Structures for directing and controlling organizations. Rules and procedures for decision-making. Distribution of rights and responsibilities among stakeholders, including the board, managers, shareholders. Maximization of the long-term financial value of a corporation. Fair and rational management of stakeholder interests. Legal, moral and ethical issues in organizations.

The conventional economic paradigm of rational agents in an efficient market. The use of psychology as a guide to explain the abundant empirical evidence violating the conventional wisdom. Behavioral biases and alternative preferences explaining investor behavior. Irrational trading decisions and distortions in the financial markets. market inefficiencies. Behavioral analysis in corporate decision making. Evidence for both views in the context of capital structure, investment, dividend, and merger decisions.

Unique dynamics of commodities and energy products within international capital markets. Financialization of energy products and commodities. Financial instruments and their use in risk management. Sustainable energy and its impact on financial decision-making. Renewable energy and carbon finance.

Overview of the valuation process and selection of an appropriate valuation model for a company. Comparison of different valuation methods based on discounted cash flows, including dividend and free cash flow models. Concepts of enterprise value, residual income and internal returns. Market–based and objective–driven methods based on data from comparable companies and precedent transactions. Major challenges and limitations in valuation of private and family controlled firms.

Reasons and consequences of economic crises. Short-termism and poor governance. The impact of crisis on financial structures and operations of firms. Preparation of corporate and financial restructuring plan. Design of appropriate strategies: spinoffs, equity carve-outs, leveraged recapitalizations and buyouts. Troubled restructurings, private workouts, bankruptcy filings. Applications on BIST companies.

Introduction to pricing, trading and hedging of financial derivatives such as futures, options, and swaps. Modeling of the financial markets. Arbitrage. Valuation of financial derivatives, Black-Scholes model and its extensions, trading strategies, hedging techniques, volatility smiles and exotic options.

Growth strategies and financial challenges in an entrepreneurial firm. Financing options such as venture capital, angel investors and private equity at each stage of an enterprise. Valuation methods for the privately owned firm. Strategic partnerships adopted by new ventures through rapid growth and harvest strategies. Financial distress at different stages of development. Real-life cases on critical aspects of a start-up. Decision-making in growth and financing strategies. Harvesting choices of a successful enterprise.

Institutions, instruments and regulation of local and global financial markets. The structure and practices of the investment banking industry. The market for mergers and acquisitions, market making, brokerage, underwriting, public offerings, financial advisory services, comparison of market – based and bank – based financing. Investment banking: History, regulation, governance, and new technologies.

Financial reporting according to International Financial Reporting Standards, Turkish tax legislation and Turkish capital markets regulation. Financial analysis methods, comparative and common size statements, sources and uses statements, ratio and trend analysis. Effect of accounting information on capital markets. Current issues in financial accounting: convergence in global reporting standards (IFRS, EU directives, and US-GAAP) and the new paradigm of integrated reporting.

The foundations of modern corporate financial risk management for both financial and non-financial institutions. The analysis of market risk, credit risk and liquidity risk, measures of financial risk. Optimal hedging and insurance through financial derivatives. The benefits and costs of financial risk management. The logic behind enterprise-wide financial risk management systems and their relation to long-term corporate strategy.

Interpretation of financial statements for credit and security analyses, lending and investment decisions, and other decisions that rely on financial data. The impact of industry characteristics on financial statement items and their correlation. Analyzing the profitability and risk of technology-intensive firms, capacity-constrained firms, service firms, banks and other financial services firms. Analyzing credit and bankruptcy risk. Financial distress predictions. Pro-forma financial statements.

Basic skills in quantitative modeling. Managerial decision models to complex business problems. The uses of analytical techniques including optimization, Monte Carlo simulation, and decision trees via Excel commands, tools and add-ins. Analyses of business problems in operations, finance and marketing as illustrative examples and their economic interpretation.

Introduction to bonds and other debt instruments. The models and techniques required to price and analyze fixed income securities and their derivatives. The basic concepts of fixed income instruments, such as yield, duration, convexity. Pricing traditional derivatives such as swaps and bond options. Management of fixed income portfolios and hedging of associated risks. Applications on Turkish Treasury issues and corporate bonds.

General knowledge of the insurance industry: the nature of insurance, its scope and regulations. Features and primary benefits of property/casualty, life and health insurance and individual private pension plans. Claims, reinsurance, product development and profit testing, financial tables. The structure of insurance companies and their operations.

Concepts and evidence on the management of investment portfolios. The relationship between risk and return, efficient markets, diversification, asset allocation, portfolio optimization, mutual funds, performance evaluation, trading, passive: index funds etc. and active : hedge funds etc. Investment strategies and long-term investing. The capital assest pricing model: single-factor models, multifactor models and arbitrage pricing theory. Portfolios of various asset classes including equities, bonds and alternative investments.

Use of accounting information to guide operational and strategic decisions. Evaluation of the organization’s value-adding activities. Direct continuous and discontinuous operational improvement efforts. Guidance for and evaluation of employees. Modern concepts of cost management and control. Strategic cost analysis. Design of management control systems. Traditional-standard cost systems for linking resource expenses to cost centers and objects. Activity-based costing for strategic decision-making. Measurement and management of performance. Decentralization and control of large organizations .

Examining financial and economic aspects of real estate industry. Project evaluation, land development, feasibility studies, cost estimation, regulation, financing strategies, investment decision making and real estate capital markets. Sustainable real estate development and its social, environmental and economic ramifications. Financial appeal of developing sustainable real estate projects for investors and insurers in a rapidly changing world; ethical and legal obligations in real estate markets. Case studies from around the world and Turkey.