Course details

Summary

Finance is a relatively new and rapidly growing discipline that examines the acquisition and allocation of financial resources. Where financial accounting measures past performance, Finance as a discipline is forward-focused. It is largely about future planning for firms or investors.

Finance consists of three interrelated subject areas:

• corporate finance studies how firms raise and efficiently utilise funds obtained from lenders and shareholders
• financial markets and institutions explores how the financial system facilitates the transfer of funds from savers and lenders to borrowers
• investment analysis studies how investors choose securities and asset classes for their investment portfolios.

All of these areas assess the trade-off between risk and reward and the valuation of both financial and capital assets.

‌The Certificate in Commerce (CertCom) is an option if you want to add commerce content alongside your non-commerce degree, or do not want to study the full Bachelor of Commerce degree.

The Finance programme prepares students for a variety of jobs in the financial sector and business community. Extra opportunities while studying this subject at UC include:

internships in a variety of organizations

participation in case competitions such as the CFA (Chartered Financial Analysts) Institute Research Challenge

preparation for the CFA exams. The Finance major at UC has been accepted into the CFA Certified Financial Institute University Recognition Program. This means our degree programme incorporates at least 70% of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK). This provides students with a solid grounding in the CBOK and positions them well to sit the CFA exams to obtain the CFA qualification. The CFA Program provides a strong foundation of advanced investment analysis and real-world portfolio management skills that will give you a career advantage

the option to obtain the PRM (Professional Risk Manager) qualification. Risk management skills are highly sought after, particularly since the global financial crisis.

Qualification structure and duration

The certificate is made up of four standard courses (a minimum of 60 points) from any course in the Bachelor of Commerce Schedule C.

The CertCom can be completed in up to four years.

Credit from your completed courses can be transferred to the Bachelor of Commerce (and some other degrees), as long as you have not graduated with the certificate beforehand.

Further study

The Certificate in Commerce is good preparation towards the full Bachelor of Commerce degree.

Recommended preparation

If you are intending to major in Finance you are strongly advised to include maths, statistics and modelling in your Year 13 programme. Although some previous study of accounting and economics can be useful preparation for the 100-level courses in these subjects, it is not essential to have studied them at secondary school.

Students with very good NCEA Level 3 results (or equivalent standard in another qualification framework) in mathematics and either economics or accounting may be offered direct entry to 200-level Finance courses at the discretion of the Head of Department.

Career opportunities

Today it would be rare for a person to rise to the position of chief financial officer (CFO) without a strong grounding in both Accounting and Finance. There are also many other career opportunities for Finance graduates, with typical jobs including: financial analyst, money market and foreign exchange dealer, loan analyst, equity analyst, risk analyst/manager, portfolio manager, financial planner, investment banker and small-business manager.

Entry criteria

Admission to UC with University Entrance, or equivalent, is required to enrol for a Certificate in Arts. Applicants must have completed New Zealand University Entrance through NCEA; or Cambridge International Examinations (CIE); or International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) or any other equivalent overseas qualification.

Other English language requirements: TOEFL PBT with a minimum score of 550 and TWE with a minimum score of 4.5; CCEL EAP Level 2 with a minimum C+ grade; CAE or CPE minimum score of 169 with at least 162 in reading, writing, listening and speaking; Pearson Test of English (Academic) - PTE with an overall score of 57 and no PTE communicative skills score below 50.