Financial and Business Management MSc

Our Financial and Business Management MSc has been developed from two highly successful courses run by the Business School – the Accounting and Finance MSc and the Business Management MA. Both of these courses have established international reputations for excellence.

The new course is designed to provide the theory and practical skills essential for today's business managers. Successful completion of the programme will enhance your job prospects and increase your career options.

What will you study?

You will cover the theories, models and practice of management accounting and finance at an advanced level, together with an understanding of how they integrate in the wider business environment. You will be able to demonstrate the ability to critically analyse and use relevant information to offer interpretations and solutions to problems.

You also study key business disciplines, which will enable you to demonstrate:

• your strategic and analytical skills;
• your ability to apply your knowledge to solve business problems; and
• your competence as a manager.

Kingston Business School works closely with the business world's principal professional bodies in order to harmonise its education provision with the needs of today's business practitioners. You will learn how to turn theory into practice and gain a qualification that has real value in the real world. Find out more...

Research is an essential part of the day-to-day life of Kingston Business School and is embedded in its intellectual activities and development. In the most recent RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) undertaken in 2008, the research output of Kingston Business School was the highest rated of any new university. Ninety per cent of our research submitted was assessed as 'recognised internationally' or higher. Of this, 10% was classified as 'world leading' and 35% as 'internationally excellent'. 

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Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.

Core modules

• Management Accounting

• Management Accounting

  This module will enable you to understand and prepare management information to support the decision making in an organisation. It covers:

  • how to calculate the costs associated with the production of products and provision of services, and determine their price;
  • budgeting approaches and how budgets are produced; and
  • effective performance management systems, including performance measures, to assist management decision making.
  
   
• Finance and Investment

• Finance and Investment

  This module enables you appreciate the theoretical developments and concepts in the area of corporate finance and investments. It includes:

  • the modern corporate finance theories and their applications;
  • the decision making process in respect to major corporate decisions and their implications for corporate stakeholders and investors;
  • risk and returns, portfolio theory and portfolio performance measurement and evaluation;
  • the valuation methods of securities traded in the financial markets;
  • security trading in the financial markets; and
  • issues related to agency theory, agency problems and corporate governance.
  
   
• Financial Management

• Financial Management

  This module covers how organisations arrange their external financing and manage their internal resources. It looks at:

  • sources of capital and theories of how capital structures behave in response to changes in the choices of capital sources;
  • methods and costs of protecting the firm's capital and operational cash flows against currency, interest and maturity risk;
  • treasury and working capital management; and 
  • the firm's choice in of growth through acquisition or or reduction through spin-off, demerger or reconstruction will be studied.
  
   
• International Money and Finance

• International Money and Finance

  Many companies engage in international collaborations, set up overseas operations and subsidiaries, or export their products to overseas markets. As a student of finance, you should:

  • have an appreciation of the international dimension of corporate activities; and
  • be aware of the specific risks and challenges involved in the globalisation of the economic environment.

  This module will cover:

  • the goals, motives and risks that multi-national corporations are facing;
  • the role and functions of international financial markets; and
  • the tools that can be employed to assess and control for risk in these markets.
  
   
• Corporate Strategy

• Corporate Strategy

  This module will develop your understanding of key concepts in strategy, strategic planning and strategic management and looks at how to apply these concepts in the analysis of organisations. You will also study the interplay between corporate strategy and financing, and develop insight into the more complex aspects and current issues in the field of strategy.

  
   
• Research Methods and Dissertation

• Research Methods and Dissertation

  Initially this module will equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to successfully complete a research project.

  You will then investigate a specific business problem via a substantial piece of independent work, which demonstrates your proficiency in:

  • the design of a research project;
  • the application of appropriate methods;
  • the collection and analysis of data; and
  • the presentation of results.
  
   

Option modules

• Consultancy Practice

• Consultancy Practice

  The aim of this module is to provide an understanding of management consultancy from the perspective of both the client and the consultant.

  You will work with an external organisation and, through a real project, develop the personal, planning and problem-solving skills needed to perform the consultancy task. Using key consultancy tools and techniques you will look at how to plan, monitor and manage projects, evaluate briefs and assess consultancy proposals.

  
   
• Cross-Cultural Management Communication

• Cross-Cultural Management Communication

  This module will enable you to draw on theoretical frameworks and cross-cultural research to devise and implement strategies to manage more effectively within multinational organisations.

  It will develop your insight into social behaviour, attitudes towards morality, self-perception and hierarchy. You will be able to draw on a range of methods and tools for managing cultural diversity and develop strategies to predict and handle situations that occur in a cross-cultural context.

  
   
• Entrepreneurship in an International Context

• Entrepreneurship in an International Context

  This module will develop your entrepreneurial management skills. It looks at:

  • small enterprise creation and the importance of aspects of government policy;
  • the critical differences between entrepreneurial and administrative management styles;
  • the process of creating a strategy for an independent new venture and the challenges faced; and
  • how to cope with uncertainty, risk and complexity.
  
   
• International Marketing

• International Marketing

  This module examines the marketing skills needed to exploit business opportunities beyond existing country and operating boundaries. You will:

  • understand the rationale for, and drivers of, the internationalisation or globalisation of business;
  • apply relevant models and methodologies to enable the task of foreign market opportunity selection and risk analysis;
  • critically evaluate the appropriateness of different market entry options for specific market conditions;
  • recognise the influence of cultural differences on marketing communications and issues of standardisation versus adaptation of products and services across international markets; and
  • appreciate the fundamental differences in approach and the competences required of marketing management across the evolution of foreign trading.
  
   
• Managing People and Organisations

• Managing People and Organisations

  This module provides you with a framework which will enable you to critically reflect upon your performance and plan your professional development.

  It provides an understanding of human behaviour within organisations and looks at how management performance can be enhanced through effective human resource management.You will:

  • demonstrate your ability to integrate international aspects of managing people and organisations; and
  • develop an understanding of human resource practices and procedures.
  
   
• Marketing

• Marketing

  This module will develop your understanding of key marketing concepts. It looks at:

  • how effective marketing can be used to enhance organisational performance;
  • the role of analysis, planning, implementation and control in the marketing process;
  • how to  develop positioning strategies, prepare plans using the appropriate marketing mix and assess their financial implications and risk; and
  • key generic marketing strategies and relationship marketing.
  
   
• Operations Management

• Operations Management

  This module evaluates key operational processes in both the service and manufacturing sectors. You will:

  • propose and substantiate operational improvements within a given context;
  • explain influences on the achievement of best practice; and
  • assess the role that operations activity plays within the broader organisational landscape.
  
   

The Faculty of Business and Law runs a number of postgraduate and post-experience open days. Visit us to find out how we can help you achieve your career ambitions.

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This course is taught by staff from Kingston Business School.

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We want to make sure you get all the support you need while you are with us. Here you can see the range of support we can offer you while you're doing this course.

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