CORPFIN 7019 - Advanced Funds Management (M)

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2018

This course is an in-depth study of Mutual Funds: the theory behind them, construction techniques, asset classes employed and its management. Asset classes examined will primarily be Australian Equities and Australian Fixed Income Securities. However non-core asset classes (Commodities, Real Estate), and Equities and Fixed Income Securities from the Developed and Developing markets, and Alternative Investments will also be examined. Course participants will revisit and enhance their knowledge of the theoretical foundations of asset pricing, market efficiency and the Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT). Students will then be exposed to the managed funds industry and be required to apply their theoretical knowledge to understand the process of developing, managing and evaluating these investment vehicles. Students will learn various strategies to evaluate a selection of Australian Mutual Funds, and understand issues that impact Funds' performance in achieving investment objectives.

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Course Details

Course Code	CORPFIN 7019
Course	Advanced Funds Management (M)
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Business School
Term	Semester 1
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 4 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Assumed Knowledge	CORPFIN 7039 & CORPFIN 7040
Assessment	Exam/assignments/test/tutorial work as prescribed at first lecture

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Syed Zamin Ali

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Explain Modern Portfolio Theory and the Mean-Variance Framework.

2. Analyse Core Asset classes (Australian Equities and Fixed Income Securities) based on their characteristics and performance over economic and business cycles.

3. Compare and evaluate Active and Passive investment strategies, and associated issues, benefits and costs.

4. Evaluate both quantitatively and qualitatively a selection of US Equity and Fixed Income Securities Mutual Funds

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	All
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	All
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	All
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	All
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	All
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	All

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Running Money: Professional Portfolio Management
by Stewart, S. D., Prios, C. D., and J. C. Heisler, 1st Edition, published by McGraw-Hill

Other readings from academic, semi-professional and professional sources.

Recommended Resources

Students are encouraged to stay abreast of global financial issues. The Australian Financial Review and finance commentary on the ABC Australia, Bloomberg and CNBC networks are excellent sources of current financial news and should be referred to on a regular basis. The internet is also abundantly populated with all aspects of this course, and should be used as well.

Usage of Thomson Reuters Eikon database to access capital market data.

Online Learning

Discussion board will be the primary source of interface between students and the academic staff and issues raised will be answered within 2 working days.

Emails will be responded to only on Mondays and should be used for personal issues.

For more urgent matters, please see the lecturer Dr. Syed Ali during:

(i) Consultation hours (Tuesdays 12-1pm only)

(ii) Appointments (Tuesdays and Thursdays only)

(iii) During the lecture break.

Lecture material such as presentation, articles, tutorial questions and lecture recording will be available on MyUni. Brief tutorial answers will also be made available in the week following the tutorial.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

The approach in this course is to first establish the theoretical foundations and then to build upon these to understand real-world issues. This will be done through lectures, tutorials, assignment, test, and examination.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours for a three-unit course of private study outside of your regular classes.

Students in this course are expected to attend all lectures throughout the semester plus one tutorial class each week. If a student is unable to attend a lecture, it is the student's responsibility to watch the lecture recording prior to attending the tutorial. The student must allocate at least 2 hours for this activity on a weekly basis.

Learning Activities Summary

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: Client Objectives for a Fund

Week 3: Theory of Asset Allocation - Mean Variance Framework

Week 4: Core Asset Classes revisited - Equities and Fixed Income Securities

Week 5: Practical Asset Allocation - Creating a Mutual Fund

Week 6: Using the Thomson Reuters Eikon database

Week 7: The Investment Management process

Week 8: Core Asset Classes in more detail - Sectors, Styles and Capitalisation

Week 9: Practical Performance Measurement - Evaluation of Active and Passive Funds

Week 10: Non-Core Asset Classes and Alternative Investments 1

Week 11:Non-Core Asset Classes and Alternative Investments 2

Week 12: Portfolio Management through Time and Review

Specific Course Requirements

This course draws upon previous knowledge from three courses: Equity Valuation Analysis (M), Fixed Income Securities (M) and Quantitative Methods (M). Students may need to review these courses if they have scored only a "Pass" in any one of these courses.

This course has also a specific Embedded Research component. The postgraduate Finance coursework program requires the inclusion of an Embedded Research component, a piece of research that the student works on over 4 courses. Equity Valuation (M) and Fixed Income Securities (M) research will lead to a research project for this course. Embedded reseach will be part of a group assignments that will be completed in groups of 3 students (fewer than 3 students can form a group but there will be no concessions in the scope of the assignment), and no groups can have more than 3 students. Group assignments allow students to be able to create a solution to an assigned problem and test their solution using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. It is expected that each member of a group will be able to leverage of their own particular expertise as well as that of the other members in the group. Groups will be created by the students themselves and groups may discuss their assignment with tutors during assignment consultation by making appointments.

This course is a single pass course. Successful completion of this course will require students to keep up to date with the assigned material. This means that students should have had browsed the assigned chapter and the power point presentation for that topic (Details of each topic is avilable in MyUni) prior to attending the lecture. Students should review the lecture recordings and get better understanding by reading the assigned chapter after the lecture to prepare for the tutorial. It is expected that students would have prepared the tutorial questions prior to attending their assigned tuitorial class. This will allow students to have a deeper understanding of the topic and have a healthy discussion in the tutorial class. Brief tutorial answers will also be made available in the week following the tutorial week.This course includes a group assignment.

Finally, this course will include students to be able to access historical capital market data using Thomson Reuters Eikon database for their assignment.

Small Group Discovery Experience

This course does not have SGDE

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Weighting	Learning Outcome
Test	20%	1,2
Thomson Reuters Eikon Database	10%	2,3,4,5
Group Report	20%	All
Final Examination	50%	All
Total	100%

Assessment Related Requirements

The approach in this course is to first establish the theoretical foundations and then to build upon these to understand portfolio construction, implementation and management for a group of investors. This will be done through lectures, tutorials, a test, a group assignment, and a final examination. Tests and Final/Replacement examination will be closed book (no reference material allowed). Assessments from previous semester(s) cannot be redeemed.

This course will feature a group assignment based on the Embedded Research, and will require the ability to access the Thomson Reuters Eikon Databse.

Assessment Detail

The assessment components are as follows:

• (20%) Test: 1 hour MCQ (Multiple Choice Question) test. This is a closed book test

• (20%) Assignment: Group assignment

• (10%) Thomson Reuters Eikon Database related learning activities

• (50%) Final/Replacement Exam: 3 hours exam as per examination schedule. These are closed book examination

Submission

Further details will be provided on MyUni.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator