FIT5159 - IT for financial decisions - 2019

This unit provides students with an understanding of the development and use of IT tools and techniques for modelling and decision support in the field of finance. The unit is designed to give students a broad understanding of the financial subsystems confronting business enterprises. The main focus, besides the traditional modelling of finance decision making process using spreadsheet tools, will be IT tools and related techniques that can aid in the analysis and interpretation of real financial problems confronting an enterprise. This unit will look at business related financial issues in the context of specific case studies.

On the completion of this unit, students should be to:

1. explain the core foundations of finance, as appropriate to key financial analysis and decision making;
2. analyse the core technologies that support financial analysis and decision making;
3. implement quantitative techniques supporting financial analysis and decision making;
4. apply the technologies and techniques studied to solving financial issues;
5. analyse financial solution requirements and select appropriate technical and quantitative decision aids;
6. interpret outputs from quantitative and technology based finance tools to aid in decision making.

NOTE: From 1 July 2019, the duration of all exams is changing to combine reading and writing time. The new exam duration for this unit is 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Examination (2 hours): 60%; In-semester assessment: 40%

Minimum total expected workload equals 12 hours per week comprising:

1. Contact hours for on-campus students:
   • Two hours of lectures
   • One 2-hour tutorial
2. Additional requirements (all students):
   • A minimum of 8 hours independent study per week for completing lab and project work, private study and revision.

See also Unit timetable information