The Finance Discipline focuses on valuation and decision making: What's it worth, and what do we do next? This makes the finance function a pivotal part of every organization. Graduate students can earn a concentration in finance in our two-year MBA program. 

The finance concentration is designed to prepare students for a wide variety of jobs in this exciting area. The concentration is built on corporate finance, investments, and international finance. Students then choose from a variety of other electives to complete their program.

The finance concentration consists of:
               
                FIN 650   Financial Investments
                FIN 660   International Finance
                FIN 670   Corporate Finance
                And at least one other Finance elective.


Course titles and descriptions of finance courses offered in our MBA program are:

FIN 641 - Valuation and Financial Decision Making
Introduction to finance. Topics include the principles of finance; the time value of money; capital market efficiency; basic security valuation; basic capital budgeting; risk, return, and asset pricing model; and the cost of capital.

FIN 642 - The Financial Environment
A continuation of FIN 641. Topics include an introduction to the global securities markets and foreign exchange; basic derivatives, real options, agency theory, fixed income securities, the term structure, investment banking, short-term financial management and planning, and corporate financial policies.

FIN 650 - Financial Investments
Finance 650 builds on Finance 641 and 642. The major topics covered include investment companies, risk aversion, asset allocation, asset pricing theory, the single index model, market efficiency, fixed income portfolio management, advanced issues of the term structure, financial options, and financial futures.

FIN 651 - Advanced Topics in Investments
Finance 651 builds directly on Finance 650, and on the MBA core classes Finance 641 and 642 using a variety of techniques, including case analysis and class discussion. A number of special topics will be covered, such as portfolio management, investment banking, market micro-structure, and financial analysis.

FIN 660 - International Finance
Finance 660 builds on Finance 641 and 642, and is intended to provide an overview of the concepts and importance of international finance. Specifically, the course will cover foreign exchange markets and instruments, international debt and equity markets, management of foreign exchange risk and political risk, and as international investments and taxation.

FIN 661 - Advanced Topics in International Finance
Finance 661 builds directly on Finance 660, and on the MBA core classes Finance 641 and 642 using a variety of techniques, including case analysis and class discussion. A number of special topics will be covered, such as measuring and managing the many additional risk exposures faced by a multi-national enterprise, investment and capital budgeting decisions in a global framework and financing the multi-national firm.

FIN 670 - Corporate Finance
Finance 670 builds on Finance 641 and 642 and focuses on financial decision making from a corporation’s perspective. Issues addressed include capital structure, management of corporate liabilities, leasing and other asset-based financing techniques and advanced treatment of capital budgeting and some of the complex issues involved, and corporate mergers and acquisitions.

FIN 671 - Advanced Topics in Corporate Finance
Finance 671 builds directly on Finance 670, and on the MBA core classes Finance 641 and Finance 642 using a variety of techniques, including case analysis and class discussion. A number of special topics will be covered, such as recapitalizations and bankruptcy, short and long-term financing, capital budgeting sensitivity analysis, risk management, as well as divided policy and share repurchases.

FIN 681 - Financial Institutions
Finance 681 builds on Finance 641 and 642, and focuses on the management of financial institutions, such as banks. Topics include risk management; deposits and deposit insurance; liquidity, reserve requirements, and capital adequacy; liability management; investment interest rate risk; and current issues connected with financial institutions.

FIN 685 - Mathematics of Financial Derivatives
Finance 685 builds on Finance 650, 660, 670. This course provides an in-depth mathematical treatment of derivatives, and is divided into three parts: (1) options; (2) futures and forwards; and (3) other derivative instruments, which include options on futures, foreign currency derivatives, swaps, exotic options, and financial engineering. The emphasis is on equity instruments, although there is also some coverage of shortened long-term interest bearing instruments.