GRA 6235 Business Analysis and Valuation

GRA 6235 Business Analysis and Valuation

Course code: 
GRA 6235
Department: 
Accounting and Operations Management
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Ignacio Garcia de Olalla Lopez
Course name in Norwegian: 
Business Analysis and Valuation
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc in Business - Accounting and Business Control
Semester: 
2019 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

Business analysis and valuation is an important task for controllers, CFOs, research analysts, investment bankers, corporate finance specialists, mergers and acquisitions analysts, venture capitalists, and individual investors.

In this course, we will acquire the competences to evaluate the financing requirements of firms, and the advantages and disadvantages the alternative sources of finance to meet those requirements. We will also develop the competences required to value possible investment opportunities.

This course is closely related to the Financial Strategy course of the CIMA professional qualification as Chartered Global Management Accounting™.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

At the end of the course, students will have knowledge about:

  • Strategic financial and non-financial goals of different types of organizations.
  • Payout policy and different theories of capital structure.
  • Accounting quality analysis and reformulation of financial statements.
  • Strategy analysis and construction of pro-forma statements.
  • Cost of capital estimation.
  • Different valuation methods and tools for assessing their accuracy..
  • Value creation in a merger and acquisition context.
Learning outcomes - Skills

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

  • Identify and evaluate strategic and non-financial objectives of organizations.
  • Analyze the accounting quality of the financial statements.
  • Adjust the financial statements to correct for distortions.
  • Reformulate the income statement and the balance sheet, and calculate FCFF and FCFE.
  • Perform a strategy analysis and use it to make consistent pro-forma statements.
  • Estimate the cost of equity, WACC and the required rate of return on operating asset, and assess how capital structure affects the cost of capital.
  • Choose a proper valuation method given the characteristics of the firm and estimate the value of the firm given the chosen method.
Learning Outcome - Reflection

By the end of the course the student will have acquired the capacity to critically use the financial statements for valuation purposes and make the proper adjustments  when the situation requires it. The student will also be in a position to identify which valuation method is most appropriate in every situation.

Course content
  • Strategic Financial and non-financial objectives of different types of organizations.
  • Accounting quality analysis.
  • Accounting quality: adjustments.
  • Financial statement analysis.
  • Reformulation of the financial statements. Calculation of FCFF and FCFE.
  • Payout policy: dividends and alternatives. Implications for shareholder value. MM theory of dividend irrelevancy.
  • Cost of equity, WACC and the required rate of return on operating assets.
  • Capital structure: MM theories with and without tax. Impact of capital structure on the cost of capital.
  • Strategy analysis.
  • Construction of pro-forma statements.
  • Different valuation methods.
  • Mergers and acquisitions.
Learning process and requirements to students

There is a consistent and continuous integration of computer-based tools across all course topical areas. Students can expect to perform most, if not all, coursework online, using various computer tools.

Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/itslearning or text book.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.

At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.

Software tools
Software defined under the section "Teaching and learning activities".
Qualifications

All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Activity
Form of assessment: 
Presentation and discussion
Weight: 
30
Grouping: 
Group (1 - 3)
Duration: 
1 Month(s)
Comment: 
Students will be given a case. They will present their solution to the class and will engage in a discussion.
Exam code: 
GRA62351
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Invigilation
Weight: 
70
Grouping: 
Individual
Support materials: 
  • BI-approved exam calculator
  • Simple calculator
  • Bilingual dictionary
Duration: 
3 Hour(s)
Comment: 
Written examination under supervision
Exam code: 
GRA62351
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam organisation: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.