Finance (FIN)

FIN 2633 Personal Finance
Personal finance is intended to provide students with opportunities to develop skills for solving real world problems. It focuses on areas of study that address problems and applications in personal finance including financial planning, personal investing, budgeting, tax planning, real estate financing, credit management, insurance protection, and retirement and estate planning. Time value of money calculations are taught and applied to assist in making optimal choices.

FIN 3113 Business Finance
In this course considers the basic financial decisions within a business. Topics include setting financial goals, measuring risk and return, time value of money, fundamentals of capital structure, fundamentals of dividend policy, sourcing funds, fundamentals of capital budgeting, fundamentals of stock and bonds and their valuation.

FIN 3253 Real Estate Finance
An in-depth analysis of financial concepts needed to make decisions to borrow, lend, or invest in real property.

FIN 3313 Intermediate Corporate Finance I
This course begins with fundamental concepts in corporate finance, including background on the economic and financial environment, financial statements, security valuation, and risk analysis. The first half of this course is focusing on the details that have not covered in business finance course. The second half covers important corporate decisions, including capital budgeting, working capital management, capital structure, and dividend policy, as well as agency theory and corporate governance.

FIN 3433 Securities Investment
We consider investment theories and their applications in financial securities like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate investment trusts, and venture capital funds. We also consider risk and the basics of modern portfolio theory.

FIN 3523 Financial Institutions and Capital Markets
This course Investigates the nature and characteristics of institutions, financial instruments, and markets that have evolved in the course of the domestic and global allocation of money capital. Topics include the importance of financial markets such as stock, bond, mortgage, futures, options and money markets. Additionally, the role and functioning of the Fed and major depository and non- depository financial institutions are covered. The role of markets and government regulation in directing and efficient use of money capital and the use of derivative securities to reduce risks is emphasized.

FIN 3633 Advanced Personal Finance
Advanced Personal Finance is intended to provide students with opportunities to develop skills for solving real world problems. It focuses on areas of study that address problems and applications in personal finance including financial planning, personal investing, budgeting, tax planning, real estate financing, credit management, insurance protection, and retirement and estate planning. Time value of money calculations are taught and applied to assist in making optimal choices. For majors only.

FIN 3813 Spreadsheet Mastery for Accounting &
Finance This course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of accounting spreadsheets, focusing on their practical application in financial management, reporting, and analysis. Through a hands-on approach, students will learn how to effectively use spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, to organize, analyze, and interpret financial data.

FIN 4223 Financial Analysis and Control
This course examines the processes and methods of financial analysis and control. The course emphasizes the objectives of different users of financial statements and describes analytical tools and techniques to meet those objectives. Analytical methods range from the computation of ratio and cash flow measures to forecasting earnings for equity valuation. Topics include cash flow analysis, profitability analysis, short-term and long-term forecasting analysis, credit analysis, and equity analysis and valuation.

FIN 4323 Security Analysis and Portfolio Management
This course introduces students to the framework of the CFA Institute and then builds on previous course work to develop skills in applied portfolio management. To develop portfolio management techniques, students will cover the theory of active management, international diversification, optimal risky portfolios, managing bond portfolios, macroeconomic and industry analysis, financial statement analysis, equity valuation models, and futures, options, swaps and risk management techniques.

FIN 4443 International Financial Management
This course focuses on the financial aspects of managing multinational firms. Topics include foreign trade flows, foreign capital flows, determinates of currency exchange rates, forecasting currency exchange rates, arbitrage, the use of derivative to manage exchange rate risk, and raising and investing long term funds internationally.

FIN 4513 Data Analytics
Data Analytics covers the basic concepts for analysis of data, with emphasis on Accounting and Finance applications. Major topics studied are data availability, data privacy, data ethics, and overall data management. Data analysis procedures examined are descriptive analysis with basic statistics, regression analysis, hypothesis testing, probability analysis, forecasting, and optimization.

FIN 4523 Bank Administration
The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of commercial banking and the competitive and regulatory environment in which banks operate. The course focuses on managerial decision-making, the risks banks face, and how risk management affects performance and valuations.

FIN 4533 Credit and Lending Analysis
The goal of the course is to provide a background in key commercial lending concepts. The course focuses on commercial (business) customers, developing the tools needed to determine the viability and proper loan structure for a commercial loan request, and ending with tips for identifying problem loans. Students who score 80% or better on the final exam will earn the Credit Essentials Certificate from the Risk Management Association (RMA). Those who do are said to have a 9- 12 month advantage in experience over others at the outset of their careers.

FIN 4633 Risk Management
This course analyzes how businesses should manage risk. The course addresses how firms can use self- insurance and commercial insurance to insure against property, liability, and personnel risk.

FIN 4733 Financial Modeling
This course mixes explanation and implementation of quantitative ananlysis in finance using Microsoft Excel, one of the most widely used computational tools in the world. This course aims to strengthen finance students with solid understanding of fundamentals in multiple areas in finance. In addition, students will practice the quantitative analysis skills needed in the corresponding area through in class exercises and projects based on real world data. Consequently, students will then consolidate both knowledge and analytic skills.

FIN 4813 Financial Policy and Strategy
This is the capstone course in finance. As such, the course integrates and synthesizes financial theories and applications considered elsewhere. The course focuses on the executive level where managers make policy and strategic decisions that have lasting effects on the business. The course relies on spreadsheet analysis, internet-based simulations and case studies.

FIN 4950 Internship
This course allows credit for approval internships under School of Business guidelines. Faculty consent required.

FIN 4970 Special Studies
This course permits individual finance students to work with a finance professor on an approved topic in finance.

FIN 4980 Seminar
Small group study of topic announced by department (Prerequisite: FIN 3113 with grade C or better an d permission of the instructor)

FIN 5213 Financial Management
This course covers the practice and theory of managers making financial decisions for the firm. The basis for all decisions builds from the premise of maximizing shareholder wealth. Topics include risk and return tradeoffs, valuing stock and bonds, evaluating choices among sources of capital and capital structure, evaluating dividend policy, evaluating the selecting expansion projects, using derivative securities to managing risk, firm valuation, and short-term cash management.

FIN 5433 Securities Investment
This course provides a solid foundation in investments and provides in-depth information about various money market and capital market investment vehicles such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, UITs, REITs, EFTs, and other investment companies. The course also covers topics of investment importance such as how securities are traded, risk, valuation of fixed-income securities, fundamental security analysis, theoretical asset pricing models, portfolio io performance evaluation, and information useful in practice such as brokerage accounts, buying on margin, and short selling.

FIN 5523 Financial Institutions and Fintech
This course provides an introduction to the financial and governmental that use or support the financial market in the U.S. and innovative technologies that influence financial institutions. Topics regarding financial institutions to be covered include: central banks, monetary policies, banking systems, banking management, insurance and pensions, mutual funds, investment banks, and private equity. Topics regarding fintech to be covered include: blockchain, cryptocurrency, disruptive innovations in payments, startup financing and artificial intelligence trading.

FIN 5543 International Financial Management
This course is designed to provide students with the theory and tools required to be successful managers in the field of international finance. In the first half of the course emphasis is placed upon: foreign exchange markets, balance of payment effects, theories of foreign exchange rate movements, forecasting exchange rates, and evaluating forecasts. In the second half of the course, the risks of foreign exchange fluctuation are classified and students will learn the methods to measure and hedge these risks from the viewpoint of the MNC. Fundraising in international money and capital markets, international working capital management, and investment practices of multinational firms will be covered.

FIN 5643 Valuation
This course covers valuation concepts and theories related to the valuation of projects and business enterprises and to the claims on the cash flows they generate. Students are introduced to the relevant theories and tools and are taught how to apply these theories and tools in realistic settings to value a broad range of assets. Topics include, but not limited to: cash flow forecast, risk analysis, discount rate estimation, the interaction between capital structure and value, and option-based pricing.

FIN 7503 Strategic Financial Leadership

This course is designed to prepare students for high-level leadership roles where financial strategy and decision- making are critical. This course provides a deep dive into the strategic aspects of financial leadership focusing on how to align financial management with overall business strategy to drive organizational success.