2024/2025

Minor in Accounting and Finance

Description

The Minor Concept

A minor gives you the opportunity of having a second specialization in your degree. This minor is a bundle of three courses that cannot be chosen separately.

Prerequisites

In order to sign up for the minor, students must have prerequisite skills in Accounting and Finance. A minimum of 5 ECTS in Accounting and a minimum of 5 ECTS in Corporate Finance - both at bachelor level – is required.

The minor is closed for students studying Cand.Merc. in one of the following concentrations: GMA, ASC, FSM, FIN, AEF, IMM and FIR.

Purpose

The aim of this minor is to equip students with key business economics competences. It provides an opportunity to enhance competences in managerial accounting, financial statement analysis as well as in corporate finance. The minor will allow you to develop competences in analyzing and applying financial models to the business situations that your main field normally leads you to. This will be helpful in almost all decisions, as the economic consequences often are a central part of the decision background.  In unison the three courses will give you the competences to analyze other companies’ situation, communicate your own, back up your internal proposals with the relevant financial analyses and understand the economic infrastructure of your organization. The minor is aimed for the Cand. Merc. educations, where these subjects are not part of the compulsory courses.

Why would accounting and finance be of interest to you if it is not the main focus of your study program? The minor offers a financial approach to your own study subject, be it related to business & management, human resources, logistics, or marketing. It provides you with a sound economic foundation of business decisions helpful for most future jobs in the business environment. For example, knowledge in accounting and finance will be useful for your studies in …

  • … business & management. If you are educated to combine various perspectives across business divisions, macroeconomic, political, and cultural differences, and strategical choices within a world of continuous change, then finance and accounting are two key business areas in each firm and face ongoing changes from markets and regulation. Further, in a globalized world, understanding international and country-specific differences are key to a successful management. For example, financial reporting offers to the management a way to communicate with their stakeholders. A thorough analysis of the provided statements is thus the first step in understanding a firm’s profitability, growth and risks.  From an internal perspective, knowledge about accounting and finance will help you for example to write convincing business proposals for innovations and future developments.
  • People and Business Development. Your education covers many theoretical and practical topics around employees being the key resource to every business. Accounting and finance might enhance your skills related to in-depth knowledge about agency conflicts, incentive systems, or bonus schemes. These topics are not only related to human resources but are also at the core of Management Accounting. This minor could thus support you in strengthening your economic foundations in a human resource decision context.
  • Supply Chain Management. Your education focusses on designing, managing, and controlling global supply chains. Efficient and strategic decision-making plays a central role therein, but it is also a key element of corporate finance and accounting. The minor can provide you with management tools enriching your context specific education. It further allows you to understand two key areas along the supply chain. This minor enables you to apply an integrated view on supply chain management, accounting, and finance when working in logistics.
  • … marketing. If you study marketing your education is centered around customer insights and understanding customers within global markets. Strategic choices are key in these processes. This minor can help you to measure the impact of marketing initiatives by adding a long-term investment perspective. Likewise, the understanding of customer profitability and costs to serve are central topics to enhance the company’s customer portfolio. Further, Financial Statement Analysis and Corporate Finance will provide you with various measures of financial performance and approaches to value a firm. For example, understanding and linking changes in valuation and financial performance to strategic marketing decisions can be of tremendous help to analyze the impact of marketing choices.

Structure

The below table lists the structure and the ECTS credits of the individual courses. The course descriptions are available in the online course catalogue. Direct links are inserted in the below table.

Course ECTS
Financial statement Analysis 7.5
Corporate Finance 7.5
Cost and Management Accounting 7.5

Examinations

The minor consists of the examinations listed below. The learning objectives and the regulations of the individual examinations are prescribed in the online course catalogue. Direct links to the individual examinations are inserted in the table below

Exam name Exam form Gradingscale Internal/external exam ECTS
Financial Statement Analysis Written sit-in exam on CBS' computers 7-point grading scale Internal exam 7.5
Corporate Finance Written sit-in exam on CBS' computers 7-point grading scale Internal exam 7.5
Cost and Management Accounting Oral exam 7-point grading scale Internal exam 7.5

Further information

Minor Coordination

Jytte Grambo Larsen, jgl.acc@cbs.dk Department of Accounting

Study Board

The minor in accounting and finance is offered by the study board for the MSc in Economics and Business Administration Programme/ Cand.Merc.

How to sign up

If you want to sign up for the minor in accounting and finance, you have to select CCMVM1930U Minor in Accounting and Finance when you sign up for electives. You will then subsequently be signed up for all three courses. You do not have to select all three courses individually.