Business Reporting

The aim of this course is to introduce students to business and financial reporting. Students are trained in reading balance sheets and income statements, understanding financial ratios, assessing the value of a firm, and the technique of constructing and interpreting basic indices like the Consumer Price Index. They are familiarised with developments in the corporate sector over the last decade and with alternative explanations of trends and variations in output and profit performance in different industrial sectors.
The course pays particular attention to the extent and implication of the rise of the new economy and the supposed decline of brick-and-mortar companies. It introduces students to the functioning of the stock market, equity and debt issues, bull and bear markets, stock market regulation, investor protection, and capital market reform. The relative roles of major stock market players like the Indian financial institutions and foreign institutional investors in shaping trends in the capital market are assessed.
Students learn to analyse issues raised by attempted or ongoing banking and insurance industry reform and discuss the problems of regulating a liberalised financial sector. Students also gain a basic understanding of the various international stock market indices like the Dow Jones Industrial, S&P 500, FTSE, Nikkei, and Hang Seng.