Financial Decision-making for Managers

Overview

“What would I eliminate if I had a magic wand? Overconfidence” - Daniel Kahneman

One of the most important contributions of behavioural finance to the field of decision-making is to demonstrate that even highly trained professionals and corporate leaders exhibit systematic biases in financial decision-making. Behavioural and emotional biases such as the overconfidence bias and loss aversion and cognitive errors, such as anchoring and availability bias, lead us to take decisions that are not fully rational, either because we are being selective on how we deal with information or we interpret information irrationally. This course draws from a large academic and practitioner literature in economics, finance and psychology to build a strong understanding of the biases and heuristics that executive leaders face in financial decision-making, and offer potential solutions.

Course content highlights

• Linking financial decision-making with heuristics and biases

Learn how we make systematic errors that lead us to take suboptimal financial decisions

• Designing effective strategies in financial decision-making

Learn how to design effective strategies that reduce the effects of cognitive errors and emotional biases in financial decision-making

Objectives

The objective of this course is to:

• Enable managers to understand the role of biases and heuristics in financial decision-making.
• Develop a toolkit for avoiding common biases that lead to suboptimal financial decisions

Who should attend

This program is best suited for managers, senior executives and board members in the private and public sectors, including local authorities, who require a better understanding of the role of biases in financial decision-making.

Accreditation and professional recognition

Upon successful completion of the course, participants will receive a Certificate of Completion in Financial decision-making from Essex Business School, University of Essex.

Pedagogy

This course consists of four sessions and each session is supported by reading materials. It is an intensive, fast-paced course that will give you a highly practical approach to the role of biases in financial decision making. You will take part in interactive learning exercises that will offer the opportunity to identify behavioral biases and discuss possible remedies.

Our expert staff

Dr Thanos Verousis is a Reader in Finance at Essex Business School. Thanos specializes in the study of financial markets and market microstructure. His main contribution is understanding investor behavior with respect to (i) changes in exchange market structures and (ii) departures from the classical rational expectations theory. He has previously held positions at Newcastle University Business School, the University of Bath School of Management, Bangor Business School and Swansea University Management School. He has published work in empirical market microstructure, especially around the microstructure of individual equity options, high-frequency finance, behavioral finance, asset pricing and forecasting.

Structure

Day 1

Where to find us?

Our Colchester Campus is located two miles from the historic city of Colchester – England's oldest recorded settlement and just one hour by train from London.

Essex Business School can be found on the edge of the campus nearby our iconic North Towers Student accommodation

Detailed information on how to get here including general travel information and parking can be found on our visitor web pages.

How to book

The cost of this course is £750 including access to all programmes materials, refreshments and lunch.

Payment should be made in full at the time of applying.

Registration for this course is now closed

Please be aware that attendees will need to source their own accommodation for the duration of the course should they be travelling to attend. Onsite accommodation can be booked via Wivenhoe House Hotel or Event Essex. Alternatively, there are a range of local hotels nearby too.