MSc Financial Engineering and Risk Management

Your dissertation is the culmination of your Masters programme, where you apply the knowledge gained on your course to produce a 10,000 word independent piece of work. You generate an original idea, analyse literature and current knowledge and produce a coherent argument that shows your ability to relate theory to practice. Your dissertation will help you develop vital skills for the workplace, as well as the ability to analyse real problems through an academic lens. You're assigned a supervisor for the duration of your project.

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This module introduces Matlab, software commonly used in financial organisations and academia to model portfolio construction and solve banking and finance challenges. You learn how to use Matlab programming language to solve financial problems. These may include finding optimal portfolio weights, calculating and simulating derivative prices and implied volatilities, and estimating and simulating GARCH models, amongst others.

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This module equips you with the econometric tools and necessary experience to conduct empirical research in finance. You review statistical and basic econometric models and learn to apply econometric techniques in finance by considering topics such as (G)ARCH models, unit roots and cointegration.

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This module covers topics in mathematics that are required in Masters-level finance courses at the University of Essex. You focus on the basics of linear algebra, differential calculus including optimisation and dynamics.

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The recent financial crisis and credit crunch have demonstrated that risk management was too narrowly defined. In this course you examine the Value at Risk (VAR) measure of financial risk developed in the 1990s, before discussing the new post-crisis Regulatory environment.

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Consider the use of modern econometric techniques in the analysis of financial time series. You cover multivariate models for stationary and non-stationary processes, such as Vector Autoregressive models, consider appropriate models for volatility, and study Markov processes and simulation methods used for financial modelling.

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Gain a formal introduction to asset pricing theories and empirical findings. You review the fundamental theories of the expected utility, asset pricing kernels, and risk-neutral valuation, covering the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), and linear factor models arising from the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT). You also discuss empirical asset pricing studies.

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Master the pricing of financial derivatives and their use for hedging financial risks. You study the basics of futures and options, analyse the Black-Scholes and binomial option pricing models, and consider various numerical techniques for pricing financial derivatives. Futures and options are then utilised in the context of hedging financial risks, and you are introduced to the concept of volatility trading and the treatment of volatility as an asset class.

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Gain theoretical knowledge and a practical understanding of financial markets, trading strategies, risk and money management and trader analytics at the highest level. You study a mix of classroom-based instruction, case studies and practical trading exercises where you trade on real-time simulated global markets through the use of industry-strength proprietary trading software in the trading lab.

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Demonstrate a critical understanding of major current issues in financial accounting and reporting. You develop an awareness of financial reporting theory, the problematic nature of accounting measurements and disclosures, corporate disclosure regulation, the implications of market efficiency for financial reporting, and the potential role of accounting information in social reporting and collective bargaining.

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Management accounting provides information required for decision-making, planning and control and cost management. You examine a range of contemporary issues in management accounting such as activity-based costing, strategic management accounting and other management accounting issues. You also evaluate contemporary approaches of management control theories to understand the current practices of management accounting locally and globally.

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Explore key issues in contemporary auditing through evaluation of recent published research in the principal auditing and accounting journals. You also consider the major policy issues facing the auditing profession, and suggest changes and reforms that might be beneficial both to the profession and to those affected by the activities of auditors.

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Analyse the changing practices and theorization of management accounting and control in emerging and less-developed countries in the context of environmental change, institutional and socio-economic factors. You examine traditional management control systems in the context of different cultural, political, and socio-economic contexts.

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Develop a critical understanding of current issues in international financial reporting. You analyse the development of national accounting systems, the role of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and its impact on financial reporting internationally, and the particular financial reporting needs of developing countries.

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This module gives you a critical understanding of current issues in corporate governance theory, regulation and practice at both national and international levels. You undertake a critical review of agency, stakeholder and other corporate governance related theories and explore the codes and regulations governing corporate and board behaviour. Examples include the UK’s Combined Code, Operating and Financial Review and the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act. You examine real-world case studies and develop a deeper understanding of the meaning of ‘good’ governance.

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This module introduces you to financial reporting, governance, regulation, and analysis of financial statements. You also gain an understanding of the role of published financial statements in aiding users in their decision-making.

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Understand the process of portfolio management. You cover the main concepts such as efficient diversification, managing risk exposures, and the valuation of financial assets that are at the core of managing investment portfolios, and pay special attention to the practicalities of the implementation of these concepts.

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Gain an understanding of international arbitrage relationships, models of exchange rate determination, and recent issues and debates in the international finance literature. Learn to describe the basic international parity relationships, to outline some of the basic models of exchange rate determination, and have a good grasp of issues such as the international debt crisis, capital mobility, and the advent of the European single currency.

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Behavioural finance rejects crucial tenets of mainstream finance such as the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) on the basis that agents are less than fully rational, and that arbitrage fails to eliminate mispricing. Instead it identifies market anomalies or regularities such as holiday effects that are at odds with the EMH. You learn to use ideas from cognitive psychology, such as overconfidence, and aspects of imperfect arbitrage to explain these.

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Discover the concepts and tools that are useful to asset managers who want to use fixed income securities for investing, market-making or speculating. You first study fixed income markets and instruments, before going on to explore basic concepts of bond portfolio management and investigating the quantitative tools used to value bonds and manage bonds' portfolios.

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Big data - where datasets are so large they cannot be processed using traditional techniques – is useful to financial organisations. This module explores how to analyse big data and covers areas such as predictive analytics, risk modelling and corporate finance. You also learn about the application of data analytics in high frequency finance, fraud and personal finance.

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Discover how people construct and account for themselves in relation to organisations. You explore the implications of technology and bureaucracy in the formation of consciousness, challenging taken-for-granted assumptions about organisations and offers insights into the meaning of work. The course uses a variety of media including film and video and the use of novels, art and theatre in order to illustrate the various concepts used.

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This module introduces key principles and practices in contemporary management and organisational behaviour. You learn through a combination of lectures, group work and individual study and use business case studies to apply theory to real-life situations. You examine some of the most important challenges facing management today and see how these are located in the wider political, social and economic context.

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Explore issues ranging from environmental disasters to corporate greed and from executive pay to ethical bottled water. You discover the relationship between management and corporations on the one hand, and society and nature on the other, engaging in debates around ecological sustainability, governance and corporate ethics and responsibility.

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Investigate some of the main topics and issues in international business and global political economy, applying both mainstream and more critical approaches to understanding them. You explore a range of different literatures addressing the business environment in the international context, discovering the historical, economic, cultural and political forces that shape contemporary global capitalism.

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Managers increasingly find themselves working across borders calling for a thorough understanding of issues that relate to cross cultural management. In this course you enhance your understanding of the way in which globalisation and international business activities affect management and management practices across cultures.

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Develop a critical understanding of the theory and practice of Human Resource Management in domestic and international contexts, as well as an awareness of how Human Resource practices impact both on the individual and wider social structures.

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Investigate the foundations of Management and Marketing through an induction to Essex Business School, with structured introductions to the library resources in the University and the range of learning methods used at post-graduate level, including lectures, classes, independent reading, group research projects, presentations and written assignments.

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In the current brand-dominated and rapidly globalising world of business and management, saturated by advertisements, critical understanding of marketing activities and how they affect businesses and individuals is a requirement for a general management and marketing career. In this module you investigate the role of marketing within organisations, and the linkage between marketing and general management.

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Strategic brand communication considers all the means by which brand meaning is created and circulated - not only through channels such as promotion and distribution, but also how for example employees are utilised for the purpose of communicating a consistent brand message. You analyse the underlying ideas that inform how brand messages are constructed, and how for example stereotypes or normative ideas of gender are reproduced in those messages.

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This module introduces you to the theory and practice of marketing. You cover topics such as consumer behaviour, relationship marketing, digital marketing and cause-related marketing. We examine the discipline as both an organisational function and a crucial field of social interaction in a global context.

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Explore the foundational principles of marketing as an academic subject and practice, by considering marketing from different perspectives including consumer behaviour, the marketing mix perspective, services marketing, retail and place marketing, marketing communications, ethical marketing, and global marketing.

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Explore the basics of the structure and environment of banking, and selected aspects of the applied economics of the modern banking firm. You study structure-conduct-performance, competition, bank efficiency, regulation, international banking and bank failures and crises.

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Analyse the key strategic developments in banking and the main aspects of risk management in modern banks. You are introduced to the concept of shareholder value in banking, the main banking strategies to create shareholder value, the key risks in banking, and the most important tools required to manage bank risks.

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Taught exclusively by leading industry experts, this module offers you a unique opportunity to appreciate the latest developments and issues faced by leading practitioners in the areas of quantitative finance and risk management.

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This module covers many of the key human aspects of management that are, so often, taken for granted. It provides you with an understanding of core issues that shape the management of organisational performance. We invite you to analyse workforce issues that will shape your own management practice.

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Explore a range of theoretical, philosophical and methodological approaches to the conduct of doctoral research with a focus on the literature phase of a research project. You scrutinise the process of writing an academic literature review, develop a literature-based research plan for your dissertation, integrating subject-specific learning with insights on research methodology and epistemology.

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This module equips you with a critical understanding of research methods and methodologies in the field of accounting. You develop the skills needed to explore issues in accounting and identify, choose and implement research designs and strategies.

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This module examines how social scientific knowledge is created and how our understanding of business and cultural phenomena can be shaped by differences in perspective and interpretation. We explore how knowledge is acquired and evaluated and address topics you will encounter as part of your academic research.

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This module develops your skills in undertaking organisational research. Through a series of workshops, you learn about, and practice using, different methods of data collection and analysis.

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