Bachelor of Actuarial Studies (Co-op)

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During Summer Term, this course is available as General Education to students from faculties outside the UNSW Business School

All students taking this course during Summer Term will be required to pay full tuition fees. This includes Commonwealth supported students who are studying at UNSW. Please see the Business School courses - Summer Term fees for more information.

Taken together, the accounting course in the compulsory core and this accounting course form an integrated study program designed to give students an understanding of the way in which financial information is generated and used, and to provide an appropriate platform for further study in accounting.

On completion the first year accounting courses seek to develop:

• Technical competence in recording economic events in the accounting system
• A critical understanding of key technical terms and concepts so as to interpret accounting information and reports in the financial press
• An ability to argue a reasoned position on key questions of accounting theory and practice
• Familiarity with institutional structures that affect the practice of accounting

Topics covered in this course will include accounting for the major transactions cycles, cash, receivables, inventory, non-current assets and liabilities, cash flow statements, accounting policy choice, further detail on management accounting (including costing systems and budgeting), corporate governance, and professional ethics.

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This course is designed to provide an introduction to actuarial studies. It covers the basic principles underlying the actuarial analysis and management of insurance, superannuation and other financial contracts. It also aims to demonstrate the importance of statistics, mathematics, demography, economics, accounting, finance, business law and computing to actuarial studies.

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This course provides an introduction to the probability models used by actuaries for both liabilities and assets. Topics covered include the terminology of stochastic processes; main features of a Markov chain and application to experience rating; Markov process models and application to survival, sickness and marriage models; simple time series models including random walk and auto-regressive models and their application to investment variables; properties of Brownian motion and applications to investment variables; methods for simulation. Students will be required to implement models using spreadsheets and programs in a numerical computer package.

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This course will cover the financial mathematics required for the analysis of financial and insurance transactions. Topics covered include: mathematics of compound interest; valuation of cash flows of simple insurance contracts; analysis and valuation of annuities, bonds, loans and other securities; yield curves and immunisation; introduction to stochastic interest rate models and actuarial applications.

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This course covers probability and statistics topics relevant to actuarial studies. Topics covered include univariate/multivariate random variables, moments, probability generating functions, moment generating functions, marginal and conditional distributions, sampling distributions, estimation methods, hypothesis tests, regression, analysis of variance. Examples relevant to actuarial studies, finance and insurance are used to illustrate the application of the topics covered.

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This course covers survival models, their estimation and application to mortality and other decrements. Specific topics include: the concept of a survival model and actuarial notation; estimation of lifetime distributions; multiple state models; maximum likelihood estimation of transition intensities; construction of multiple decrement tables; the binomial model of mortality and its estimation; models with transition intensities depending on age and duration; the census approximation and formulae; statistical comparison of crude rates with standard table; graduation of crude estimates and tests of fidelity and smoothness; analysis of mortality/morbidity and the main forms of selection; models for projection of populations. The analysis of data using numerical computer packages developed during the course will form part of the course assessment.

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This course covers the techniques for deriving the value for pricing and reserving purposes of life insurance risks, including an appreciation of the analysis of change on the examination of the assumptions. Students will use spreadsheets to perform computations and be given exercises that require participation in teams. The course also covers contemporary management issues in life insurance including longevity, premium rating, selection and capital management. This course will cover the requirements for the Actuaries Institute CT5 course and students gaining at least a credit assessment will be recommended for exemption from the CT5 course.

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This course covers the actuarial mathematics, statistics and models used in non-life insurance actuarial practice. Topics covered include: basic concepts of decision theory and Bayesian statistics; loss distributions and reinsurance, risk models including compound Poisson; estimation of aggregate claims distribution; probability of ruin; premium rating and credibility; experience rating systems; claims reserving for loss run-off data and generalised linear models. Students will apply these techniques with respect to principles of effective general insurance management. This course will cover the requirements for the Actuaries Institute CT6 course and students gaining at least a credit assessment will be recommended for exemption from the CT6 course.

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This course is to provide students with an appreciation of the mathematical and economic models of investment markets and highlight their application (and shortcomings) in asset-liability management for insurance, superannuation and funds management and in the pricing of derivatives. Topics covered include; risk and utility; risk measures; mean variance models; factor models; asset liability models using portfolio selection models; equilibrium and arbitrage-free valuation; valuation of derivatives; term structure models; credit risk models and actuarial stochastic investment models and their application. The topics will be illustrated with applications to the valuation and risk management of insurance and superannuation contracts especially those with embedded options and financial guarantees - with a particular focus on the inadequacies of the models for investment risk management. The course will include case studies on investment and derivative disasters. This course will cover the requirements for the Actuaries Institute CT8 course and students gaining at least a credit assessment will be recommended for exemption from the CT8 course.

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In order to understand the workings of markets and the economy, one has to take on an 'economic mindset'. This introductory course covers the fundamental principles that economists use to understand and analyse economic behaviour. Understanding these basic principles equips students for further studies in economics and business. Topics and issues covered in this course include how individuals or firms make decisions about the demand or supply of a particular product, how we can judge the relative efficiency of different types of markets, how we explain why governments may need to intervene in a particular type of market while not in others, and how different government policies are more efficient than others.

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Macroeconomics studies the aggregate behaviour of the economy. This course provides an introduction to the economic analysis of key macroeconomic variables such as output, employment, inflation, interest rates and exchange rates. The important elements of the course include measurement of macroeconomic variables, the development of models and theories to explain the behaviour of macroeconomic variables, the use of empirical evidence in evaluating different models, and the role of government policy in seeking to influence macroeconomic outcomes. The course will provide students with a framework for understanding the workings of the whole economy and the various interactions among households, business and governments.

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This is a first level corporate finance course that looks at the essential aspects of financial decision-making. The course begins with the different ways in which companies can be structured and the differing types of ownership that exist. Thereafter, the principles and applications of financial mathematics are introduced and used to value securities and investment decisions.

Portfolio theory is used to provide a foundation for determining the relationship between expected risk and returns in financial and real asset investments. Dividend payouts and the choices between debt and equity financing, including methods of determining the cost of capital, are also covered.

Furthermore, this course includes analysis of the influence of the capital market environment, the implications of financial risk, taxation and the conflict of interest between managers and investors on the value and operation of businesses.

The course develops distinct conceptual frameworks and specialised tools for solving real-world financial problems at both the personal and corporate level. Illustrations from real-life corporate practices are used to highlight the importance and relevance of financial management to the realisation of personal and corporate financial objectives.

Examples include personal financial planning, funds management, capital raisings, portfolio selection of financial securities, private equity, public floats and the pricing of assets in the stock market.

UNSW Online Handbook Summary
UNSW Class Timetable

UNSW Online Handbook Summary
UNSW Class Timetable