I try to write clearly and have always encouraged my students, and my former analyst colleagues, to do the same. This is because: i) it’s polite to make things easy for your reader (whom you should think of as a client); and ii) it improves communication, so is more likely to achieve the goal you… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Programme
Regrets, we had a few, but then again too few to mention…
Somewhere about the middle of the Easter term, the students start to realise that there are only a few weeks left, their course is nearly over and the world of work beckons. This leads to an upsurge of socialising, including with faculty, as time runs out. It leads to a period of great fun, lots… Continue Reading
Some changes to the degree content
We are making some small changes to the curriculum and structure of the Master of Finance degree. It’s still quite early days for the course so we continue to watch and learn how it’s going. The content is to remain largely the same but we will cut the total number of classroom hours a bit,… Continue Reading
The quant spectrum
Is the Cambridge Master of Finance a course for quants? In short, no, but it’s worth commenting a bit more on this. Finance has become a lot more quantitative over the years so that the entry level requirements for some knowledge of maths and statistics have increased. But banks still hire people with arts and… Continue Reading
Financial analysts versus consultants
The approach of the annual group consulting project (GCP) on the MFin prompts me to think what the differences are between financial analysts who work in investment banks and those who work in consulting firms. There are many shared skills and qualities and in the past quite a few consultants would go to work in… Continue Reading
Do we push the students too hard…..?
This week makes me acutely aware of the workload we put on the students. Yesterday they gave their Equity Research presentations to our invited panel of practitioner experts, which is a very stressful experience – though I think students learn a great deal from it. The students had to prepare the reports on which the… Continue Reading