ECON20040 - Economics and Finance for Business

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit you will address the fundamental workings of the market mechanism, an overview of micro and macro economics and the role of governments and independent central banks in regulating and managing economic activity. You will address the international factors that affect domestic economies and how this in turn affects organisational performance. The unit will provide you with a fundamental understanding of the language of economics and finance, and the key issues that managers must be familiar with to work with finance managers and economists. You will be introduced to a range of financial decision making concepts such as financial goals, financial markets, financial mathematics, risk and return, asset pricing, capital budgeting, cost of capital, capital structure and dividend policy. As this is an integrated unit bringing together the related concepts of economics and finance, you will explore and acquire an understanding of effective financial management, domestic and global economic forces and the inherent relationship between these factors.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 8
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Only students enrolled in CL20 Master of Business Administration or CC52 Graduate Diploma of Business Administration or CC51 Graduate Certificate in Business Administration can enrol in this unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 3 - 2024

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Presentation 20%
3. Report 40%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2019 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 77.78% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 56.25% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student's feedback.
Feedback
Spread the assessments out through the semester.
Recommendation
Have one of the assignments earlier in the term.
Action Taken
Assignments were more spread out during the term.
Source: AIMS
Feedback
Low enrollment numbers.
Recommendation
Promote MBA to campus students not only to flex.
Action Taken
Enrollment on Melbourne campus has increased.
Source: Students feedback.
Feedback
Provide a weekly email on unit topics.
Recommendation
Send weekly emails with the topics overviews.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Students feedback.
Feedback
Release assignments early in the term.
Recommendation
Ensure assignments are made available several weeks before the due date
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Understand the fundamental theories in economics, characteristics of different market structures and recognise how these affect organisations and business activity
  2. Examine the role of government and independent institutions in the management and regulation of the economy, financial markets and the impact on business and organisations
  3. Interpret and critically evaluate the impact of various domestic and international factors on an organisation's economic and financial performance
  4. Assess the role of globalisation on economies and corporate finance contexts
  5. Analyse and synthesise the data and concepts provided by finance managers and economists to address and solve business problems.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Presentation • •
3 - Report • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Knowledge • • • • •
2 - Communication • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • • •
4 - Research • • • •
5 - Self-management •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • •
7 - Leadership •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Written Assessment • • • • •
2 - Presentation • • • •
3 - Report • • • • •