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The accounting Capstone course is part of the study programme for master's level accounting major students. Students usually take the course in their fifth and final year of study. In this management consulting course, students get to apply the analytical skills and business expertise they have acquired during their studies and also develop their presentation skills.

The core of the Capstone course is working on an authentic business project for organisations. This time, Fiskars Group Plc was one of the companies involved. Fiskars is a global company whose design-led branded products can be found in many homes and gardens. The group has two business areas, Vita and Fiskars.

The Fiskars project team included master's students in accounting Arthur Alén, Elias Autio, Noora Kapanen, An Nguyen and Valtteri Trög. From Fiskars, CFO Jussi Siitonen and Investor Relations Manager Noora Huttula participated in the project. The course was taught by Professor and Head of Department Jari Huikku and Assistant Professor Jukka Sihvonen, both from the Department of Accounting and Business Law at the School of Business. The project started in early September and concluded with a final presentation to the group management at Fiskars' headquarters in Keilaniemi, Espoo, in November 2025.

A challenging and very interesting assignment

The student group was given an assignment related to the group's equity story following the separation of the Fiskars and Vita business areas. An equity story is a compelling narrative for investors about why the stock is an attractive investment, combining numbers and narrative.

'The task was interesting for us because we immediately understood that our work could have a real impact on the overall value and future results of the Fiskars Group and its business areas. We first decided what kind of equity story we would propose for each business area, and secondly, what KPIs, financial targets and benchmarks we would suggest to support the group's equity story. The assignment included identifying the growth opportunities, brand strengths and investment needs of both business areas.

'Collaborating with Fiskars was pleasant because the company's representatives were highly committed and provided us with support throughout the project. Analysing the new equity story at a time when Fiskars is moving into a new business phase and having a long-term, future-oriented view of the company made the task especially rewarding. We were able to leverage the various strengths of our team and further develop our analytical, communication and project management skills,' explains student Valtteri Trög.

Fiskars CFO Jussi Siitonen is also very satisfied with the project. 'The students worked very professionally and autonomously, and the finished work exceeded our expectations. The report included perspectives we had not considered ourselves.'

Several excellent project works

In autumn 2025, there were eight Capstone teams, all of which did very high-quality work. The course has been offered for 11 years and so far 175 project works have been completed.

'The project carried out for Fiskars was the best of the Capstone course. The second-best work assessed in autumn 2025 was the CSR Reporting Framework Analysis, with the student group consisting of Ellen Eskelinen, Marikki Viljasaari, Ilona Matioukhov, Ebadoullah Khalily and Konsta Weckman. Other assignments worked on by the students included, for example, Strategic repositioning of an acquired company, Utilizing AI in the Record-to-Report process, Analysing company’s strategic options for expanding its business in Japan, Finding a new partner for outsourced finance functions, Analysing IFRS 18 implementation and Overhauling organization’s EU reporting process,' says Jari Huikku.