Master 2020/2021

English for Financiers

Category 'Best Course for Career Development'

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Bridging course (Corporate Finance)

Area of studies: Finance and Credit

Delivered by: Практико-ориентированные магистерские программы факультета экономических наук

Where: Faculty of Economic Sciences

When: 1 year, 1, 2 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Aglaia Kokurina, Oksana Soboleva

Master’s programme: Corporate Finance

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 56

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course will enable students to improve reading, speaking, writing and listening skills they need to use in the financial context communication. The teaching focus is made on such financial topics as planning, budgeting, accounting, auditing, banking system, business development, corporate governance, different ways of raising capital. This will allow students to successfully proceed with other English courses they will cover in the course of “Corporate Finance” master program. Furthermore, studying academic and finance press articles on the course topics will develop students’ reading skills. The proficiency in the English language at the level B1 - B1+ is the essential prerequisite for this course. Financial background is preferable but not necessary.

Learning Objectives

• Developing the core language competences necessary for successful professional and educational activity

Expected Learning Outcomes

• building professional vocabulary on the topics of the course and the ability to practice it in different contexts
• developing listening comprehension skills and the ability to understand conversation on the topics of the course
• developing writing skills: writing essays, preparing summaries of financial texts and articles
• obtaining skills of reading and analysing academic and financial press articles
• developing communication skills: ability to discuss a vast number of financial topics and to perform in various professional roles

Course Contents

• Financial Planning
  • Making financial forecasts and discussing cash-flow issues • Selected article: Why forecasts are necessary by Buttonwood (The Economist) The author rebuts the criticisms of financial forecasts and proves their relevance from the economic and political points of view.
• Budgeting
  • Fixed and flexible budgets, budget approval, different types of costs (direct/indirect, fixed/variable)), cost cutting • Selected article: Managing in the fog (The Economist): The author questions the effectiveness of the budgeting process in companies stating that budgets often create misleading targets and reflects on the ways to overcome the problem.
• Accounting and Reporting Financial Information
  • Main accounting concepts, IFRS, financial statements: Statement of Financial Position (assets, liabilities and equity), Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement
• Auditing
  • Assurance services, internal auditing, audit findings • Selected article: The Development of Internal Auditing as a Profession in the U.S. During the Twentieth Century by Susan Parker and Lynn A. Johnson (Accounting Historians Journal) This paper traces the development of internal auditing from the viewpoint of its professional identity and the evolution of the internal audit function and its practitioners in response to significant economic, regulatory, and professional developments and events.
• Debt Financing
  • Ways to raise capital, loans and interest rates, lending money to corporations, bonds and other debt instruments • Selected article: Serbia Receives $4 Billion Loan From the I.M.F. by David Jolly (The New York Times) In the article the situation around the provision of a financial loan to Serbia as a means of the financial aid to overcome crisis is discussed.
• Equity Financing
  • Issuing shares, capital market, portfolio analysis, venture capitalists
• Financial Services
  • Banking system: regulation, types of financial institutions, services that financial institutions offer, history of the development of the US banking system • Retail (types of services offered), investment, central banking (functions of central bank, exchange rates) • Financial assets and liabilities, bonds, derivatives, futures, swaps • Tax planning and tax strategy
• Corporate Governance
  • The Board of Directors, Standing Committees, the CEO role, corporate failures, • Selected articles: ✓ CEO Preferences and Acquisitions (abstract) by Dirk Jenter and Katharina Lewellen (Journal of Finance) This paper provides evidence that the career concerns and retirement preferences of takeover target companies' CEOs affect merger activity, leading to outcomes that are unlikely to be in target shareholders' best interest. ✓ The Smartest Guys in the Room (abstact) by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind (GetAbstract) The analysis of one of the most renown corporate scandals and of the reasons that led Enron to a failure what had a great impact on global governance (serious failure in the audit function and non-executive directors, high levels of debt, ‘off-balance sheet’ financing, etc.) ✓ Corporate governance: the board of directors and standing committees (Accountant in Business). This technical article covers the core aspects of corporate governance: what is corporate governance, to whom is corporate governance relevant, the role and structure of the Board of Directors, the Board Committees.
• Business development
  • Business strategy, mergers, acquisitions and takeovers • Selected article: Mindful Mergers & Acquisitions By Susan Rebner and Bauback Yeganeh (Organisations Development Review) The article analyses the steps towards successful merges and acquisitions.

Assessment Elements

• Continuous assessment
  Elements of the control exceeding 30% out of the total grade can be retaken according to the rules of NRU HSE. Both cumulative and final exam marks are rounded to an integer number (0-10) according to general mathematical rules. Rounding of cumulative mark is applied only in the end of the course. Components of the cumulative mark are not rounded. None of the components of the mark is blocking.
• Individual and group homework assignments, tests on key vocabulary
  Elements of the control exceeding 30% out of the total grade can be retaken according to the rules of NRU HSE. Both cumulative and final exam marks are rounded to an integer number (0-10) according to general mathematical rules. Rounding of cumulative mark is applied only in the end of the course. Components of the cumulative mark are not rounded. None of the components of the mark is blocking.
• Final exam
  Elements of the control exceeding 30% out of the total grade can be retaken according to the rules of NRU HSE. Both cumulative and final exam marks are rounded to an integer number (0-10) according to general mathematical rules. Rounding of cumulative mark is applied only in the end of the course. Components of the cumulative mark are not rounded. None of the components of the mark is blocking.

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (2 module)
  0.36 * Continuous assessment + 0.4 * Final exam + 0.24 * Individual and group homework assignments, tests on key vocabulary

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• English for Academic Purposes : supplementary material to "Economics" by Ch. St. J. Yates для студентов 1 курса, Барановская, Т. А., 2010
• English for the financial sector. Student's book, MacKenzie, I., 2012

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• English for business studies : a course for business studies and economics students: student's book, MacKenzie, I., 2010
• Professional English in Use Finance, Student's Book : [Intermediate to Advanced], 8th ed., 140 p., MacKenzie, I., 2013