Corporate Governance

MA, Grad ICSA

Part-Time

This course is available in Clearing, call us on 0845 271 3333 for more information

Course overview

This course is taught in an integrated fashion, so that the links between the various subjects are considered in the context of corporate governance as a whole. It asks 'why?' rather than the 'how?' of a non-academic course. Extensive use is made (throughout each module) of guest speakers with practical experience of corporate secretaryship or governance. Uniquely, we teach corporate secretaryship using the same 'Blueprint' software used by major commercial organisations to fulfil their statutory record-keeping responsibilities.

Additional course information

Lecturing staff: Stephen Bloomfield BSc (Econ); MA (Econ) FCIS

Following the successful completion of his Masters degree, Stephen Bloomfield became a fast-track administration trainee in the Civil Service. He then went on to work as a professional economist; a Fleet Street-based journalist; and a construction sector analyst for a major firm of stockbrokers. After four years as a director of the Coal Board Pension Fund's venture capital division, he spent ten years acting as a 'company doctor'. He has written three books - one of which is described by the IoD as 'the most authoritative available' on venture capital - and is the editor of the newsletter, 'Governance and Disclosure'.

Trina Hill ACIS - extensive experience as FTSE 250 company secretary.

Speakers on past courses have come from the following organisations:
  • Transparency International
  • Golder Associates
  • Mothercare
  • Wilkins and Sons
  • Britvic
  • The Financial Services Authority
  • Deutsche Bank
  • House of Commons All Party Working Group on Corporate Governance
  • Armstrong Bonham Carter
  • Serious Organised Crime Agency
  • Essex County Council
  • Social Enterprise East of England
  • Scottish Parliament
  • ICSA
Core modules
  • Corporate Governance and the Shareholder

    Here, you will examine principally theoretical aspects of the subject and concentrate on the inward-looking element of governance that affects the relationship between the corporation and the shareholder. One of the main focuses for the design of this module has been the further development of relevant employability and professional skills.

  • Corporate Governance and the Stakeholder

    This module will develop your theoretical basis further and extend it to an examination of the outward-facing aspect of corporate social responsibility.

  • Corporate Secretaryship

    This module is designed to satisfy the professional (Grad ICSA) requirements of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) with respect to the basic professional competences required of a chartered secretary intending to practise. The law that requires a company secretary be appointed to every company and, as the primary adviser to the board, the role is one of pivotal importance given the increasing significance of corporate governance.

  • Company Law for Governance

    This modules looks at issues of company law from the perspective of governance and concentrates on major pieces of UK legislation -- the Companies Act; the Insolvency Act and the Financial Services and Markets Act -- together with the impact of European directives on the operation of companies

  • International Strategic Financial Management

    The primary objective of this module is to provide a conceptual and analytical framework for looking at organisations operating internationally in capital, financial and operational markets. To this end, international and global considerations, both quantitative and qualitative, will be given high prominence.

  • International Financial Reporting

    This module is designed to develop the students understanding of financial reporting in an international and strategic context; it considers financial reports from the perspective of the external reader of this information. The module places the accounting environment in an international context and looks at the context in which accounting rules have evolved in order to meet the needs of globalisation for both organisations and financial markets.

  • International Governance

    This module deals with the theoretical aspects and the practical application of comparative corporate governance. In addition, it will deal explicitly with the impact of globalisation on the business environment and the consequences for corporate governance of the expansion of market places and the regulatory consequences.

  • Dissertation/Major Project

    Students prepare and submit a dissertation of 20000 words, with the support of a supervisor, on an issue of their choice that combines elements of the entire course.

Assessment

Assessment is via assignment (extended essay) and evaluated presentations.

Special features

Corporate Governance has been at the top of the business agenda over the past twenty years and is likely to remain so, for the foreseeable future. Recent events have strengthened the attractions of the pathway to potential applicants in a field running counter to the current drop in employment of graduates and post-graduates.

The pathway is strongly practical in orientation, particularly in the Company Secretaryship module where - uniquely among other collaborative courses - it uses professional software to teach aspects of company administration required by the ICSA course stipulations, and because of the professional and commercial backgrounds of the teaching staff. However, the pathway being academically founded, concentrates more on the issues of 'Why?' than the 'How?' of a typical professional study route. This is particularly the case in the three compulsory, and two optional, Governance modules. This emphasis will enable you to develop solutions from first principles to cope with events and situations you have not before in the exercise of your professional skills.

The over-arching philosophy of the pathway is to enable you to understand the concepts of governance to enable them to contribute to solutions to operational governance problems. To this end the pathway has a very wide scope of governance studies ? reviewing the subject from a number of different standpoints but all focussing on basic governance concepts. This approach is intended to facilitate 'mastery' of the subject in the sense of being able to combine issues from disparate areas of the subject to produced a synthesised solution to a governance problem. So for instance, you might approach a company secretarial problem from the point of view of legal; financial and regulatory considerations as well as taking into account cross-cultural and cross-sectoral approaches gained through an understanding of the stakeholders' viewpoint; laws and regulatory usage in other jurisdictions or in different areas of governance.

In formal terms the pathway aims to prepare recent graduates for a career in the area of Corporate Governance in either the public or private sectors and provides a dual qualification with the ICSA. To this end it aims to:

  • build upon previous knowledge and skills gained as a result of undergraduate studies in a cognate area
  • develop deep knowledge and understanding of Corporate Governance within a wide organisational and contextual framework
  • explore current issues and thinking along with techniques applicable for research in the area of Corporate Governance
  • enable you to develop both theoretical and applied perspectives on Corporate Governance and to apply those perspectives within the organisations in which they (aspire to) work
  • develop a range of wider intellectual and transferable skills, consistent with creative thought and independent learning
  • prepare graduates for a career as Chartered Secretaries through the standards of the professional body.
The course structure is intended to develop an intellectual environment where you are required and encouraged to think critically. The teaching and learning strategy facilitates this through employing instruction, critical reflection and self-direction. You will demonstrate a mastery of these skills through presentations, group work, reflective reports and examination and are encouraged not only to demonstrate an appropriate academic underpinning but to apply this to scenarios and to make recommendations based on critical reflection, by the use of appropriate assessment strategies within individual modules.

A particular feature of this course is that modules relating specifically to governance (rather than finance) are taught by qualified company secretaries with a great deal of practical experience. In addition, throughout each module guest speakers are invited to give lectures drawn from their practical experience working in company secretarial, regulatory, or consultancy environments.

Extensive use is also made of non-traditional teaching materials-fiction, DVDs and video documentaries.

Facilities

Our striking, award-winning business school in Chelmsford, as well as our brand new building in Cambridge, offer the most advanced state-of-the-art learning environments.

Further achievement for the MA Corporate Governance degree in Chelmsford

ICSA Software has agreed to allow successful graduates of the MA Corporate Governance Course to be given certificates of basic competence in the use of their commercial software.

ICSA Software produces a software programme called Blueprint which is used by most of the world's largest companies to complete and maintain their statutory books. The award of the certificates is in recognition of the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the tuition offered on the MA CG/GradICSA and is not subject to further referral to ICSA Software on an individual student basis. The MA Corporate Governance at LAIBS is unique among Masters level courses in the subject, in using Blueprint to act as the platform for much of the tuition on one of its central modules. Blueprint was introduced to the course five years ago.

Stephen Bloomfield, who introduced the software on to the course at LAIBS, said:

"This is further recognition of the class-leading characteristics of the MA Corporate Governance which has been consistently commended by external examiners for its content and coverage. Graduates of the course now receive an academic award of the highest calibre, a professional qualification and tuition in commercial software recognised as a sound platform for further development."

Stephen's wife, Gillian Bloomfield, wrote the original specification for the software while working at the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators over 25 years ago, before it was developed commercially. Revenues from the product now exceed £6m annually, from worldwide sales of the product suite.

Links with industry and professional recognition

We have placements every year in company departments in local and national organisations.

Work placements

Opportunities for work placement occasionally arise with local commercial or public sector organisations.

Associated careers

Graduates of this course have entered the professions; joined regulatory agencies and entered commercial careers.
Entry Requirements: Entrants will normally be expected to hold a cognate degree from a UK university. Usually this will be at a minimum of a lower second class Honours (2.1 preferred) Holders of other awards, including those from non UK universities will be considered on the equivalence of their qualifications. Work experience preferred if possible. The MA is open to non graduates who have successfully completed the ICSA Foundation(ICSA certificate) and Pre Professional Programmes (ICSA Diploma) (or equivalent)
Our published entry requirements are a guide only and our decision will be based on your overall suitability for the course as well as whether you meet the minimum entry requirements.

We welcome applications from International and EU students. Please select one of the links below for English language and country-specific entry requirement information.

How to apply

Location

Duration

2 years

Teaching times*

Tues 9.00-5.00pm
Wed 10.00-3.00pm

Available starts

September, February

Student finance

Open Day

Saturday 13 July
Postgraduate Open Day

Faculty

Lord Ashcroft International Business School

Department

Economics, Strategy, Marketing and Enterprise

Contact us

UK and EU applicants:International applicants:

 

*Teaching days and times are for guidance only and are subject to change each academic year. We advise all applicants to wait until they are in receipt of their timetable before making arrangements around their course times.

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