Julia tHÄUSER, GERMANY
Hello everyone, my name is Julia, I’m 20 years old and a 2nd year International Business Administration student from Germany. At the moment I am busy with the 7th module of my study namely Supply Chain Management. During the FAIS module of the IBA study you get to know the financial dynamics within an organization and how to manage those, which is important to acquire an even more thorough understanding on how the processes within a firm work.
HOW DID YOU FIND THE third MODULE "fais"?
The module consists out of four courses namely Finance, Accounting, Information Systems and Statistics during which the knowledge of the financial domains of the business world is being taught. It was especially interesting to learn, how to make forecasts of cash flows or how to compare different project opportunities for firms based on the risk of these opportunities and expected returns of the project through the help of Information Systems. Through this it was possible to try out the practical aspects of this module for yourself and to get insights into the forecasting and planning methods of real firms.
Furthermore, the practical aspects became even more clear through the project of the module, where you and your project group choose a non-financial firm which interests you and then analyze the financial and business environment of that company and assess different investment options for that company yourself.
This project was an interesting way of applying the knowledge provided in the lectures with a real life example. However, this module was especially challenging to me, since I had no prior knowledge on finance or even Excel whatsoever, so it was difficult at first to get on the same skill level as my fellow students. Although this was facilitated through the lectures and the tutorials where it is also possible to ask questions about things you are unsure about.
DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS?
My tip is to not underestimate the challenges and the timing of this module. After the rather stressful time and number of exams of the second module BOM, it can be easy to lay back in the beginning of this module and leave things to the last minute. However, it is important to stay on top of the study content and the project to be able to really learn the financial mechanisms of the module.