Course Descriptions
BUSI 6007 Innovation Management
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Managing innovation is at the core of most successful business ventures. Successfully managing innovation depends on its alignment with the firm’s business, marketing and operational strategies. This course leads students through the process of identifying innovation opportunities; managing the innovation process and executing entrepreneurial marketing strategies to successfully manage emerging ventures.
FORMAT:
BUSI 6009 Business and Government
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The aim of this course is to explore the relationship between businesses and the public sector. Government impinges on business policy and activities through laws, regulations, subsidies, taxes, and its spending powers. How businesses can and do influence decisions in these areas constitutes the technical matter of the course. As a matter of necessity, the course assumes some prior general knowledge of the Canadian political system. This can be gained from either general politics courses or by some preliminary reading on the subject.
FORMAT:
CROSS-LISTING:
PUAD 6500.03
BUSI 6019 Managing Business Government Relations
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Public policy can impact the business climate and operating context for specific firms. This course prepares future industry leaders to work, with government and civil society, through the study of business regulation. Participants will explore how to structure and manage business-government relations within administrative law, public consultation and lobbying processes.
FORMAT: Lecture
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 6900.03
BUSI 6044 Industrial Sustainability; Patterns for Sustainable Industrial Development
CREDIT HOURS: 3
It is becoming increasingly obvious that human economies depend on the products and services provided by healthy, functioning ecological systems. By studying the flow of materials and energy through industrial systems, industrial ecology identifies economic ways to lessen negative environmental impacts - through pollution prevention, innovative waste management strategies, improved energy efficiency, design for the environment, and promoting sustainability - within the carrying capacity of the surrounding ecosystems. The course will also include the social dimensions relating to industrial ecology by focusing on the organizational management dimensions that are related to the reduction of industrial emissions, waste flows, energy use and usage of materials within in-company procedures and beyond the level of single organizations. The format will include lectures, seminars, discussion and guest speakers.
FORMAT: Seminar
CROSS-LISTING:
ENVI 5044.03
BUSI 6050 Corporate Governance
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Corporate Governance is designed to give students an in-depth look at the corporate governance triad, as indicated above, that controls the modern corporation. Accordingly, this course will deal with the control, composition, functions, roles, and structure of boards; board responsibility and accountability, CIO tenure and compensation, shareholder and other stakeholder representation; corporate boards vis-à-vis social responsibility and ethics; and comparative corporate governance across North America, Europe, and selected Asian countries.
FORMAT: Lecture
FORMAT COMMENTS: group work and class participation
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 5201.03,
BUSI 6000.03 and
BUSI 7000.03
BUSI 6101 External Auditing
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course covers the theory and practice of public auditing according to generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS). The first half of the course considers the forces impacting on the setting of auditing standards and the current level of standards. This part includes pronouncements of the accounting profession, reporting standards, professional ethics, statute laws, legal liability and responsibilities, standards for examination of internal control in both manual and computerized environments, standards for quality of evidence, statistical sampling and the sufficiency of evidence, documentation and working papers. The second half of the course considers typical audit programs for examination of balance sheet and income statement accounts.
FORMAT: Lecture
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 5103.03
EXCLUSIONS:
COMM 3114.03
BUSI 6102 Taxation
CREDIT HOURS: 3
An introduction to the taxation system in Canada, with special reference to the provisions of the Income Tax Act and their effects on business decisions. The measurement process used to determine the tax base are examined, and the basic elements in the calculation of tax payable for individuals and corporations are discussed.
FORMAT: Lecture
FORMAT COMMENTS: with significant effort directed to the solving of short case problems
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 5103.03
EXCLUSIONS: COMM 4120.03
BUSI 6104 Income Tax Design
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This is an elective MBA course intended to provide a foundation in income tax frameworks. It should be of great interest to all MBA students for four main reasons. First, almost all business transactions are informed by, if not motivated and explained by, their tax consequences. (This is also the case for much human behaviour.) Second, tax is pervasive. Studying the income tax consequences of transactions such as sale and leasebacks, weak currency loans, commodity straddles, financial derivatives and corporate mergers is a good way to learn about those transactions themselves. Third, income tax frameworks are intellectually fascinating. At its most elemental level, tax involves taking one simple idea — the idea that everyone should pay tax on their income — and then applying that idea to the full panoramic variety of economic and property relations and transactions that characterize our modern, complex society. To determine each individual’s income, the infinite variety of human activity must be classified under this single rubric. Do individuals earn taxable income in the following situations: When they receive an interest-free loan from their parents? When they are awarded a scholarship? When they benefit from the use of the heavily subsidized recreational facilities at university?
This course is for any student who has an interest in understanding more about the world. It will be relevant whether you work with or for small or large businesses, non-profit or charitable organizations, or whether you are simply interested in how tax frameworks apply to you personally. The course does not have a fixed disciplinary focus: it is not a course in tax accounting, tax economics or tax law. Instead, the course offers an overview about how income tax frameworks are developed by policy makers in countries around the world. Students will not leave the course with a detailed understanding of Canada’s income tax law or accounting principles – there are other courses at Dalhousie that can assist with those. Instead, you will leave this course with the ability to identify the core components of all tax law frameworks alongside the major policy decisions that country’s make in choosing how to resolve thorny questions like whether or not to allow loss consolidation, how to tax in-kind benefits received by employees, and the appropriate timing for deductions.
FORMAT: Discussion
PREREQUISITES: Core MBA courses or permission of the instructor
BUSI 6106 Cost Management
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The major objective of this course is to develop a deeper understanding of the key topics in cost/managerial accounting practices and their management control implications. The selected topics to be covered include costing systems, cost-volume-profit analysis, cost and profit variance analysis, control and performance evaluation in decentralized organizations. This course is intended primarily for students who plan to concentrate their studies in the accounting area.
FORMAT:
FORMAT COMMENTS: Case discussions
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 5103.03
BUSI 6108 Advanced Financial Accounting I
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course is intended to provide an understanding of corporate financial reporting model and related conceptual issues. The course will develop expertise in accounting and reporting issues related to liabilities and shareholders' equity, including complex debt and equity instruments, corporate income taxes, leases, pensions and other post-retirement obligations, earnings per share, accounting changes and restatements.
FORMAT: Lecture
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 5103.03
EXCLUSIONS:
COMM 3111.03
BUSI 6109 Advanced Financial Accounting II
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course provides an in-depth study of the interrelated topics of intercorporate investments, business combinations, consolidated financial statements and foreign currency transactions and foreign operations. The course also covers segmented reporting and bankruptcy.
FORMAT: Lecture
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 6108.03
CROSS-LISTING:
COMM 4102.03
BUSI 6110 Advanced Financial Accounting III
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course provides a theoretical framework for the study of accounting policy. Case analysis is an integral part of the course. Topics covered include accounting policy choice in a dynamic framework, partnerships, standard setting, not-for-profit accounting and fund accounting. As well the course may consider various practical and theoretical topics, and current topics as appropriate.
FORMAT: Lecture
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 6108.03
CROSS-LISTING:
COMM 4101.03
BUSI 6207 Advanced Corporate Finance
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This is an advanced course that offers a variety of applied topics in corporate finance. The emphasis will be on implementing the tools and techniques of the finance theory and as such will have a strong applied or case-based component.
FORMAT: Other (explain in comments)
FORMAT COMMENTS: For MBA(FS/L) - Blended/online (14-17 weeks), in classroom portion 4.5 days
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 5103.03 (MBA FS) or
BUSI 5103.03 and
BUSI 5201.03 (Corporate Residency)
BUSI 6215 Foundations of Fintech
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The financial services landscape has been strongly impacted by emerging technologies and financial innovation stemming from disruptors on the fringe of the industry and incumbents' urge to respond to these developments. Defined as organizations combining innovative business models and technology to enable, enhance and disrupt financial services (EY, 2017), FinTech (or financial technology) has the potential to profoundly change the way banks conduct their business. Once regarded as a threat, the financial technology industry nowadays attracts investments from almost every global bank, lured by the promise of significant cost savings and efficiency gains.
This course exposes students to the rapidly evolving FinTech landscape. After a high-level overview of the traditional financial system to ensure the class is familiar with the basic financial industry structure, we will proceed into looking at how this industry is disrupted by new technologies. We examine the main changes happening in the financial industry and the factors driving the unprecedented growth in the use of technology; what FinTech is, the main trends related to Fintech, the components of the FinTech ecosystem, and the emerging Fintech innovations. The first wave of Fintech led to the unbundling of banking, i.e., fintech startups have challenged banks vertically on one of their core functions by providing better and cheaper options. This part will focus on Fintech companies competing with incumbents in the personal finance, payments, lending, capital markets, wealth management, insurance, and money transfer sectors. The next generation of Fintechs that are moving beyond their initial mono-product and into rebundling will also be examined. We will also discuss the threat to the sector posed by the Big Tech companies that are moving into financial services. A distinctive component of the course will be regularly focused on aspects around the launching of a Fintech start-up.
FORMAT: Lecture
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 5201
BUSI 6220 Risk and Derivatives
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course is an introduction to risk, enterprise management and derivatives. As a survey course in risk and derivatives, the goal is to cover the central concepts and issues that will permit the student to start using the concepts and products as well as have a working understanding of the main advantages and disadvantages of each. The goal of the course is not solely on the quantitative models themselves, but also on the qualitative issues. Nevertheless, risk management and derivatives is a quantitative subject, and as such, students be comfortable with basic statistics and algebra. Knowledge of calculus is not required for this course. Additionally, students should be comfortable with basic Excel mathematical and financial functions.
FORMAT:
FORMAT COMMENTS: Assignments
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 5201.03
BUSI 6230 Investment and Money Management
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course is designed to introduce students to the basics of the Modern Investment and Portfolio Theory and its application to Money management. The intention is to provide students with the needed technical and operational skills to successfully face the challenging world of investments and money management. In particular, a considerable effort will be made to compare and contrast investment approaches in various theories with the activities of money managers on the street.
FORMAT:
- Lecture
- Seminar
- Discussion
- Other (explain in comments)
FORMAT COMMENTS: For MBA(FS/L): Blended/on-line portion (14 weeks online), in-classroom portion 3.5 days
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 6207.03
BUSI 6240 Analyzing Financial Statements
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course is intended to provide an analytical understanding of the usefulness of conventionally reported financial data in investment and credit decision-making. It covers major financial reporting issues within the context of predicting future earnings and the role of financial institutions in capital markets.
FORMAT COMMENTS: On-line
BUSI 6255 Global Markets and Institutions
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Global Markets and Institutions is an introduction to the world of global finance. It has been designed to give a theoretical background to topics such as financial institutions and current markets and to explain how these impact the world economy. Throughout the course, application to real-life examples will be used extensively.
FORMAT:
- Lecture
- Seminar
- Discussion
- Other (explain in comments)
FORMAT COMMENTS: Distance/online portion (14 weeks), in-classroom portion 3.5 days
PREREQUISITES:
BUSI 5103.03 or
BUSI 6207.03
BUSI 6300 Risk Management for Financial Institutions
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Risk Management for Financial Institutions is a comprehensive introduction to the tools and techniques of enterprise risk management in financial institutions. The course covers basic and advanced risk concepts dealing with the management and operations of financial institutions and the development of financial products.
FORMAT COMMENTS: Distance/on-line portion (14-17 weeks), in-classroom portion 3.5 days
BUSI 6313 Organizational Change
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course provides the student with an understanding of major conceptual approaches to the changing organization, including changing people, technology, and structure. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of the dynamics and process of change through case studies, and the exploration of programs of organizational change, including grid and laboratory programs, and the use of consultation.
FORMAT: