MSc Accounting / Course details

This course is concerned with the relationship between theories, methods and regulation in the area of corporate governance. The importance of corporate governance became more exposed at the beginning of the twenty-first century as a series of corporate meltdowns from managerial fraud, misconduct, and negligence led to significant loss of shareholder wealth. This course provides students with advanced understanding of how a company is directed and controlled and, in particular, with the role of the management and the need to ensure that there is an effective framework for accountability of directors to owners. Also, the course provides a discussion regarding recent developments in the corporate governance regulatory agenda.

The aim of this course unit is to explain and evaluate major theoretical and research approaches to the analysis of issues in corporate governance and accountability. This course will give the students an international perspective on some of the most fundamentally important issues facing global business and society today and develop an advanced theoretical and practical understanding of the fast-changing fields of governance and accountability.

Knowledge and understanding
KU1 Appreciate the challenges in developing a coherent and effective corporate governance system.
KU2 Understand the role of key governance players, such as, the board of directors, executive managers, shareholders and other stakeholders within the firm as well as regulators.
KU3 Grasp the importance of providing appropriate incentives to executive directors and the difficulties in creating an optimal incentive structure.
KU4 Acknowledge the significance of external corporate governance mechanisms, like the financial reporting environment and the market for corporate control.
KU5 Recognise the importance of alternative models of governance.

Intellectual skills
IS1 Solve conceptual problems, including the ability to apply statistical concepts at an appropriate level.
IS2 Understand how to formulate and test hypotheses.
IS3 Exercise powers of inquiry, logical thinking, and critical analysis of arguments and evidence.
IS4 Interpret and evaluate theoretical arguments and empirical evidence.
IS5 Exercise the capacity for independent and self-managed learning.

Practical skills
PS1 Use sources of financial information, including press coverage of business issues, in an informed way.
PS2 Present quantitative and qualitative information, together with analysis, argument and commentary, in a form appropriate to the intended audience.

Transferable skills and personal qualities
TS1 Structure and present ideas effectively in writing.
TS2 Exercise initiative and self-reliance skills, and work independently.
TS3 Appreciate alternative viewpoints.

Syllabus (indicative curriculum content):

Topics 
- Importance of Corporate Governance and Different Systems Across the World
- Board of Directors
- Executive Compensation 
- Ownership: Heterogeneity and Conflicts 
- Financial Reporting Environment
- The Market for Corporate Control
- Alternative Models of Governance

2 hours of lectures per week for 10 weeks

Lecture Hours: 20

Students are also given two case studies, and they are expected to discuss them during the appropriate lectures.

Written Examination (100%)