CORPFIN 7019 - Advanced Funds Management (M)

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2022

This course provides an in-depth study of mutual funds, including the theory underpinning their construction techniques, and the asset classes employed in their management. The asset classes examined will primarily be equities and fixed income securities from the developed markets. However, non-core asset classes (e.g., commodities, real estate), equities and fixed income securities from 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 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 and US mutual funds, and understand the issues that impact fund performance in the context of achieving investment objectives.

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Course Details

Course Code	CORPFIN 7019
Course	Advanced Funds Management (M)
Coordinating Unit	Finance and Banking
Term	Semester 1
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Prerequisites	CORPFIN 7039 and 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. Demonstrate understanding of the 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)
Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.	1
Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.	2, 3 and 4
Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.	3 and 4
Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.	3 and 4
Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.	4
Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.	None

Learning Resources

Required Resources

The course will use
Mutual Funds:Portfolio Structures, Analysis, Management and Stewardship
by John A. Haslem as the main textbook for the course.
The text is directly accessible through the course readings in MyUni
Students are not required to buy this textbook as this textbook is available from the library in e format.

The course will also use sections from:

Multi-Asset Investing : A Practical Guide to Modern Portfolio Management
by Yoram Lustig, Published by Harriman House.
The text is directly accessible through the course readings in MyUni
Students are not required to buy this textbook as this textbook is available from the library in e format.

Risk-Based Approaches to Asset Allocation: Concepts and Practical Applications
by Maria Debora Braga
Publisher: SpringerBriefs in Finance
Date: 2016
The text is directly accessible through the course readings in MyUni
Students are not required to buy this textbook as this textbook is available from the library in e format.

Other reference material will be provided.

Recommended Resources

Students are encouraged to stay abreast of global financial issues. The Australian Financial Review and finance commentary on the Morningstar, 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.

Refinitive (previously Thomson Reuters) Eikon database and Morningstar (US version) will be used to access capital market data, including mutual funds' data.

Online Learning

This course will utilize the online learning environment in a variety of ways.

All lectures will be made available at the begining of the week. Tutorial refordings will be provided at the end of the week. Fortnightly online tutorial quizzes (starting in week 4) will help students check their undersatnding of the course material. Two tests will also be held online.

Please feel free to use emails for personal issues and they will be answered in 2 working days. You will be asked to post course related questions on the discussion board and everyone is encouraged to join the discussion. These discussions are extremely useful and will help everyone in the course. For any urgent matter, please contact the lecturer-in-charge (syed.ali@adelaide.edu.au) and a zoom meeting can be arranged to discuss.
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 + How Financial Markets Work (Haslem Chapter 5) + Active vs Passive Investing (Haslem Chapter 6)

Week 2: Efficient Markets and Mutual Fund Investing: The Advantage of Index Funds (Haslem Chapter 7) + Investment Strategies (for Equities and Bonds).

Week 3: Modern Portfolio Theory and Asset Allocation (Haslem Chapters 8, Bragga Chapter 2, Lustig Chapter 10)

Week 4: Risk Parity Portfolios (Bragga Chapter 3) + Constructing an Active Fund (Lustig Chapter 30 and 31)

Week 5 (Test week): The Morningstar Approach to Mutual Fund Analysis - Part 1 (Haslem Chapter 9)

Week 6: The Morningstar Approach to Mutual Fund Analysis - Part 2 (Haslem Chapter 10) + Portfolio Attribution Analysis (Lustig Chapters 30 and 31)

Week 7: Building a Portfolio of Mutual Funds (Haslem Chapter 11)

Week 8: Liquidity and Trading costs (Wagner and Edwards)

Week 9 (Test week): Alternative Investments – Part 1 (Wilcox and Fabozzi Appendix A)

Week 10: Alternative Investments – Part 2 (Wilcox and Fabozzi Appendix A)

Week 11: Mutual Funds: Nature, Regulations and Costs – Part 1 (Haslem Chapters 1 and 2

Week 12: Mutual Funds: Nature, Regulations and Costs – Part 2 (Haslem Chapters 3 and 4)

Week 13: Review of Course and Examination Details

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 4 students (fewer than 4 students can form a group but there will be no concessions in the scope of the assignment), and no groups can have more than 4 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 by making appointment with the lecturer-in-charge.

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 PowerPoint presentation for that topic (details of each topic are 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 tutorial class. This will allow students to have a deeper understanding of the topic and have a healthy discussion in the tutorial class.

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

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	Task Type	Due	Weighting	Learning Outcome
5x Quizzes	Individual	Weeks 4-12	2% each = 10%	1-4
2x Test	Individual	Week 5 & 9 (during lecture time)	15% each = 30%	1-4
Group Assignment	Group	Week 10	30%	2-4
Final Examination	Individual	Exam Period	30%	3 and 4
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 Refinitive (previously Thomson Reuters) Eikon Databse.

Assessment Detail

The assessment components are as follows:

• (30%) Test 1 and Test 2: 1 hour Test during lecture time.

• (30%) Assignment: Group assignment.

• (10%) Quizzes [weeks 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12]

• (30%) Final/Replacement Exam:

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