Applied Financial Instruments

Durée

45h Th

Nombre de crédits

Enseignant

Julien Hambuckers

Coordinateur(s)

N...

Langue(s) de l'unité d'enseignement

Langue anglaise

Organisation et évaluation

Enseignement au deuxième quadrimestre

Horaire

Horaire en ligne

Unités d'enseignement prérequises et corequises

Les unités prérequises ou corequises sont présentées au sein de chaque programme

Contenus de l'unité d'enseignement

The 'Applied Financial Instruments' course provides an introduction to theory and empirical methods that play an important role in finance. We cover selected topics in asset pricing (portfolio theory, capital asset pricing model,...), fundamental analysis (bond pricing, discounted cash flow) and management decision-making (Net Present Value and investment decisions,  asset and liability management, sensitivity analysis, ...) and related fields. 
The course is structured in two parts:
Part I: Asset pricing and portfolio analysis  
Part II: Fundamental analysis and applied tools in corporate finance
A Part 0 will review fundamental concepts in statistics, like random variable, distribution, and regression model. 
The course consists in a set of lectures where the financial concepts are introduced and discussed. Particular attention will be dedicated to the limitation of these concepts in real-life applications. Then, these concepts will be used in exercise sessions. Exercises will consists in investment decision, portfolio optimization and corporate valuation problems. 

Acquis d'apprentissage (objectifs d'apprentissage) de l'unité d'enseignement

The course provides students with a deep understanding of fundamental concepts used in finance disciplines such as market finance and corporate finance. Through the exercise sessions, students will develop analytical and modeling skills in finance as well as strengthen their communication skills in English. In particular, students will improve their skills in empirical analysis - competences that will turn out to be crucial not only for group and individual tasks to be delivered throughout their master studies but as well for the empirical work of their master thesis.

This course contributes to the following Intended Learning Outcomes : 
ILO-6: being able to use accounting, mathematical, statistical and IT tools to solve a management problem
ILO-7: being able to conduct research autonomously and methodically to obtain the information needed to solve this problem using a critical approach 
ILO-9 : being able to work within a team 

Savoirs et compétences prérequis

Fundamental knowledge of financial markets, financial mathematics, statistics and programming.
Good grades or understanding of the concepts seen in courses like "Probabilité et inférence statistique" and "Marchés Financiers" are expected
Students who need to acquire the prerequisites for the financial part are invited to read the following chapters:
- Basics in financial markets: working knowledge of key concepts like risk and return as well as of the capital asset pricing model and the asset pricing theory. Please read Chapters 10 to 13 - Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe. 2008. Corporate Finance. New York: McGraw-Hill, 8th edition.
- Accounting statements and cash flows: working knowledge of key financial statements, i.e. income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. Please read Chapters 2 and 3 - Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe. 2008. Corporate Finance. New York: McGraw-Hill, 8th edition;
- Basics in capital budgeting: working knowledge of discounting/compounding. Please read Chapter 4 - Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe. 2008. Corporate Finance. New York: McGraw-Hill, 8th edition;

Activités d'apprentissage prévues et méthodes d'enseignement

The course is structured along two lectures per week: 3 hours lecture and 2 hours technical tutorial classes.

Mode d'enseignement (présentiel ; enseignement à distance)

Lectures (around 15 hours) and exercise sessions (around 30 hours).

Lectures recommandées ou obligatoires et notes de cours

Book chapters and scientific articles will be announced during the class.
  

Modalités d'évaluation et critères

Written exam on the computer, mixing exercises similar to the ones seen during the exercise sessions, and explanation of theoretical concepts and cases seen during the lecture, counts for 75% of the final grade.
Exercises to be completed every session at the latest 24h after the course (per group) and posted on LOLA will count for 20%. 
Participation to the sessions will count for 5%.

Stage(s)

Remarques organisationnelles

Contacts

Julien Hambuckers, PhD (professor)
Rue Louvrex, 14, 4000 Liege
email: jhambuckers[at]uliege.be
 
George Broché, CFA (teaching assistant)
email: pg.broche[at]uliege.be
 

Adaptation des engagements pédagogiques suite à la pandémie de COVID-19 pour la session de mai-juin

Méthodes d'apprentissage mises en œuvre : enseignement à distance

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, the end of the theoretical course on bond valuation and equity valuation will take place online. The students are expected to cover the learning material by themselves, then to ask their questions during live Q&A sessions with the instructors.
Regarding the exercise sessions, the two last sessions will be organized in the following way: 
- the first session on bond valuation will be a live session. The students will be provided in advance with the learning materials (slides + videos with explanations). Then, during normal class hours, they will be expected to solve related exercises with Excel during 1h, in the presence of an instructor. The instructor will be available for questions. The second part of the session will be dedicated to starting group assignments on the topic, The students are granted a 24h delay after the session to finish the assignment. The session takes place on 22 April 2020.
- the second session will take the form of a more classical assignment: the students will be expected to solve, per group, a practical case of equity valuation, using provided financial informations of companies. Q&A sessions with the instructor will take place by appointment. This assignment is to be handed out on 30 April 2020.

Matière de l'évaluation

There are no changes regarding the content of the course to be assessed. 

Méthodes d'évaluation

The final grade is determined by the following parts:
- First excel assignment: 5%
- Second and third excel assignments: 12.5% each.
- Final group assignment using R, to be handed in on 1 June 2020: 10%
- Online exam under the form of a Multiple Choice Questionaire with open-book: 60%
The online exam will last 2h at most, and cover the theoretical concepts seen in class, including exercises/practical cases that do not require the use of a software to be solved.
The second session will be organized along the same principles, although the MCQ will take place at HEC (if possible) and not remotely.

Contact

Adaptation des engagements pédagogiques suite à la pandémie de COVID-19 pour la session août-sept

Matière de l'évaluation

Same as the first session

Méthodes d'évaluation (et plateforme utilisée)

As for the first session, the exam is an open-book multiple choice questionnaire (+1/0) organized on ECampus. If conditions allow it, the online exam will take place at HEC Liege on the university's computers.

Contact(s)

Notes en ligne