P4 – Advanced Financial Management

This syllabus develops upon the core financial management knowledge and skills covered in the F9, Financial Management, syllabus at the Fundamentals level and prepares candidates to advise management and/or clients on complex strategic financial management issues facing an organisation.   The syllabus starts by exploring the role and responsibility of a senior executive or advisor in meeting competing needs of stakeholders.   The syllabus then re-examines investment and financing decisions, with the emphasis moving towards the strategic consequences of making such decisions in a domestic, as well as international, context. Candidates are then expected to develop further advisory skills in planning strategic acquisitions and mergers and corporate re-organisations.   The next part of the syllabus covers the role of a treasury function in large complex corporate structures. It re-examines, in the broadest sense, the existence of risk in business and the sophisticated strategies which are employed in order to manage such risks. This is a build-up on what candidates would have covered in the F9, Financial Management, syllabus and the P1, Professional Accountant, syllabus.   The syllabus finishes by examining the impact of the economic environment on multinationals and the impact of emerging issues in finance.