Introduction in Economics and Company Finance - 2023 entry

This module will provide essential knowledge on economics and company finance. A special focus will be on managing high-growth, early-stage enterprises, especially those with innovation-based products and services. You will work in teams to develop skills and approaches necessary to becoming effective entrepreneurial leaders and managers. The topics include understanding business models, analysing key operational metrics, modelling cash flow and capital requirements, evaluating sources of financing, and managing the interplay between ownership and growth. You will learn how to produce standard financial documents such as balance sheets, income statements, cash flow forecasts, and profit and loss statements. You will also learn how to do simple manufacturing and project costing. 

This module is designed to introduce you to the economic environment and how this fits with entrepreneurship and engineering, as well as how tasks are carried out, and some elementary financial tools used by entrepreneurs and engineering managers. The module it will equip you to make simple financial appraisals of business ideas and projects, and to operate in the commercial environment.

The knowledge you gain from this course will be useful for your appreciation of higher level courses, especially in quantitative business analysis.

1: Introduction to the economic environment, market systems, government policy, management objectives, and financial constraints;

2: Introduction to entrepreneurial finance;

3: Company accounts, financial returns for small enterprises, profit and loss, balance sheet;

4: Introduction to costing, cost centres, earned value analysis, forecast vs actual costs;

5: Direct and indirect costs, overhead apportionment;

6: Activity based costing;

7: Break-even analysis;

8: Budgeting and cash-flow, investment appraisal.

Reassessment will be by coursework and/or written exam in the failed or deferred element only. For deferred candidates, the module mark will be uncapped. For referred candidates, the module mark will be capped at 40%.

Reading list for this module: