Accounts for Finance & Strategy
Summer Program
Turn accounting expertise into strategic advantage: learn to diagnose, model, and reshape firms. This pivotal program will really help you to stand out from the masses and assure a rock-fast foundation on which to build your career in the world of Finance.
WHEN?
Step into the world of high-stakes finance with this Summer Program. Over two immersive weeks, you’ll master the art of financial modeling and gain insider knowledge from real-world cases like Boeing’s landmark restructuring.
This program doesn’t just teach accounting—it equips you with the tools to analyze, restructure, and transform firms in times of challenge and opportunity. Whether you aspire to join the Big Four, break into investment banking, or prepare for Private Equity and M&A, this certificate will set you apart with skills recruiters' demand.
• Career relevance: Provides indispensable tools for careers in Private Equity, M&A, investment banking, and the Big Four.
• Real-world case studies: Includes high-profile restructurings such as Boeing’s mega equity raise.
• Balance of theory and practice: Combines lectures, discussions, and group projects for applied learning.
• Hands-on financial modeling: Participants build detailed Excel models from scratch, mirroring investment bank simulations.
• Expert faculty: Led by HEC Paris professors with deep industry expertise.
• Prestigious certification: Earns 5 ECTS credits and an HEC Paris Certificate.
• Accessible yet advanced: Suitable for early-level business/economics students and professionals refreshing their skills.
Corporate finance comes with its own complex technicalities. Investment bankers emphasize, however, that practicing M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) or ECM (Equity Capital Markets) without a solid grasp of accounting principles is unthinkable. M&A clients, for instance, need clear insights into how a proposed deal will affect the stock price and the future indebtedness capacity of their firm. Providing accurate answers to these questions relies on simulating post-transaction financial statements, enabling bankers to project the deal's impact on the company's financial outlook.
This Summer School program equips students with a foundational understanding of essential principles, beginning with statutory accounts and advancing to consolidated accounts within an IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) framework. To promote clarity and accessibility, terms like “debit” and “credit” are avoided, and account numbers are not referenced. Instead, transactions are directly recorded in the balance sheet and income statement, while the cash flow statement is built simultaneously, ensuring a holistic view of financial operations.
A full understanding of consolidated accounts requires a specific focus on some norms that will be detailed, as well as the impacts of solvency regulations. In this context, the following pivotal topics will be dealt with:
- Building of statutory accounts: balance sheets, income statements and statements of cash flows
- Preparation of consolidated accounts
- Diagnosis based on consolidated accounts
- Analysis of debt restructuring plans
- Analysis of a deleveraging plan
- Specific focus on Boeing's accounts and its mega equity raise
- Financial accounts and solvency constraints for banks and insurance companies
Upon successful completion of the program participants will be able to:
• Diagnose and optimize restructuring strategies
• Efficiently use AI to prepare a professional presentation
• Pitch advisory roles with confidence in simulated boardroom settings
• Build investment-bank-level models from scratch
• Understand solvency regulations shaping banks and insurers
Join a program where academic excellence meets industry relevance, and leave with the confidence to navigate the most complex financial challenges.
This program is suitable for early level business or economics students. All core concepts will be explained during the class.
The program also welcomes applicants with experience in the field, who are seeking to refresh their skills, and to gain concrete real-life applications.
All participants are expected to be in class, come with questions and participate in group discussions and workshops.
Grading will be determined as follows:
- Presence & Participation 10%
- Individual Assignments 40%
- Group Project 50%
Participants who successfully complete the program will earn 5 ECTS credits. Full attendance is required to obtain the Program Certificate.
All students who are seeking credit are encouraged to consult their home academic institution to validate credit transfer.
The Summer Experience
