-classical finance principles in explaining market behaviour and interpreting stylised characteristics. A variety of psychological principles and well-established cognitive biases are examined and connections are made with the influence they have on the investment (and corporate) decision making process. Market anomalies and puzzles are interpreted based on these connections.

Module aims and purpose

The aim of this module is for students to be able to evaluate the business value in utilising Big Data and develop business technology solutions with an appreciation of Big Data and business analytics methods and technologies.

This module focuses on the methods and techniques of using Big Data in business. Given the availability of large amounts of data in business and organisation, there is an increasing need for organisations to assess how effectively Big Data can be utilised for business. In this module, students consider how organisations can benefit from Big Data, and analyse business and technological requirements to create value though Big Data and business analytics. Students will also explore recent developments in technologies surrounding Big Data such as text analytics, cognitive analytics and visualisation, and assess types of tools that can be utilised, including the use of state-of-the-art analytics tools.

Academic authors

Professor Keiichi Nakata

This module is an introduction to accounting information systems. It initially covers fundamental concepts in information systems, information management and business-IT alignment in the context of accounting practices. In addition, it will explore how technologies underpin governance, risk and compliance activities within public firms. It builds on both theoretical concepts as well as established industry best practice including COSO’s Internal Control/ERM frameworks and ISACA’s CoBIT. As a practical component of the module, commercial accounting software will be introduced to study their features.

This module aims to provide an opportunity for students in PG programmes to develop relevant skills to manage an independent research project, in terms of critical evaluation of existing literature, and appropriate collection and analysis of accounting and finance information. The completion of the project will be guided and supported by supervisors with relevant expertise in accounting, financial management and business analytics.

Academic authors

To give students an awareness of the appropriate use of methodology, theory, data, literature review, and original research in a Masters dissertation. To enable students to produce a piece of original research that would contribute to the relevant body of knowledge within accounting, financial management and/or business analytics. This module is particularly relevant for students who might wish to consider pursuing further academic career.

This module gives students the opportunity to pursue a work placement with an external organisation broadly related to the general sphere of their degree studies. The aim of the module is to allow participants to gain work experience in a career path of interest, develop a wide range of employability skills, build their network and enhance market awareness.

This module aims to provide students with an understanding of financial decision making in the context of alternative investments and to introduce the key principles and techniques of financial engineering used in structured product design.

This module is designed for advanced Master’s students and doctoral students. It has a very high technical content. It aims to equip the students with the foundations of theoretical asset pricing and with the relevant skills for performing empirical tests. The objective of the module is to prepare students to become independent and quality researchers.

Academic authors

Professor Marcel Prokopczuk

This is a less quantitative option that offers an in-depth study of an important financial product - stock index futures. For almost all countries, the value of trading in stock index futures exceeds the total value of trading in all the equities listed on the underlying stock market. So stock index futures are very liquid financial instruments with an important role in financial markets. They are used by fund managers, arbitrageurs, hedgers, speculators, investment banks, pension funds, etc. for a wide variety of reasons. The aim of this module is to understand why this very large market exists, and how it works. Much of this material on how stock index futures markets work also applies to other futures markets, e.g. currencies, energy, metals, agricultural commodities.

Academic authors

Professor Charles Sutcliffe