BAFN204 - Portfolio Management: Investing Wisely

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

This unit is the foundation for understanding investments in general portfolio management. Students need to understand the concepts of the investment setting, market efficiency, investment objectives, portfolio strategies and risk pricing, valuation of equity, debt and property investments, managed funds, and alternative investments. Students need to compare and contrast a value-based view of investing vis-à-vis conventional investing approaches and techniques. Students will further develop portfolio management skills in constructing both socially responsible investment (SRI) and conventional (non-SRI) portfolios and in applying the stewardship of scarce resources. Students will be able to apply portfolio construction approaches to create real-life investment portfolios. The unit provides students with the necessary knowledge and skills needed to apply portfolio management techniques to construct a portfolio as an investment analyst.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - identify and analyse the various investments available to investors for both Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) and conventional (non-SRI) investments (GA2, GA5)  

LO2 - apply portfolio management techniques to assess the risk and return of equity, debt, property and alternative investments (GA5, GA6) 

LO3 - analyse specific investment analysis techniques to a set of investments (GA5, GA7) 

LO4 - create an investment portfolio from real-life data. (GA5, GA8)

LO5 - evaluate the various investments available to investors and assess how portfolio management can contribute to the better stewardship of scarce resources in terms of risk-return trade-off. (GA3, GA5)

Graduate attributes

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

Content

Topics will include:

• the concept of portfolio management
• investment analysis
• investment goal setting
• portfolio management techniques
• Stewardship in management of scarce resources
• investment environment
• investment return and risk
• investment in shares, bonds, real estate, and managed funds
• socially responsible investment (SRI)/ethical investing
• investment Policy Statement 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

ACU’s teaching policy focuses on learning outcomes for students. Our teaching aims to engage students as active participants in the learning process while acknowledging that all learning must involve a complex interplay of active and receptive processes, the constructing of meaning for oneself, and learning from others. ACU promotes and facilitates learning that is autonomous and self-motivated, is characterised by the individual taking satisfaction in the mastering of content and skills and is critical, looking beneath the surface level of information for the meaning and significance of what is being studied.

The schedule of the workshop is designed in such a way that students can achieve intended learning outcomes sequentially. Teaching and learning activities will apply the experiential learning model, which encourages students to apply higher order thinking. The unit ensures that learning activities involve real-world scenarios that in turn assist with ‘real-world’ preparedness. The unit also uses a scaffolding technique that builds a student’s skills and prepares them for the next phase of the learning process.

This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops, most students report that they spend an average of one hour preparing before the workshop and one or more hours after the workshop practicing and revising what was covered. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise. It is up to individual students to ensure that the out of class study is adequate for the optimal learning outcomes and successes.

Mode of delivery: This unit is offered in different modes. These are: “Attendance” mode, “Blended” mode and “Online” mode. This unit is offered in three modes to cater to the learning needs and preferences of a range of participants and maximise effective participation for isolated and/or marginalised groups.

Attendance Mode

In a weekly attendance mode, students will require face-to-face attendance in specific physical location/s. Students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturer(s) to further their achievement of the learning outcomes. This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops, most students report that they spend an average of one hour preparing before the workshop and one or more hours after the workshop practicing and revising what was covered. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise.

Blended Mode

In a blended mode, students will require intermittent face-to-face attendance determined by the School. Students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturer(s) to further their achievement of the learning outcomes. This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise.

Online Mode

In an online mode, students are given the opportunity to attend facilitated synchronous online seminar classes with other students and participate in the construction and synthesis of knowledge, while developing their knowledge. Students are required to participate in a series of online interactive workshops which include activities, knowledge checks, discussion and interactive sessions. This approach allows flexibility for students and facilitates learning and participation for students with a preference for virtual learning.

Assessment strategy and rationale

Assessments are used primarily to foster learning. ACU adopts a constructivist approach to learning which seeks alignment between the fundamental purpose of each unit, the learning outcomes, teaching and learning strategy, assessment and the learning environment. In order to pass this unit, students are required to achieve an overall score of at least 50% and attempt all assessment items. Using constructive alignment, the assessment tasks are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome.

Assessment are the same regardless of whether teaching mode is attendance, blended, or online. This is indicated in overview of assessment table below.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Bodie, Z., Kane, A. & Marcus, A. 2020, Investments, 12th edn, McGraw-Hill Education, New York, ISBN: 9781260013832.

Gunasingham, B. et al. 2020. Investment Analysis & Portfolio Management, 1st edn, Asia Pacific Edition Cengage Learning Australia, ISBN: 9780170416030.

Akhtaruzzaman, M., Boubaker, S., & Sensoy, A. (2021). Financial contagion during COVID–19 crisis. Finance Research Letters, 38, 101604.

Carhart, M. (1997). On persistence in mutual fund performance. The Journal of Finance, 52(1), 57-82.

Fama, E. F., & French, K. R. (2015). A five-factor asset pricing model. Journal of Financial Economics, 116(1), 1-22.

Jegadeesh, N., & Titman, S. (1993). Returns to buying winners and selling losers: Implications for stock market efficiency. The Journal of Finance, 48(1), 65-91.

Jensen, M. C. (1968). The performance of mutual funds in the period 1945-1964. The Journal of Finance, 23(2), 389-416.

Lintner, J. (1965). The Valuation of Risk Assets and the Selection of Risky Investments in Stock Portfolios and Capital Budgets. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 47(1), 13-37.

Malkiel, B. G. (1995). Returns from investing in equity mutual funds 1971 to 1991. The Journal of Finance, 50(2), 549-572.

Mossin, J. (1966). Equilibrium in a Capital Asset Market. Econometrica, 34(4), 768-783.

Sharpe, W. F. (1964). Capital asset prices: A theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk. The Journal of Finance, 19(3), 425-442.

Sharpe, W. F. (1966). Mutual fund performance. The Journal of Business, 39(1), 119-138.