Financial Spreadsheeting

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

From Semester 2, 2015, FNCE90045 has a quota of 160 (2 streams of 80). Entry will be determined on a first-in, first-served, basis.

Each student is to provide their own laptop or notebook computer, with Windows OS and MS Excel 2007 or later at every class.

Estimated total time commitment of 120 hours per semester

This subject is only available to:

• Students enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Finance and the Master of Finance;
• Students in the Master of Accounting who have completed FNCE90018 Corporate Financial Policy and FNCE90056 Investment Management;
• Students enrolled in the Master of Management who have completed FNCE90018 Corporate Financial Policy and FNCE90056 Investment Management.

None

None

None

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements for this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The following topics will be covered: Financial Applications using Excel: basic spreadsheeting skills, functions and the function wizard, worksheet formatting and graphics. Financial problem solving tools: Solver, Goalseek and the Analysis Toolpak. Data management tools, subtotalling, consolidation, sorting filtering and pivot tables. Programming principles with applications to finance: object orientated programming, variable and control structures, writing Excel financial functions and subroutines, and creating add-ins. Communicating with the user of financial applications through message boxes, input boxes and dialogue boxes.

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

• Use all the built-in features of Microsoft Excel;
• Explain the principles of object-orientated programming;
• Apply the principles of object-oriented programming to the development of Visual Basic for Applications programs;
• Integrate various programming structures and concepts to build complex programs;
• Evaluate strategies for finding and fixing computer programming errors;
• Design computer programs that implement solutions in an efficient and effective manner.

• 2-hour end-of-semester examination (50%)
• Two computer-based assignments of 2500 words each and each worth 25%, due in Weeks 10 and 12 (50%)

You will be advised of prescribed texts by your lecturer.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On successful completion of this subject, students should have improved the following generic skills:

• Oral communication
• Written communication
• Collaborative learning
• Problem solving
• Team work
• Statistical reasoning
• Application of theory to practice
• Interpretation & analysis
• Critical thinking
• Synthesis of data and other information
• Evaluation of data and other information
• Using computer software
• Accessing data and other information from a range of sources