Course Length: 8 weeks
The course spans over eight weeks covering the material described below:
Week 1: Primer in Accounting and Finance
The first week of the course will provide a primer on financial statements, financial statement analysis, and fundamental concepts and tools of valuation. This is essential for those with no formal or prior exposure to accounting and finance, and it is optional but highly recommended for those who have a formal prior exposure to accounting and finance.This week has three modules.
Module 1: Understanding Financial Statements
Accounting is the language of business. Irrespective of what your area of work is, you need to a basic understanding of accounting. You should know the principles of accounting,the manner in which the accounting model processes business transactions, and the detailed contents of real life financial statements.
In this module you will learn about the following aspects of financial accounting:
• Contents of the ‘annual report’
• Accounting model
• Contents of the different financial statements (Balance Sheet, Statement of Profit and Loss and Cash Flow Statement)
• Accounting policies and practices in India
• Managing the bottom line
• Ethics in finance
• Integrated reporting
Module 2: Financial Statement Analysis
Financial statements can provide valuable insights into a firm’s performance if properly analysed and interpreted. Analysis of financial statements is of interest to lenders, investors, security analysts, managers, and others. Financial statement analysis may be done for a variety of purposes, which may include a simple analysis of the short-term liquidity position of the firm to a comprehensive assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the firm in various areas.
This module will help you learn about the following aspects of financial statement analysis:
• Financial ratios (Liquidity Ratios, Leverage Ratios, Turnover Ratios, Profitability Ratios, Growth Ratios, Valuation Ratios)
• Du Pont analysis
• Common size and common base analysis
• Guidelines and applications of financial statements analysis
• Problems in financial statement analysis
• Balanced scorecard
• Key indicators of corporate excellence
Module 3: Basics of Valuation
All business activities can be reduced to two functions: (a) Valuation of assets (real or financial, tangible or intangible), (b) Management of assets for enhancing value. Finance is the most important subject because every business decision involves the twin challenges of valuing something and making a business decision based on your valuation. Remember that you cannot manage something that you cannot measure.
This module will help you to learn about the following basics of valuation:
• Time value of money
• Bond valuation
• Equity valuation
• Risk and return analysis
• Capital asset pricing model
Week 2: Investment Decisions
Capital investments represent the growing edge of a business. Capital investments have three distinctive features: (i) They have long-term consequences. (ii) They often involve substantial outlays. (iii) It may be difficult or expensive to reverse them.
Given the crucial significance of capital investments, firms make these decisions and involve top executives from production, engineering, finance, marketing, etc.
This week, you will learn about the following aspects of capital investment decisions:
• Nature of investment decisions
• Analysing the cash flows
• Estimating the cost of capital
• Investment criteria
• Risk analysis
• Evaluation by Financial Institutions
• Strategic aspects and options
Week 3: Financing Decisions
The primary thrust of financing decisions is ensuring the availability of funds for value-creating investment decisions, minimising the cost of capital, preserving financial flexibility, and distributing the funds to shareholders when the firm does not have worthwhile investment opportunities.
This week, you will learn about the following aspects of financing decisions :
• Financing decisions vs investment decisions
• Different facets of financing decisions
• Capital structure decisions
• Financing instruments
• Methods of financing, market timing, pricing and other factors
• Distribution policy
Week 4: Corporate Risk Management
Corporations are exposed to a wide range of risks – technological risks, economic risks, financial risks, strategic risks, legal/regulatory risks, people risks, geopolitical risks, and environmental risks. These risks have heightened over time, and it behooves every firm to manage its risks in an integrated manner.
This week, you will learn about the following aspects of corporate risk management.
• Key steps in risk management
• Risk measurement and mitigation measures
• Risk transfer mechanism
• Managing forex exposures
• Managing strategic and other risks
• Guidelines for risk management
• Risk management practices
Week 5: Corporate (Business) Valuation
This course is based on the premise that the primary objective of management is to maximise the intrinsic value of the company in a legal, ethical, socially conscious, and environmentally sustainable manner. The course discusses the key levers of value creation. To understand better the levers for managing value creation, every manager must understand the basics of corporate valuation.
This week, you will learn about the following aspects of corporate valuation:
• Approaches to valuation
• Adjusted book value approach
• Relative valuation approach
• Discounted cash flow (DCF) approach
• Zen of corporate finance
• Strategic approach
• Reflections on corporate valuation
Week 6: Mergers, Acquisitions, and Restructuring
Mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring have become a major global financial and economic force. Essentially an American phenomenon till the mid-1970s, they have become a dominant global business theme since then. On the Indian scene, too, they have become the order of the day.
This week, you will learn about the following facets of mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring, focusing on value creation through such transactions.
• Importance of corporate restructuring
• Type of transactions
• Plausible reasons for mergers and acquisitions
• Mechanics of amalgamation
• Financial aspects
• Business alliances
• Divestitures
• Real-life examples of M&A
Week 7: Value-Based Management and Organisational Architecture
Value-based management (VBM) approaches have been developed to help firms create shareholder value. VBM represents a synthesis of various business disciplines such as finance, strategy, accounting, and organisational behaviour.
This week, you will learn about the following aspects of value-based management:
• The corporate objective
• What is value-based management
• Methods and key premises of value-based management
• Economic value-added approach
• Comprehensive value metrics framework
• Components of organisational architecture
• Executive compensation
• Organisational culture
Week 8: Corporate Governance
Corporate governance is basically concerned with the agency problem that arises from the separation of finance and management ( or, in popular terms, ownership and control). It refers to the system of checks, balances, and incentives to induce managers to protect the interests of shareholders and other stakeholders.
This week, you will learn about the following aspects of corporate governance:
• Nature of agency problems
• Types of corporate governance mechanisms
• Corporate governance around the world
• Corporate governance in India
• Board of directors
• Investor communication
•
Key principles and best practices
Syllabus
Exam Schedule
The levers shown in the above exhibit represent the top management agenda. 
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