Valuation for Accountants

Understanding how accounting choices influence the transparency, interpretability, and overall quality of financial information lies at the heart of this course, Valuation for Accountants. This course builds on foundational accounting principles to help students read, analyze, and interpret financial statements effectively. It bridges technical knowledge with real-world applications, enabling students to make informed decisions about investments, resource allocation, and business valuation. The course is ideal for students pursuing degrees in accounting, finance, business management, or related fields, aiming to build a strong foundation in financial statement analysis and valuation.

Course Objectives:

• Understand the accounting principles behind financial reporting

• Understand the role and importance of financial statements in business decision-making
• Analyze and interpret financial statements, including the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows
• Learn to assess accounting and financial statements quality, and identify potential manipulation
• Forecast financial performance and apply valuation methods for public and private firms
• Explore strategic frameworks for evaluating business operations, including SWOT and competitive analysis
• Examine how ESG performance impacts valuation and decision-making

Language of instruction is English.

The course focuses on Financial Accounting, covering topics related to Advanced Financial Accounting, Accounting Theory, Annual Accounts, and Corporate Finance, but these are not the prerequisites for taking the course.

None.

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• understand the fundamental principles of financial accounting and their use in valuation
• apply valuation techniques to evaluate corporate performance and value creation.
• understand how ESG factors influence financial analysis and corporate valuation
• is able to implement the valuation of a company using techniques and tools covered during the course

Skills

The student will

• extract critical insights from financial statements
• analyze financial performance using key ratios like ROE, ROIC, and liquidity measures
• prepare forecasts and pro forma financial statements
• conduct valuations using multiple methods and critically assess the results
• integrate ESG factors and strategic analysis into financial analysis and valuation models

General competence

The student has

• completed case work as constructive members of a student group.

Learning approaches include lectures, in-class problem solving, class discussions, and group work.

The teaching takes place with in-person attendance on campus.

The following coursework requirements must have been approved for the student to take the final exam:

• Coursework 1: One written group assignment (groups of 2-3 students; maximum 10 pages).
• Coursework 2: Mandatory group oral presentation (groups of 2-3 students). The duration of the presentation shall be 20-30 minutes. Presentation topics will be discussed during lectures.

The aim of the coursework is to develop students’ ability to apply theoretical concepts and analytical tools from the course to practical and empirical problems. Through collaborative written and oral group work, students are expected to strengthen their skills in critical thinking, academic writing, structured argumentation, and professional presentation.

All required coursework must be completed and approved by the given deadline for the student to take the exam. If the coursework requirement has not been approved, the student will be given one opportunity to submit an improved version by a given deadline.

The exam in the course is a supervised written exam of 3 hours.

The following aids are permitted:

• Calculator (see regulations for the use of calculators in the program description)

Grade scale A - F

The exam papers are assessed by one internal and one external examiner.

At least 25% of the exam papers will be assessed by two examiners. The grades awarded for the papers assessed by two examiners form the basis for determining the level for all the exam papers.

Rudresh Pandey