Finance and International Business

Programme Structure

1. semester

• Corporate Finance (10 ECTS)
• Applied Econometric Methods (10 ECTS)
• International Finance (10 ECTS)

2. semester

• Internationalisation of the Firm (10 ECTS)
• Empirical Corporate Finance - Project (5 ECTS)
• International Financial Accounting I (5 ECTS)
• Corporate Valuation (10 ECTS)

3. semester

• Elective Courses (30 ECTS)

4. semester

• Master's Thesis (30 ECTS)

PREREQUISITE COURSES

The programme is divided into four semesters. Furthermore, the first two semesters are each divided into two blocks.
The first semester creates the necessary foundation both methodologically and theoretically for further studies of finance and international business.
Applied Econometric Methods introduces you to the most widely used quantitative and empirical methods in econometrics, including in particular financial econometrics. The course has two overall aims. Firstly, it provides you with tools, which enables you to acquire the knowledge published in high quality publications within the areas of empirical finance and economics. Secondly, it equips you with tools for modelling and estimating econometric systems. The methods involved have been chosen with a focus on applications within empirical finance and economics.
Corporate Finance provides the participants with profound knowledge about financial decision-making in corporations. It is important to underline that although the course focuses on the managerial problems, decisions must be based on a solid theoretical framework. The topics studied include investment and financing, real options, risk management, capital structure, governance, and asymmetric information.
Internationalisation of the Firm provides you with an in-depth and detailed understanding of theories surrounding the internationalisation of businesses and the practical implications of these theories.

SPECIALISATION COURSES

The second semester is devoted to more advanced studies within the two areas.
Corporate Valuation integrates elements of finance, accounting, and strategy. The students get a profound understanding of the theoretical foundation of a corporate valuation, an understanding of the integration of all relevant aspects into an overall framework, and an empirical approach to corporate valuation.
Empirical Corporate Finance provides students with a toolbox and working knowledge of empirical methods in Corporate Finance. Techniques such as short- and long-term event studies, factor models, difference-in-difference techniques and panel data estimation are covered. The focus is on application of these tools, and during the course, students will undertake a short-run event study, using data on mergers and acquisitions.
International Financial Accounting focuses on the financial reporting requirements in international environments. An understanding of international business depends on a theoretically grounded, pragmatic knowledge of the international requirements for corporations to report their financial performance and financial position.

International Business Finance

The multinational firm is confronted with the task of operating internationally. This necessitates an understanding of the markets for products, factors of production, and financial assets. Operating internationally poses unique risks – one of these being the existence of fluctuating exchange rates. More generally, the global integration of money and capital markets implies opportunities as well as challenges – both of which have to be considered by the multinational firm.In the third semester, you can choose elective courses within your areas of interest. The courses can be taken either at Aarhus BSS during the semester, at the AU Summer University or at one of our more than 300 partner universities abroad. You can also participate in internship programmes either in Denmark or abroad.
The fourth semester is devoted to the Master's thesis. You may freely choose the topic of the thesis and thereby get a chance to concentrate on and specialise in a specific field of interest. The thesis may be written in collaboration with another student or it may be the result of your individual effort. When the thesis has been submitted, it is defended before the academic supervisor as well as an external examiner.