Master in Finance

The program covers the fundamentals of finance, as well as advanced topics in investment, corporate finance, and financial markets. It provides students with a foundation in the principles and practice of finance, and the tools to make sound investment and financial decisions as a professional, in a local and international environment.

Foundation Courses

There are four foundation courses that introduce concepts and terminology to students with no prior knowledge of the subject matter as illustrated in the following table:

Course Code	Course Title	Credits/ ECTS	Prerequisite
ACC5001	Foundations of Accounting	1.5 / 3	–
FIN5001	Foundations of Finance	1.5 / 3	–
FIN5200	Managerial Economics	3 / 5	–
ACC5203	Financial Reporting and Management Control	3 / 5	ACC5001
Total		9/16

Prospective students without relevant business/economics/accounting/finance education background are required to complete foundation courses. However, foundation courses may be waived based on prospective student’s previous educational and professional background.

Courses	Credits
Core Courses	8
Business Communications (Professional Foreign  Language)	2
Organizational Behavior and Leadership Ethics	3
One out of 3 required elective courses
Quantitative Analysis	3
Data Analytics	3
Foundation of Research in Finance	3
Elective Specialization Courses (any four elective courses and Internship)	15
Corporate Finance	3
Applied Risk Management	3
Advanced Financial Statement Analysis	3
Current Issues in Finance	3
Corporate Governance and Sustainability	3
Fixed Income Securities	3
Alternative Investments	3
Portfolio Management and Behavioral Finance	3
M&A and Corporate Control	3
Fintech Foundation s and Applications	3
Financial Econometrics	3
Fundamental and Technical Analysis	3
Empirical Asset Pricing	3
Case Studies in Finance	3
Derivatives	3
Investment Management	3
Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability in Finance	3
Internship: Directed Project/ study in Finance	3
Research Work	6
Final Attestation	1
Total	30

Duration

The Master of Finance program runs on a cohort system and designed for completion in one year. It is advised to enter the program in the Fall semester. However, the admission in the Spring semester is also welcome.

The language of instruction is English, courses are conducted in the evening time. The duration of the program is 2 semesters and the program can be completed in 12 months.

Program duration: 1 year (depending on academic background and course load taken per semester)

Language of instruction: English

Form of study: full-time (classes take place primarily at evening time)

Number of credits: 30

 

FIN5101 Quantitative Analysis

Prerequisites: none

This course introduces the basic concepts of study design, data collection, data analysis and statistical inference. Topics include an overview of observational and experimental study designs; graphical and numerical descriptive statistics; probability distributions for simple experiments and for random variables; sampling distributions, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing for the mean and proportion in the case of one sample. The emphasis is on developing statistical reasoning skills and concepts. The objective of the course is not just to create a better understanding of statistics but to have a business perspective on the use of the statistical analysis technique as well. Students will be often asked to interpret given data analysis results from a business perspective and to consider further business implications in the analysis.

MGT5100 Business Communication (2 Credits) 

Prerequisites: none

The course focuses on business communication skills in organizations; particularly writing concise and error-free business documents, interpersonal communication, small-group communication, and presentational speaking in a business context. These skills are almost universally identified as values critical to success in management.  Issues considered include coherence, clarity, style, tone, empathy, and other basic elements in communication success. The course also develops understanding of communication theories, describes strategies for planning managerial communications and looks at how new technologies are changing the way people in business communicate, and the implications those changes have for organizations.

MGT5201 Organizational Behavior and Leadership Ethics (3 Credits) 

Prerequisites: none

The way people interact and are led in organizations affects the quality of work life and the overall effectiveness of organizations, including the ethical culture that develops within organizations.  The material in this course exposes students to some of the main themes associated with managing and ethically leading people, such as attitude, personality, values (including trust), ethical dilemmas, organization culture, human relations psychology, and the role of group behavior in organizations.  This core course also includes issues associated with motivation and job satisfaction, power (abuse) and empowerment, organizational politics and corruption, teamwork, organization change, interpersonal/organizational communication, and the critical role that leadership plays in organization success in today’s global business world.

FIN5101 Foundation of Research in Finance

Prerequisites: none

The objective of the course is to introduce methods of empirical research applied in finance. The primary emphasis of the course will be on developing skills for conducting research and comprehending research output in an applied and professional context. It covers basic aspects of the logic of scientific inquiry, the main techniques and methods of research. The content of the course covers, but not limited to, the following topics: development of the research idea; setting up a hypothesis or hypotheses; understanding of peculiarities of data collection; application of different tools of quantitative and qualitative data analysis; and interpretation of the findings.

FIN5202 Advanced Corporate Finance (3 Credits) 

Prerequisites: FIN5101

The course examines in details investment and financing decisions, and their interrelatedness. The overall goal is to obtain a comprehensive and in-depth perspective of the area of Financial Management. Major topics include financial analysis and planning, valuation, capital budgeting, capital structure, dividend policy, working capital management, mergers and acquisition, hybrid financing, bankruptcy, multinational financial management, and risk management. Special emphasis is given on integration of the concepts of financial management into a total systems approach to business decision-making.

FIN5110 Financial Econometrics (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

Financial econometrics is the intersection of statistical techniques and finance. It provides a set of empirical tools to analyze historical financial data, model underlying economic mechanisms, and predict future price trends. This course covers both cross-sectional and time-series data. Multivariate regression analysis is developed to study the cross-sectional differences in stock returns of individual firms and associated portfolio models. Applications of these techniques to evaluate the performance of new trading strategies and hedge fund managers are also discussed. Furthermore, time-series models are introduced to model and forecast both time-varying aggregate stock returns and volatility. The course prepares students to conduct empirical research in an academic or business setting.

FIN5108 Corporate Governance and Sustainability (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

This course provides students with theoretical and practical knowledge of business ethics, corporate governance and sustainable business, and explores their impact on multinational companies, specially focused on the role of shareholders activism on environmental, executive compensation and social issues. This course explores theory and practice of corporate governance (agency theory, transaction cost theory, stakeholder theory, resource dependency theory), including topics such as structure and functioning of the board of directors, shareholder activism and executive compensation. Corporate governance, the all-encompassing mechanism that imparts integrity, ethics, transparency, accountability, and culture, will ultimately steer an organization towards achieving long-term success and longevity. Robust governance arrangements include establishing a clear organizational structure, well-defined lines of responsibility, effective risk management processes, control mechanisms, and remuneration policies. The past few decades have proven that, in practice, these arrangements have fallen short of ethical business standards and have incentivised short-term thinking.

Multiple corporate actions and publications prove that there is a significant movement towards aligning the interests of the company with the interests of society. This shift has encouraged organizations to focus on a longer time horizon that will account for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) related risks and opportunities.

FIN5116 Fundamental and Technical Analysis (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101
In this course, you will learn what fundamental analysis, adopted by most investors for long term investing, is and how to determine the valuation of a company or stock by analyzing different measures using ratios and statistics, industry analysis and examining the company’s financial statements. The course will start by going through the valuation measures, then the financial highlights, and lastly the trading information for a given company. You will also learn that, in contrast, technical analysis assumes that a company’s fundamentals are already all priced into the stock (and any other trading instrument) removing the need to actually consider these factors separately. Technical analysis introduces the traders’ psychology factor into market volatility which makes prices move in trends and repeat itself with certain periodicity. Historical data, mainly price and volume, are predicted through using charts, price patterns, technical indicators, etc. This type of analysis is more actively used in commodities and currency markets where traders focus on short-term price movements. You will see that switching between fundamental and technical analysis is crucial and complementary as long-term planning in pair with “here and now” living.

FIN5102 Applied risk management (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

This subject focuses on the application of risk management within organizations. It examines the various tools, techniques and processes for managing financial risks including ‘market risk and credit risk’, and operational risk. The common types of market risk evaluated in this subject include interest rates risk, spot risk, forward risk, options risk, and liquidity risk. It also examines the range of credit products and derivatives used in managing credit exposures as well as the issues that arise in assessing, managing and monitoring operational risk.

Students perform calculations and review real-world as well as fictitious case studies based on mock institutions to apply their learning in this subject. Additionally, they will be involved in an empirical project, where they will investigate the factors of any types of risk that they will choose. At

FIN5118 Empirical Asset Pricing (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

This course develops, examines, and applies models for portfolio decisions by investors and the pricing of securities in capital markets. While developing portfolio theory, we will study the extensive empirical work that characterizes movements in security prices, evaluates alternative investment and asset pricing models, and attempts to test those models and interpret the implications of those tests. This is a research-oriented course with practical implementation of quantitative methods in finance, aimed at highly motivated and technically proficient students.

This course is designed for students who want a more detailed and up-to-date treatment of academic asset pricing theory and empirical work and its application to the practice of quantitative finance. The course is especially appropriate for students contemplating analytical finance and quantitative money management and provides many tools and concepts that are essential for a career in quantitative investments. The material is covered in a rigorous analytical manner, and students must be comfortable with some technical methodologies (i.e., calculus, linear and matrix algebra, and statistical theory). The course is meant to be challenging, but accessible.

A good fundamental background in economics and especially statistics is required. The course is highly quantitative because the field is, and so relies heavily on analytical tools and economic theory developed throughout the course. Students should be comfortable with probability, statistics, and regression analysis. Students should also feel comfortable with the concepts of risk aversion, utility functions, and budget constraints. Use of a statistical package or programming language will be vital for the course, saving time and aiding in understanding the material. Many of the applications will move beyond simple spreadsheet packages such as Excel. A good statistical programming language such as Matlab, SAS, Stata, Python is even more useful.

FIN5114 Fintech Foundations and Applications (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

In this course, you’ll learn the fundamentals of modern investment strategies that involve Fintech. This course introduces the nuanced functions behind payment methods and financial regulations, Robo-advising, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, cryptocurrency, blockchain, and beyond. Furthermore, this course will introduce students to the fundamental building blocks of financial technologies and real-world applications through case studies.

FIN5112 M&A and Corporate Control (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

The course aims at providing students with the knowledge and skills to successfully initiate, analyze, evaluate and implement M&A transactions. The course will explore the development and execution of transactions including business acquisitions, takeovers, divestments, and initial public offerings. In addition, students will consider corporate and business strategies that motivate M&A transactions and the motivations of financial buyers such as private equity participants in M&A markets. Students will learn to assess targets and value target businesses by applying corporate finance tools and knowledge within the context of evaluating, developing and executing M&A transactions. The course emphasizes the practical applications of skills and knowledge through a combination of case studies, group activities and online discussions.

FIN5106 Current Issues in Finance (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

The course focuses on contemporary issues in the area of finance.  The course gives better understanding of finance and helps students to be ready to build their career in finance successfully. Introduction to modern financial tools which may include: entrepreneurial finance, investment management, financial institutions, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and investment banking. Some of the sub-topics will include: blockchain and bitcoin, equity crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending, robo-dash advisors, big data in finance and early-stage financing. This course aims to identify the financial resilience of companies, how to diagnose them, and the management of working capital and its financing policies. The relationship between cash, accounts receivable, inventory, the company’s financial solidity, the concept of merger and acquisition in companies and the justifications and results of each of them, the factors of failure in those cases and the concepts of securitization. Bank capital adequacy analysis in accordance with the decisions of the first, second and third Basel Committee agreements. Theories of corporate governance and agency theory and its problems.

FIN5119 Fixed Income Securities (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

This course introduces students to one of the largest segments of global financial markets – fixed-income investments. It will start with description of characteristics and types of fixed income securities, and continue with valuation of these financial instruments, risk and return for fixed-income and credit analysis.

FIN 5104 Advanced Financial Statements Analysis (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

The course objective is to teach students to accurately read and analyze financial statements of various companies in a variety of industries. It examines the uses and misuses of financial statement data for a wide range of financing decisions. The course analyzes various reporting options that affect income, assets, cash flow forecasts, financial ratios, and trends; distinguishes between accounting rules and underlying economic realities; and examines approaches that analysts can take when external reports do not reflect a firm’s underlying economics.

FIN 5141 Portfolio Management and Behavioral Finance (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

The course examines the foundations of modern portfolio theory, asset pricing models, the trading of securities and a framework for investment analysis of various financial instruments. The modern portfolio theory and asset valuation based on the capital asset pricing model, arbitrage pricing theory and portfolio planning and construction are introduced and discussed. Also, the course offers a look at the financial industry and practice within the context of behavioral theory in order to understand the psychological aspect and reactions of individuals to financial markets and economic conditions. Decades of academic research on how human behavior and psychology affect financial decisions (and thus markets) is impacting the investment profession. Students will have an opportunity to learn how this new approach either supports or refutes the conventional wisdom.

FIN5127 Alternative Investments (3 Credits)

Prerequisites: FIN5101

This course introduces alternative investments and their relation to traditional investments. This course provides students the definition and classification of alternative investments, their categories, valuation, risks and opportunities.

FIN5260 Selected Topics in Finance (3 Credits) 

Prerequisites: FIN5101

The course involves study and research on contemporary issues in the area of finance at an advanced level. Topics vary according to the interests of the student and instructor. These topics may be from areas of Corporate Governance, Mergers and Acquisition, Small Business Finance and Development, Oil and Gas Project Evaluation and Management, Financial Market Structure, or from other areas of Finance.

FIN5170.3 Internship: Directed Projects/study in Finance (3 credits)
Prerequisites: none
Directed projects offer students an opportunity to develop and demonstrate in-depth knowledge of a topical area in management with critical inquiry, clear expression, and independent judgment in an extended analysis of a subject that will be explored in more details in students’ thesis research work. The project will be dependent upon the professor’s area of expertise and student interest. Readings will be in areas not fully covered in other courses and it is anticipated that they will deal with subjects at the leading edge of current management thought.  As a part of the course, students are expected to undertake a supervised field experience that takes place off campus. Directed projects are internship courses in which the professor will direct non-classroom independent study by students. The responsible faculty will meet regularly with students to assess their progress. It is anticipated that publishable research may be output of these courses, fitting directly with the overall course requirements for curriculum research papers.

OR

Internship gives Master students the opportunity to put into practice the knowledge acquired during their studies, get some business experience and be better prepared for their future career. Credit Internship Program can be taken after completion of 24 credit hours in the MBA program.  The minimum internship period is 160 hours of job experience of managerial nature. After completion of internship, students submit an Internship Report and other required documents. Students will be assigned a faculty supervisor who will monitor internship and evaluate the Internship Report. Internship should be in the field of chosen specialization. Students have to attend at least 3 Preparatory Internship Training Sessions prior to becoming an intern. For details on Credit Internship Program, students are advised to seek information from BCB Career Services Center and/or the Director of the MBA program.

FIN5150 Master Thesis (2 Credits) 

Prerequisites: none

Master thesis is a practical research work, involving the analysis of a specific problem in the area of major, evaluation of the results of the analysis, which serves as a basis for developing specific proposals and implementing the appropriate solution to the problem.

The Master of Finance program has been specially designed for those preparing for careers in investments banking, corporate finance or financial services, or aiming for finance positions within Kazakhstani or international companies at a management, control or decision-making level. Master of Finance graduates will be able to make significant contributions to the community in which they work, whether in business or in the public sector.