The goal of the Department is to produce finance research, courses and a presentation of results at a high international quality level and of significance to Danish society.

· The number of Department articles published in international journals was largely sustained at the relatively high level of 2002 and 2003, and there was a tendency towards increased publication in central and recognised international finance journals

· The Department started working with the CBS Statistics Group, which is now attached to the Department as the Center for Statistics

· On 29 October 2004, the Department hosted an international conference entitled "Integrated cross-border banking: Issues in implementation, regulation and supervision". The conference was held as part of the LEFIC activities and was partially funded by Danmarks Nationalbank

· On 11-12 November 2004, the Department hosted an international conference entitled "Symposium on asset allocation and pension management". This conference was partially sponsored by the mathematical finance theory network (SSF) and Sparinvest

· In recent years, the Department has succeeded in recruiting exceedingly well-qualified PhD students for the Department's successful PhD programme offering courses under the auspices of the DanishDoctoralSchool in Finance. The DanishDoctoralSchool in Finance is a national doctoral school based at the CBS Department of Finance. Two of the PhD students recruited in 2004 receive external funding from DONG and Danmarks Nationalbank, respectively.

The academic activities of the Department comprise a wide spectrum of financial issues, including issues related to risk management and to financial management and corporate governance:

· Corporate finance

· Asset management

· Securities pricing

· Empirical analyses of capital markets

· Institutional relations in financial markets

· Risk management and insurance

· Investment planning and cost-benefit analyses

· International finance

· Corporate governance and the market for corporate control

· Personal finance.

Academic activities are divided into three main areas:

The Center for Law, Economics and Financial Institutions (LEFIC) is affiliated to the Department. It is an interdisciplinary centre with participants from the Department of Finance, the Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy, the Law Department and the Department of Economics. It was established with preliminary external financial support for the period from March 2002 to June 2005. The objective of the Center is to support an international research network in law and economics and financial institutions and to create synergy between researchers and the business community in areas of social significance.

The Center for Statistics is also affiliated to the Department. For the time being, it will be integrated in the Department for a period of three years. The Center deals with and is responsible for CBS research and courses in probability theory and statistics and the application of these disciplines and related mathematical tools in the fields of business economics and management. The Center staff also play a major role as sparring partners in connection with the handling of figures and statistical analysis through empirical interdisciplinary research projects within business economics and management and related fields of economic relevance.

The overall objective of the Department is to conduct international standard research and research-based study programmes. The core research activities of the Department comprise both empirical and theoretical finance research on the financial problems of enterprises as well as on financial institutions, financial markets and financial structure, especially in a small, open society. The Department has a special obligation to conduct research into the Danish financial infrastructure.

In addition to contributing independent new knowledge, it is important to apply international research results to a Danish context and to communicate research results to students at CBS in the form of courses with a high academic level as well as to society, including the business community, the public sector and other research communities, where financial aspects form an integral part of research.

International production from 2000-2004 increased in the form of articles in respected international journals. This increase was in accordance with the internationalisation strategy of the Department. The number of articles published in international journals was largely sustained at the relatively high level of 2002 and 2003, and in 2004 there was a tendency towards increased publication in central and recognised international finance journals. Production in Danish was also considerable and was characterised by being highly relevant to Danish financial issues. Empirical production concerning Danish conditions was particularly substantial, including surveys of option-based incentives in Danish listed companies.

Figure 1: Department of Finance, publication types 2000-2004

Figure 2: Department of Finance, research funds 2000-2004

A considerable part of the Department's research is based on Danish conditions with a narrow relation to practice. Much of this research is directly related to key issues of current interest. The national community therefore benefits considerably from the researchers' knowledge and insight. The Department staff were thus registered as participants in a total of 73 radio/TV or newspaper interviews in 2004. Research results are also made available through presentations at or organisation of conferences aimed at practice, and the two conferences held by the Department in 2004 were well attended by both academics and practicians. Many of the research results are presented in journals read by practicians. Three of the Department's PhD students are financed by business enterprises. Finally, research results are extensively presented to practice via study programmes, including programmes aimed directly at practicians, e.g. the HD programme and the various summer schools and executive programmes organised by CBS or other institutions. Furthermore, several members of the Department staff are deeply involved in the academic activities of the Danish Society of Investment Professionals.