Minimum curriculum requirements for Magister Programmes
in FINANCE AND BANKING

1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Magister programmes in Finance and Banking last at least 9 semesters. The minimum curriculum requirements cover a total of 1365 hours. The total course load for magister programmes in this field of study is ca. 3000 hours. Courses are not prescribed in terms of their form or sequence.

2. PROFILE OF THE GRADUATE

Graduates are equipped with theoretical knowledge and practical skills required for the management of finances in enterprises and financial institutions.

3. COURSE GROUPS AND COURSE LOAD

GENERAL COURSES	300 hours
BASIC COURSES	675 hours
MAJOR COURSES	390 hours
Total:	1365 hours

4. COURSES BY GROUP

GENERAL COURSES	300 hours
Foreign Languages	120
Fundamentals of Philosophy or Fundamentals of Sociology (to be chosen by the student)	60
Economic History or Economic Geography (to be chosen by the student)	30
Physical Education	90
BASIC COURSES	675 hours
Microeconomics	90
Macroeconomics	90
Mathematical Economics	30
Mathematics	60
Statistics	75
Econometrics	90
Computer Science	60
Accounting	60
Fundamentals of Management	60
Law	60
MAJOR COURSES	390 hours
Fundamentals of Finance	30
Public Finance	45
Corporate Finance Management	60
Local Government Finance	30
International Finance	45
Banking	45
Capital and Money Market	30
Insurance	30
Forecasts and Simulations	45
Applications of Mathematics to Finance and Banking	30

5. CURRICULUM CONTENTS (BASIC COURSES: GROUP B, AND MAJOR COURSES: GROUP C)

2. BASIC COURSES

MICROECONOMICS

90

Market. Household. Theory of consumer behaviour. Theory of production. Perfect competition and monopoly. Equilibrium of the enterprise. Oligopoly. Alternative theories of the firm. Markets of production factors. Competitive equilibrium and elements of the theory of welfare.

MACROECONOMICS

90

National economy. Global demand and supply. Macroeconomic equilibrium. National output, national income. State budget, deficit and public debt. Money and the banking system. Money market. Keynesian macroeconomics and classical macroeconomics. Business cycle. Inflation, unemployment. Open economy. External equilibrium. Budgetary, monetary, and exchange rate policies. Stabilisation policy and the IS-LM model. Economic growth.

MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS

30

Mathematical theory of demand. Function of demand. Theory of production. Mathematical models of the enterprise. Models of market. Models of general equilibrium. General equilibrium and the Pareto-optimal. Simple models of economic growth. Models of the business cycle. Input-output models.

MATHEMATICS

60

Functions of one, two or several variables and their applications to economics (marginal calculus, extremes). Elements of integral calculus. Introduction to differential and difference equations, and their applications to economics. Vector and matrix calculus. Systems of linear equations and inequalities - examples from economics.

STATISTICS

75

Statistical data and basic statistical standards. Random variable, basic distributions of random variables. Sample distributions. Confidence intervals. Testing statistical hypotheses. Statistical measure of correlation. Analysis of dynamics. Random sampling techniques. Designing statistical experiments.

ECONOMETRICS

90

Descriptive econometric models. Estimators, point and interval estimate. Regression. Forecasting on the basis of single- and multi-equation models. Econometric analysis of demand, production and costs. Basic principles of operations research: linear programmes, typical optimisation problems, algorithms for problem-solving, and decision making under conditions of risk and uncertainty.

COMPUTER SCIENCE

60

Basic concepts. Computer equipment. Software (basic software, tools, and applications). Operating systems. Word processing programmes. Spreadsheets. Using statistical packages. Developing and using data bases.

ACCOUNTING

60

Legal regulations and international standards in accounting. Accounting principles and techniques. Business operations and their impact on the balance-sheet. Balancing assets, liabilities and equity. Asset valuation. Profit-and-loss account. Cash flow account. Analysis of economic efficiency and financial standing of the enterprise.

FUNDAMENTALS OF MANAGEMENT

60

Organisation - aims and measures of effectiveness. Strategies of organisational management. Strategic planning. Organisational structures. Organisational procedures. Human resources management. Human resources policy. Management styles. Organisational culture. Reorganisation. Change management.

LAW

60

Business entities and institutions. Legal structure of the economy. Legal conditions for pursuing economic activity. Role and types of business agreements. Commercial law company. Commercial activities (sale, agency, consignment, storage, shipping). Law on bills of exchange and cheques. Protection of industrial property.

3. BASIC COURSES

FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCE

30

Essence of finance. Functions of finance. Concept of the financial system. Main elements of the financial system. Monetary and fiscal policy.

PUBLIC FINANCE

45

Public finance and their functions. Financial system of the State. Distribution of public funds. Public debt. State budget. Local government budgets. Structure of budget revenues. Structure of budget expenditure. Budget planning. State Treasury.

CORPORATE FINANCE MANAGEMENT

60

Capital and funds of business entities. Financial analysis and cost analysis. Mechanisms and instruments for creation and division of the financial market. Principles and forms of business taxation. Depreciation systems. Planning and financing utilisation and investment activities. Linking companies with monetary and capital markets. Cash settlement systems. Foreign trade financing. Financial aspects of privatisation.

LOCAL GOVERNMET FINANCE

30

Local government. Financial powers of local government agencies. Local government revenues from taxes and payments. Other revenues. Local government expenditure. Financial links between local and central government. Control of local finance management.

INTERNATIONAL FINANCE

45

Foreign exchange markets and transactions. Exchange rate systems in the world. Protection against exchange rate risk. Balance of payments. Methods of international payments. International institutions and international financial organisations. Largest international financial centres. Foreign credits. World terminal markets. Export promotion systems.

BANKING

45

Functions of the bank, and its position in the State financial system. Banking systems in selected countries of the world. Structure of the Polish banking system. Money supply. Policy and instruments of the central bank. Organisational of the commercial bank. Banks’ passive operations: receiving deposits. Banks’ active operations: granting credits. Credit standing. Bank services. Banking policy. Bank marketing.

CAPITAL AND MONEY MARKET

30

Capital market institutions. Capital market instruments and their attributes. Financial risk on the capital market. Capital investments and return on capital investments. Fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for the development of capital and money markets. Demand for and supply of loan capital. Securities. Discount rate. Principles of public dealings in securities. Transactions on the money market.

INSURANCE

30

Social insurance in Poland. Business insurance. Structure of property insurance. Organisation and results of insurance activities. Contractual personal insurance in Poland. Personal insurance systems in the world. Supervision and guarantees in insurance.

FORECASTS AND SIMULATIONS

45

Tools, methods and techniques for computer-aided building of simple forecasts, variant-based forecasts, forecasts based on growth tendency models, cause-and-effect models, multiple equation models, and multi-equation econometric and non-econometric models. During the course, students are acquainted with at least one computer software package which they may use to carry out quantitative analysis of selected economic phenomena and to draw up forecasts on its basis.

APPLICATIONS OF MATHEMATICS TO FINANCE AND BANKING

30

Value of money in time. Pension calculations. Credit and loan settlement. Duration of financial instruments. Valuation of financial instruments. Portfolio analysis. Constructing a portfolio with pre-defined properties (return or risk). Constructing portfolios on the basis of quotations on the Polish capital market. Elements of actuarial calculations. Calculation of insurance premiums.