Advance Management Programme in Business Finance (AMPBF)

By

MDI Gurgaon

Module 1: Accounting and Control System

• Introduction to Financial Accounting: This is an introductory course designed to provide participants with a broad base of understanding of Accounting. The theme of the course is to introduce accounting as the language of business while emphasizing its underlying principles and concepts. The focus lies on developing skills necessary to use, interpret and analyze the financial statements and information for decision making purposes. Participants will know how to transfer accounting data into manageable information that allows doing better and proper decisions, and turn lagging performance indicators into leading performance indicators. The aim of the course is to help students to get familiar with:
  • Basic concepts, standards and practices of financial accounting
  • Impact of accounting choices on external financial reporting 
  • Analysis of Financial Statements
  • Accounting as an effective tool for communication, monitoring, analysis and resource allocation.
• Managerial Accounting and Decision Making: To remain sustainable every business needs to create value through its strategies, plans and decisions. Managerial accounting provides vital information and data to managers to take strategic decisions especially in the product market. Hence this course emphasizes the use of accounting information for internal purposes as opposed to the external disclosure focus of the financial accounting courses. This course is designed to develop the understanding, skill and analytic ability ofparticipants who pln to pursue careers as business managers or as management consultants. Upon successful completion of this course the student will have reliably demonstrated the ability to: 
  • Understand the place and role of managerial accounting in the modern economic environment
  • Apply management accounting theories and concepts to problem-solving
  • Plan, design and execute organisational activities using techniques and procedures appropriate to MA
  • Explore options in strategic decision-making by applying management accounting concepts
• Design and Management of Financial Control Systems: Every organisation is meant for achieving pre-set goals anf objectives. Well-thought-out strategies are being implemented for this purpose and management control systems are designed in order to implement these strategies successfully. This course examines the design, implementation and uses of Management Control Systems (MCS) within contemporary organisations. The process of implementation of the strategies and the dilemma faced by managers is the main focus of this course. There is also a consideration of how designs of MCS are changing with globalisation, new technologies, digitization, and increasingly blurred organisational boundaries. On successful completion of the course, you should be able to:
  
  • Relate the effective design, implementation and uses of a management control system
  • Critically analyze the effectiveness of a management control system within new economies
  • Evaluate the control (and financial management) system and recommend changes

Module 2: Financial Environment of Business

• Economic Environment: Economic environment consists of extraneous economic factors that influence business' decisions and impact their performance. These factors are often beyond a company's control, and may be either large-scale (macro) or small-scale (micro). Some of these factors like demand and supply have profound implications for both macro (in form of inflation, interest rates etc.) and micro (in form of pricing and demand of goods and services) decisions. For efficient management of Businesses, it becomes imperative for them to be abreast of their external economic environment, including economic policies, and competition. This course will cover both macro economic factors like growth, income, savings, investments, interest rates and micro factors like demand and supply, pricing, equilibrium etc. On successful completion of the course, you should be able to: 
  • Understand the various Macroeconomic factors that influence business decisions and how they impact the businesses and their performance
  • Examine the economic policy framework and its impact on the various macroeconomic indicators like inflation, growth, investment, deficit etc
  • Understand the various microeconomic (indsutry and firm level) factors like competition, supply, demand, pricing etc. that impact businesses, and how to integrate them in business decisions. 
• Financial Markets and Institutions: Well-functioning financial markets and institutions are essential for the efficient allocation of capital in an economy. The efficiency of financial markets are a prerequisite for economic development and financial inclusion in an economy as financial markets act as a conduit for channelizing of financial resources from surplus to deficit units. This course will introduce the participants to the structure, operation and products of the financial markets. It will cover the two segments of financial markets-money and capital markets and their regulatory structures. The course would aim at:
  
  • Understanding the broad concepts and mechanism of functioning of financial markets in India
  • Comprehending the financial instruments which exchange hands in financial markets and the aspects associated with the pricing of these instruments. 
  • Examining the role played by financial instruments which exchange hands in financial markets and the aspects associated with the pricing of these instruments.
• Corporate Finance: Corporate Finance is the lifefline of every business. Every decision taken in an organization has some financial implications and any decision which impacts the financial position of a business comes under the purview of Corporate Finance. 
  Corporate Finance is primarily concerned with raising money, making investments and management of the assets of an entity in order to enhance its value. It explored various sources of finance and assesses the risk attached to these sources and the overall cost of the capital. It also deals with the tools and techniques that are used to assess various investment alternatives, and enable them to select the one that would create highest value for the investors. Corporate finance also deals with the distribution of surplus value created by the business, to the shareholders. The specific learning objectives of this course are: 
  
  • To understand and analyze major financial problems of the modern firms in the market environment in the light of principles and constructs of financial management theory. 
  • To rationalise corporate finance decisions in the light of agency problems and conflict of interest among corporations' stakeholders
  • To analyse firms' investment decisions, discuss firms' choice of capital structure and its implications for the value of the firm
  • To examine and discuss the key issues related to the dividend policy and the management of working capital in the light of their impact on the weath of shareholders. 

Module 3: Financial Risk Management

• Derivatives and Risk Management: Uncertainity and risk are the only certain for businesses and the environment they operate in. Successful businesses have well laid down risk management frameworks. They use the various tools, techniques and products to mitigate and manage various risk like business, financial, currency pricing that they face. Sometimes, is it the capacity to foresee those risks and preempt or respond to them effectively and timely that differentiated successful businesses from the non successful ones. This course would aim at laying down the foundation in the principles of risk management using derivatives. It would provide an understanding of various financial risks such as market risks, credit risks, and liquidity risks; and management of above risks using derivatives products. Such products are used by institutions as well as investors, sometimes to hedge (reduce) unwated risks, sometimes to take on additional risk motivated by views regarding future market movements. The learning objectives of this course are: 
  
  • To understand the role of risk management as well as the techniques avaliable for its measurement in financial and non-financial corporations. 
  • To review the set of financial instruments available in modern financial markets such as forwards, futures, options, swaps and credit derivatives for risk management
  • To equip the participants to develop trading and investment skills in derivatives instruments
  • To build a framework that will help integrate financial risk management into an overall corporate strategy
• Corporate Governance & Risk Management: Risk management failures at major corporations have captured the headlines for many years, both in financial and non-financial sectors. Such failures have not always been the result of shortcomings in financial risk-taking. Environmental catastrophes, accounting fraud, or foreign bribery have also been found to be the factors causing such failures. Often these failures were (at least) facilitated by corporate governance failures, where boards did not fully appreciate the risks that the companies were taking, and/or deficient risk management systems. The importance of an effective risk governance framework in this context becomes significant. This course would cover the theory and concept of corporate governance- its approach, impact and codes. It would also cover the risk management governance frameworks to address/manage risk so as to ward off/reduce the probability of corporate failures. On successful completion of the course, you should be able to:
  •  
  • Evaluate the need and impact of corporate governance
  • Apply both risk management and corporate governance frameworks and appreciate their significance for adding value to organisations
  • Identify, assess and treat negative risks and positive risks (opportunities), within the risk framework of organizations
  • Understand different approaches to corporate governance, applying the appropriate codes and acts
  • Synthesize corporate governance with the enterprise risk imperative
• International Corporate Finance: Be it sourcing of inputs, selling end products/services, financing or investing decisions, cross border transactions have become the order of the day in this globalised world. In addition to international trade, overseas companies set up manufacturing facilities overseas, offshoring & outsourcing. “Multinational Corporations” have become a way of establishing a business firm. These, in the Indian context, are Foreign-owned firms establishing their presence in this country through either a Majority-owned or substantially controlled Indian entity. International corporate finance course addresses the need to understand the management of such businesses, opportunities and threats posed to them by the dynamic and ever-changing global business environment. The course would also look at the risks posited to such businesses and how to factor them into the corporate decision framework so as to manage and mitigate them. The course aims to develop the following competencies in the participants:
  
  • Understand cross-border factors affecting a firm, including the opportunities such as export & import 
  • Know how the foreign exchange market functions
  • Know how the exposure and access to a different currency and market environments can affect the financial and investment decisions of any firm
  • Understand the management of exposures of the firm
  • Understand how Multinational Enterprises take major international investment and financing decisions

Module 4: Startegic Finance

• Valuations of Firms: Probably the greatest of all Gifts is the Power to Estimate Things at Their True Worth. A good business is absolutely the best investment vehicle one can ever have, provided he/she understands the underlying value and does not overpay for it. Arriving at the value of a business or a group of business assets requires an analysis and weighting of all the drivers of value, both tangible and intangible, and those that are within the control of management, and those that are not. Hence the structure of this course is based on some of the most commonly discussed and applied issues in Business Valuation. The objectives of this course are to develop the participant’s basic analytical skills, conceptual abilities and substantive knowledge on the business and securities valuation. Upon completion of this course, participants can
  • Develop conceptual skills in analytical valuation approaches
  • Carry out valuation analysis of complex corporate/financial structures
  • Understand how valuation plays a central role in the strategic decision-making process
• Financial Aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions: This course is based on some of the most commonly discussed and applied issues in mergers and acquisitions. This course delves with corporate merger and acquisition activity purely from a financial perspective. It intends to offer the students an opportunity to study the ways of valuing a  target and find the driving forces behind value creation in mergers and acquisitions. Topics covered include, but not limited to, M&A valuation, synergies, bidding strategy and deal design in M&A activities. Along with case examples from various industries and countries, various aspects of the academic research on M&A will be prominently discussed during the course delivery. At the end of the course participants can 
  
  • Understand the role of valuation in the M&A process
  • Get financial insights into the analysis of complex deal structures
  • Comprehend managing M&A Risks
  • Plan and strategize deals within the regulatory (accounting and taxation) framework
• Strategic Cost Management: This course extends the perspective of cost management/analysis from a primary focus on tactical short-run/micro concerns to an emphasis on strategic long-run/macro issues. The linkage between cost management/ analysis and strategy is facilitated by utilizing three powerful strategic management tools: value chain analysis, strategic positioning analysis, and cost driver analysis. Supported by these as well as by other financial and non-financial tools, cost management/analysis evolves into Strategic Cost Management (SCM). SCM exists to support decision-makers as they develop, communicate, implement, evaluate and modify organizational strategy. The course would aim at the followings:
  • Introducing some new tools and techniques in cost analysis that facilitate SCM
  • Developing new strategic ways of looking at familiar problems and concepts
  • Enabling participants to establish a sound management control system in line with corporate strategy