UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG

About Finance

The Finance Discipline teaches and conducts research in one of the most exciting and dynamic areas of business.

Our team comprises a good mix of highly experienced and well-published academics, and young up-and-coming talent drawn from our pool of top graduates. The Discipline is driven a strong passion for ‘giving back’ and delivering high quality education in the financial field. Many of our academic staff have years’ worth of experience consulting in the fields of business finance, investment and asset management. Such activity ensures that they remain in touch and up-to-date with the latest developments and thinking in the field.

The Discipline also attracts some of the industry’s business leaders as visiting professors. These include top executives from the JSE Limited, the Reserve Bank and various blue-chip financial and banking institutions. This enriches the teaching delivered by the Discipline.

Finance is one of the breeding grounds for research, and a strong research focus has driven the publishing of many our post-graduate research projects. Two members of our academic staff hold PhDs and a further two will be commencing with PhDs in the near future. We are currently in the process of forming research groups with specific interests in specialised fields in corporate finance and investment. These will strengthen the Discipline’s position to consult with large institutions, financial markets companies, government and quasi-government institutions.

The Discipline is affiliated to the Southern African Financial Association, at which annual conference we regularly deliver papers. The Conference also provides post-graduate students with the opportunity to present their research and obtain expert feedback that is particularly useful in preparing work for publication.

At the third year and honours level, our courses are among the flagship programmes of the School, while our undergraduate courses, particularly those relating to investment, more than adequately prepare students to take CFA courses up to level 3.

What is Finance?

Finance is the driving engine of the economy. Financial markets are impacted by and have an impact on political, social and economic issues on a worldwide basis. The latest global financial crisis stands as testament to this fact. A constantly evolving and dynamic environment, the study of finance makes for a particularly exciting and attractive field.

Courses deal with investment and corporate finance topics, and include areas such as mergers and acquisitions, dividend policy, initial public offerings (IPOs), regulatory requirements and the various factors that impact financial decision-making. .

Why study Finance?

This is a field for students who are passionately interested in business, investment and financial markets, and all the excitement and financial reward attendant thereto. Students who have completed a BCom (Finance) or Honours in Finance can go on to become chief executive officers, chief investment officers, financial directors, financial risk managers, stock brokers, financial advisors, investment analysts, investment bankers, merchant bankers, portfolio managers, public sector consultants, financial journalists, and financial researchers.

Wits is the only university in South Africa in which the Finance course comprises 50% corporate finance and 50% investment. This is a key differentiator and provides students with broad exposure to key elements of Finance. Our courses have stood the test of time and remain have remained relevant through many financial market changes.

Our graduates are internationally competitive and have been accepted to study Masters Degrees at top universities and business schools around the world, including Oxford University, Cambridge University, Wharton Business School and Imperial College Business School. Read their testimonials below.

What Finance alumni have to say about the Wits Finance qualification

“ I recently finished an MSc in Finance at Imperial College Business School in London and I can tell you this much – WITS was superb value for money and the depth and breadth of the course at WITS is equal to if not better than that of UK Universities. I am truly proud that I am an alumni. As far as Finance is concerned – well done. I can say from experiences that you are running a world-class operation.”

– Faheem Khan, WIts BCom Hons (Finance) graduate

“I am doing my Masters in Finance Course at Cambridge. Judging by feedback from peers and from my own observations, I am quite confident to say that the Wits Finance course (undergraduate and Honours) prepared me extremely well academically for the rigours of this course. The theoretical knowledge gained in the major asset classes (equities, basic derivatives, various fixed income assets), coupled with the major branches of finance such as portfolio theory, corporate finance and statistics gave me a big advantage – on occasion I would tutor a few students on the contents.”

– Rael Cline, Wits BCom Hons (Finance) graduate

“I am currently with Ernst & Young in London. Getting the position was extremely tough, particularly in light of the recession, and I was up against people with Masters. But in the assessments I scored tops and most of the material was covered in my Wits Honours in Finance course. There were a lot of presentations, preparations and debates and the examiners kept asking me where I was educated – I told them Wits. They really valued it. Here in England the system has changed and is not as core-focused anymore – this is the reason why so many people have to do Masters. This is something to tell your class – even in the First World, Honours in Finance from Wits prepares you very well.”

- Sebastien de Sousa, Wits BCom Hons (Finance) graduate