Certificate in Practical Investment Analysis

"If you took our top fifteen decisions out, we'd have a pretty average record. It wasn't hyperactivity, but a hell of a lot of patience. You stuck to your principles and when opportunities came along, you pounced on them with vigor."
Charlie Munger


Quartic Training is pleased to announce an exclusive and exciting new Certificate in Practical Investment Analysis (CPIA) that will run from early August to December 2008. It is designed for full-time students who have started their progress through the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) Program.

While the exam curriculum focuses on the theoretical skills necessary for analysing investments, CPIA provides candidates with the hands-on expertise needed in the workplace.

Candidates who are selected for this course will gain a broad range of talents, ranging from reading company reports, valuing businesses, constructing portfolios and writing research, as well as career skills such as interviewing and group discussions.

Successful candidates will be proud to receive the CPIA Certificate and will be able to show future employers the research that they have produced.

In order to keep the class select, applicants for the programme will be subject to an interview with Quartic staff to ensure suitability.

Objectives

Candidates who attend this programme should gain the following:

  • The ability to analyse a company from the financial statements in terms of profitability, liquidity, operating efficiency and gearing
  • Skills in valuation of equity, debt, derivative and alternative investments, as well as portfolio management theory and applications
  • The ability to construct a diversified portfolio from stocks about which the candidate has a deep understanding
  • An understanding of what content is relevant to company research and the ability to write a research note on a company
  • Presentation skills to explain to an audience how they reached their conclusions
  • Teamwork and division of responsibilities within a small group, simulating a workplace experience
  • Knowledge of a wide range of career options gained through guest speakers
  • Skills to assist in identifying and starting a career in finance and investments.

Who should attend

CPIA is designed for full-time students who wish to move into an analytical role within a financial firm, whether as a buy-side or sell-side analyst, researcher, portfolio manager, stockbroker, private wealth manager or adviser.
Although no professional work experience is required, candidates should be familiar with many of the financial analysis techniques contained in the Level I CFA curriculum.

Content

The course is designed as a full-time programme to run over 24 days between August and December 2008. An average of two days (at least 15 hours) per week will be in class and candidates will spend much of the rest of the week conducting research and fieldwork as well as writing reports and presentations. Participants will form groups, enabling each person to gain from teamwork and a competitive but fun learning environment.

Class time will be broken down into three components:

  1. technical training of analytical and careers skills - approximately 50%
  2. group discussion and presentations - approximately 25%
  3. guest speakers and related discussion - approximately 25%.

Technical training

The technical topics to be included within the CPIA programme are as follows.

Introduction to research and analysis:

  • Sources of information
  • What makes good analysis
  • The Quartic Analytical Framework

Financial statement analysis

  • Understanding the balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows
  • Accounting standards: IFRS vs U.S. plus other variations
  • Topical case studies
  • “Cooking the books" and how to manipulate accounts

Qualitative analysis: understanding management, the business, the risks and the industry

Equity valuation

  • Dividend based models
  • Cash flow based models
  • Relative valuation models
  • Economic Value Added (EVA®) and residual income
  • Understanding leverage: equity vs enterprise
  • Spreadsheeting techniques with Excel
  • Technical analysis

Fixed income valuation

  • Bonds and bond portfolios
  • Structured products
  • Distressed debt and vulture investing

Alternative investments

  • Property valuation techniques
  • Hedge fund strategies and performance

Derivatives

  • Definitions and basic applications
  • Introduction to pricing and valuation
  • Portfolio applications

Portfolio management

  • Constructing portfolios: risk vs return and portfolio theory
  • Valuation models: CAPM, APT, factor models
  • Performance measures: Jensen's alpha, Sharpe, Treynor
  • International investing: foreign asset risk
  • Investing for (high net worth) individuals vs institutions: the IPS
  • Individual portfolios: UK taxation and allowances
  • Institutional investing: pension funds, insurance companies and banks
  • Portfolio strategies and styles
  • Asset allocation

Careers skills

The technical topics will be interspersed with training in careers skills. These will include:

  • Writing CVs and cover letters
  • Interview skills
  • Giving presentations
  • Group discussions
  • Review of employers and roles in the financial sector.

Presentations and group discussion

A significant component of class time will be interactive with participants presenting and leading discussions. Teams will give presentations, describing the research process as well as their specific findings on each investment within their portfolio.

Giving presentations can be a frightening experience: we will provide tips and techniques to help you give a confident and convincing performance.

Guest speakers

A number of guest speakers will present to the group, either to provide specialist training or to describe their role. Provisional speakers include:

  • portfolio managers and buy-side analysts
  • hedge fund managers
  • sell-side analysts
  • market makers
  • corporate financiers in specific industries
  • equity/debt traders
  • derivatives traders

Teamwork

From the start of the course candidates will work in teams. This will provide opportunities for each person to help and support other team members. It also provides a common goal as some awards at the end of the programme will be based on team and not individual performance.

Qualification and awards

By the end of the CPIA programme, all candidates should have a broad understanding of what the research process involves. Participants will have researched, analysed and written reports on a number of companies and, in teams, developed portfolios. In addition to the investing skills, candidates should gain skills and confidence in the recruitment process.

Individuals and teams will submit formal reports to Quartic Training for grading - these will include company research and portfolio analysis.

At the end of the programme successful participants will be awarded the Certificate in Practical Investment Analysis.

In addition to the certificate there will be a number of group and individual awards, including for best analyst, best group portfolio performance, best research, and overall group contribution.

The Best Analyst award will include a voucher entitling the holder to a half-price Quartic course as well as a reference that can be used in the recruitment process.

Investment fee

The investment fee for participating in CPIA 2008 is £2400 (inc VAT). This includes all tuition, materials, support and certificates.

A place on the programme can be reserved (subject to interview) for £1200 and if a candidate is not successful in being allocated a place then a full refund will be made. Otherwise, the usual Terms & Conditions for Full-time courses will apply - they can be found at http://www.quartic-training.co.uk/links.