This semester saw the completion of the innovative course "Due Diligence", which is the first of its kind in Ukraine offered by KNEU Corporate Finance and Controlling Department headed by Prof. Dr. Oleg Tereshchenko and was chosen by over 300 students.

The course was led and newly designed by Senior Lecturer Svitlana Pokrason. The objective of the course is to provide final year Bachelor students with the profound knowledge and practical skills in due diligence with an understanding of M&A processes and key valuation concepts. The course is based on the leading international standards and real-life business examples. It gave students a highly relevant and practical introduction to strategic and financial analysis of businesses with a toolset used by professionals in investment banking, strategy consulting, accounting and private equity.

The corporate partner - world leading auditing, tax and advisory firm KPMG - actively participated in the course by sponsoring the production of study materials and conducting guest lectures that offered students a unique insight into the business world and relevant topics.

At the end of the course, students gave a presentation of their teamwork research results in which they performed a comprehensive strategic and financial analysis, as well as the valuation of an international company, demonstrating some of the key skills needed in the financial profession today. The best three teams were selected to present their final results in KPMG's main office in Kyiv and were offered to explore the company's new internship opportunities. 

The course was highly demanding and required not only profound corporate finance knowledge, but also strong teamwork, intense workload management, ability to meet deadlines, innovative thinking, and analytical skills to understand current market trends in a globalized business.

Corporate Finance and Controlling Department of KNEU is especially thankful to ambitious young professionals - Senior Lecturer Svitlana Pokrason and Department's Assistant Stanislav Buidenko - who showed a great teamwork and students-oriented approach.

Special thanks to our corporate partner KPMG and personally to Yuliya Shulga, Maxim Zavalnyy, Yuriy Shved, Yana Pampukha, Yana Bartsitskaya, and Severin Matten for their guest lecturers and strong contribution to the course's successful implementation.

Corporate Finance and Controlling Department is eagerly looking forward to next year's students and is wishing this year's graduates all the best in their future careers!