A year-long core course with the aim of providing students with a critical understanding of what constitutes method within the different domains of Classical archaeology, ancient history, and prehistory, and the challenges and opportunities in working across these methods to produce new frameworks for researching the ancient Mediterranean. Students will examine ways in which historical and archaeological methods might be applied comparatively or diachronically across traditional chronological or geographical boundaries. Readings will be drawn from several core 'classic' texts on the ancient Mediterranean and specific case studies.

This fieldwork course stems from the unavoidably hands-on nature of the discipline — it is rare to find an archaeologist not involved in active fieldwork. Not only will this component of the specialization provide students with direct experience of some of the fundamental techniques of the discipline and how primary archaeological data is generated, it will also expose them to the diachronics of landscape, settlement, and material culture in the Mediterranean. It will consist of at least four weeks of excavation, survey, or a study season. Students will take part in projects run by core faculty from participating units, many of whom have active fieldwork projects in the region (e.g., Italy, Greece, Turkey, Jordan, and Israel). Students will be placed on one of these projects, typically in the summer following their first year of coursework. No prior fieldwork experience is expected or required — the necessary skills will be taught as part of the fieldwork. Students will be required to demonstrate participation and submit a fieldwork daybook to the Specialization committee for assessment and feedback.

This course provides students with a deeper understanding of the complex financial reporting issues in today’s multifaceted and ever-changing environment. It provides opportunities to integrate the technical and practical knowledge obtained in undergraduate courses, apply this knowledge using case simulations and explore current research in financial reporting. Students will further develop their appreciation of how issues in all areas of business impact financial reporting and decision-making. The course builds on the strong knowledge and foundation acquired from the undergraduate studies of financial accounting topics with a specific focus on developing the ability to interpret and critically evaluate generally accepted accounting principles related to financial reporting topics. Students will also develop professional skills including professional and ethical behaviour, problem-solving and decision-making, communication, self-management, teamwork and leadership.

This course examines the increasing importance of management accounting in an organization and its contributions to the strategic management process and explores current research in the areas of strategy, ethics and governance, sustainability and accountability. Many stakeholders expect organizations to adopt strategies and engage in behaviours that are sustainable for the long-run and contribute to the long-run sustainability of the society. This course engages four interrelated concepts: strategy, ethics and governance, sustainability and accountability. The course also deals with the integrative and interdisciplinary role of management accountants and their ability to use both qualitative and quantitative information in the planning, controlling and decision-making processes. The performance assessment and cost containment systems within an organization will also be reviewed. The course focuses on critical thinking skills and applying knowledge to situations encountered in professional practice through the use of integrated cases.

This course explores assurance concepts and theory designed to enhance the reliability of information including current research in the area of assurance, ethics and governance. Building on topics from courses taken at the undergraduate level, this course integrates other areas of business as they relate to assurance engagements. Practical and situational case based applications in varying degrees of complexity are used to engage students to demonstrate knowledge while also developing professional judgement and professional skepticism. The practical and integrative nature of the course will develop professional skills including ethical behaviour, decision-making, problem-solving, communication and leadership.

This is an advanced course in Canadian income taxation that builds on basic taxation concepts covered in undergraduate income tax courses. The objective of the course is to help students apply the income tax rules to minimize the income tax burden for Canadian taxpayers earning business and property income in Canada and foreign jurisdictions. This course also covers some of the ethical issues encountered by income tax practitioners as well as current research in taxation and ethics. In addition to further developing income tax concepts, this course helps students to broaden their professional skills. Students are required to identify tax solutions for several business scenarios through the use of case questions. Students are also required to consult several income tax sources including the Income Tax Act, CRA publications, and Income Tax Treaties.

This explores the current and future issues in accounting and assurance by examining current and emerging issues as well as leading research in accounting and assurance. Topics covered each semester will vary based on current and emerging issues. Areas of current interest include integrated and sustainability reporting, the use of non-GAAP measures, changes to auditor reporting, the impact of technology on audit, audit quality indicators, changes in audit firm organization, the importance of transparency, the rise of regulation and more.

This fundamental course has two components: quantitative methods and economics for valuation. The first part of the course aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of statistical concepts, techniques, and statistical inference in the context of decision making process. Topics to be covered include, but not limited to, probability and probability distributions, sampling theory, confidence interval estimation, hypothesis testing, univariate and multivariate regressions, analysis of variance, time series analysis, panel data analysis, and estimation with endogeneity. The second part of the course provides a wide coverage of economic theories, concepts, principles, and practices that professional investors need to know in order to make informed investment decisions. Topics to be covered include the economic dynamics in currency exchange market, economic growth, and the economics of regulations. This part of the course will also cover ethics.

This course consists of two parts. The first part of the course covers topics that are already introduced in undergraduate finance courses, but does so in a more rigorous fashion. Related theories (e.g., theories on capital structure and dividend policy) will be delineated with reference to empirical findings via research articles and with the aid of cases. Main topics include, but not limited to, business valuation, capital structure, dividend policy, and leasing. The second part includes advanced topics in Corporate Finance. This part of the course will examine the issues and tools related to making sound investing, financing, and liquidity management decisions, including how these decisions interact with other business decisions. Main topics include, but not limited to, mergers and acquisitions, share repurchase, working capital management, financial distress and corporate governance and business ethics. Issues and developments in industry practices and related research findings will be discussed. This course will involve the use of case studies about real companies.

This course is the first part of Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management. This course focuses on the investment decision- making process from the perspective of portfolio managers. Topics covered include, but are not limited to, the theories and practices in creating, maintaining, and evaluating the performance of investment portfolios. This course will be delivered so that it integrates the basic investment concepts taught in undergraduate Finance courses and delineates investment process at a more advanced level. In delivering the above topics, current research findings will also be shared with students. Since delegated portfolio management is a main theme of the course, emphasis will be placed on adhering to ethical standards when dealing with clients.

In this course, students will learn how to analyze a company’s financial statements in depth, assess its financial reporting quality, and estimate its fair equity value as well as current research financial statement analysis and equity valuation. Various analysis tools learnt at the undergraduate level, for example, ratio analysis, DuPont analysis, Altman Z score and Beneish M score, will be used to assess a company’s risk and profitability in an advanced manner. Moreover, dividend-based, cash-flow-based, earnings-based, and market-based valuation models will be delineated and applied to value a real-world company. While covering these valuation methods, related research in the literature will be discussed. Throughout the course, the ethics will be discussed from various perspectives.

This course delineates the important aspects of derivative instruments. It has four main components. First, the course introduces students to the essential concepts (e.g., risk-neutrality and arbitrage pricing) and valuation techniques/models such as the cost-of-carry model for futures, and the Black-Scholes model for options (both the basic and the more advanced, extended models). Second, the course also examines the valuation and application of more advanced securities such as interest rate swaps, floors, caps and credit default swaps. Third, numerical valuation techniques such as binomial trees and finite difference methods (implicit and explicit) will be introduced. Fourth, the course enlightens students with the practical aspect of the derivatives markets. Through real-time trading of derivative securities, students will be able to apply their classroom knowledge and shrewd judgment to real-world investing. Ethics and proper trading conducts as well as current research in the area of derivatives will be covered throughout this course.

This course is the second part of Investment Analysis & Portfolio Management. Topics covered include, but are not limited to, portfolio risk management, portfolio performance evaluation and attribution, behavioural finance, and various types of alternative investments (e.g., hedge funds, private equities and venture capitals, commodities, and real estate investments). In delivering the above topics, current research findings will also be shared with students. Additionally, the course will employ case studies extensively. Since delegated portfolio management is a main theme of the course, emphasis will be placed on adhering to ethical standards when dealing with clients.

This course delineates the important concepts, markets, valuation techniques and portfolio applications of fixed income securities. The course consists of several important parts. The first part will introduce students to the various types and characteristics of fixed income securities. It will also describe how the fixed income markets are organized (structures, participants, etc.). The second part will cover the essential concepts, analytical tools, and valuation techniques related to fixed income securities. Concepts such as term structure of interest rates, yield spreads, duration, convexity, interest rate risk, and credit risk will be delineated and the tools and techniques for analyzing them will also be introduced. The third part deals with fixed income valuations at the sector, industry and company levels.

Arbitrage-free valuation of fixed income securities will be dealt with. The fourth part will cover structured products and bonds with embedded options. The fifth and last past will delineate the portfolio aspects of fixed income such as investment strategies and portfolio benchmarks. To effectively apply classroom materials, students will be required to do a small-scale project in which they will build a fixed income portfolio with a clearly defined objective/mandate, a portfolio composition backed by careful analysis, and a meaningful benchmark. Ethics and proper trading conducts as well as current research in the area of fixed income will be covered throughout this course.

The information age, accompanied by intense global competition and the need to manage an increasingly diverse workforce, has ushered in the need for a new type of leader. In order to thrive in the new economy, companies need fully engaged employees at all levels. Managers need to adopt new models of leadership if they are to encourage employees to work independently and contribute to problem solving throughout the organization. This seminar course will draw on empirical research and the lessons learned from examining the leadership qualities of some of the best leaders around the world to offer tools and strategies for becoming the kind of leaders that will thrive in the new millennium. In particular, this course will explore leadership and leadership behaviours with a critical lens on ethics and ethical leadership. Specific focus will be given to the principles of ethical leadership throughout the course via examples, cases, and the analysis of ethical dilemmas in different leadership contexts.

Students will be introduced to the theoretical foundations and practical applications of techniques used to develop new markets and then to sell their products and services into these markets. The course will explore the rationales for market development, both from supply and demand perspectives. It will then discuss methodologies for entering markets via marketing strategy, direct selling and communications programs. Finally, the course will examine longer-term business development perspectives toward the development of long-term competitive advantage for the firm.

The course lays the foundation for predictive analytics and “Big Data” methodologies via state-of-the-art data science techniques and computational tools, and incorporates a series of hands-on case studies motivated by industrial applications and current research questions in the field. By the end of the course, students will be familiar with data manipulation and transformation techniques, and will be capable of applying analytics and data architecture plans to improve decision making in business processes and investigate new ways of exploiting the value of the data.

This course focuses on strategic leadership, assessment and management. It requires students to integrate both their technical knowledge and professional skills. This course requires heavy participation by students and is interactive. Students need to use their critical thinking skills for problem-solving to come up with a decision that is ethical and professional.

This course is the first of two courses where students will use case studies to address real life business scenarios requiring integration across all areas of Management with a focus on the integration between Accounting and Finance. Students will be expected to continue to use and develop their professional skills including professional and ethical behaviour, problem solving and decision making, communication, self-management, teamwork and leadership. This course also includes the participation in case competitions, workshops and seminars.

This course is the second of two courses where students will use advanced case studies to address real life business scenarios requiring integration across all areas of Management with a focus on the integration between Accounting and Finance. Students will be expected to continue to use and develop their professional skills including professional and ethical behaviour, problem solving and decision making, communication, self-management, teamwork and leadership. This course also includes the participation in case competitions, workshops and seminars.