Finance (FNCE)

Today's student wants to learn about all areas of finance rather than just how the large corporation functions. The course includes coverage of the three main topic areas: markets & institutions, investments & managerial finance. While the greatest emphasis of the course is on corporate topics, the amount of detail has been limited to facilitate coverage of areas that are of interest to a greater number of students. This broad approach appeals to majors & non-majors alike by allowing students to better understand financial information for making business & personal finance decisions.

The course provides the student with their first exposure to the knowledge required of an Investment Professional rather than an individual investor. The roles covered include, but are not limited to, Financial Advisors, Financial Analysts, Financial Planners, and Portfolio Managers. The focus of the course is to provide the student with a systematic view of how to address the investment decision as an agent for others in the Global financial markets. Topics include, but may not be limited to: knowledge of domestic and international financial markets; styles and strategies of investment, evaluation of managed positions, individual preferences and portfolio choice, type of vehicles for managing risk and alternative investments to bonds and stocks.

This course seeks to give students a comprehensive introduction to the general principles of corporate financial theory and basics of corporate financial management. The course focuses on applying financial theories and valuation models to corporate financial decision-making process and examines a firm's long- and short-term financing alternatives and emphasizes the role of financial analysis in strategic and tactical financial planning. Topics covered include: Asset Pricing; Capital Budgeting; Risk Return; Raising Capital; Cost of Capital; Capital Structure; Dividend Policy; Working Capital Management; and Leasing.

The course analyzes financial institutions (FIs) with an emphasis on their sources and uses of funds; structure and operation procedures; nature and function of credit; regulatory features; organizational and risk management. This course is designed to provide an understanding of the commercial banking, non-bank FIs (e.g. credit unions, savings and loan associations, finance companies, insurance companies and investment banks), international financial system, flow of funds through financial intermediaries, regulatory environment, cross-border regulatory cooperation, technology and risk management, and the role of central bank. This course could be focused on some subset of many relevant issues: the management of the institution from the asset and liability perspective, the management of the institution from the risk management perspective, the role of regulation in institutional management, the impact of market consolidation on bank management, the impact of multi-function institutions and the special management issues involved, etc. This course could have a content or case focus, depending on the topics covered.

This course explores the issue of Derivative Financial Claims, claims where the payoffs depend on the value of an underlying asset, real or financial. The course will primarily focus on claims related to equity (Options) and claims related to the underlying asset (Futures); derivative claims based on fixed income instruments and interest rates are covered in FNCE-414, Fixed Income. The course will explore the use of these instruments to create alternative payoff patterns versus convention financial assets, hedging and trading strategies using these assets, the valuation of such assets via arbitrage and the implications of such pricing on the derivative type claims such as the equity of a company.

This course provides an overview of the financing options for startup businesses and the process of venture capital. A major part of the course will examine the various (real) options that companies have for financing at different stages, from the startup phase through exploitation of growth opportunities to exiting which include IPOs, M&A, restructuring, and renewal of the firm. This course is designed for students who wish to pursue an entrepreneurial endeavor or a career in venture capital, private equity investing, distress investing, or investment management positions of entrepreneurial ventures of any stages. Students taking this course will learn from the perspective of both an investor who is evaluating deals as well as an entrepreneur who is raising capital from different sources. Part of the course is case oriented and aims at instructing the student in how "real world" professional investors and corporate managers operate to create wealth from such situations.

This course introduces wealth management and estate planning. It offers a solid foundation for planning a prosperous financial future in the real world. The course focuses on what a financial planner needs to know in today's markets about income tax planning, retirement planning and estate planning. Investment planning and insurance planning are not covered in this course.

This course explores the alternatives to the classical equity and equity-based derivatives choices for investment, focusing on a broad range of fixed income securities. The combination of tough economic times and high volatility in the traditional equity markets during the recent credit crisis (2007-09) drove a large segment of investors to look for alternative investment opportunities such as fixed income securities. This course develops tools, theoretical and analytical framework for valuing and modeling the risk exposures of fixed income securities and their derivatives, with the ultimate goal of deploying these instruments in a financial risk management setting, hedging, market making or speculation. Students will be introduced to a variety of standard and exotic fixed income securities & their derivatives. The sources of their risk and return are modeled, analyzed and estimated. Historical performance of return and risk will be presented. In addition, the course focuses on the benefits of using fixed income securities in financial planning and decision-making purposes.

This course provides an overview of the theory, functioning, management and legal background of the insurance industry. It examines the concept of risk, the nature of the insurance device, and the principles of risk management. It increases the students' understanding of the role of risk management and insurance in dealing with events that can adversely affect people, families, firms, and other organizations.

This course discusses some advanced topics in corporate finance at undergraduate level. The focus is on the strategic investment and financing decisions a firm may need to make during its life cycle in order to maximize shareholders' wealth. The course is case-based, and will cover the following topics: Initial Public Offering, Mergers & Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyout, Corporate Restructuring, and Multinational Corporate Finance & Risk Management etc.

The focus of the course is two-fold. It will provide the student with a systematic view of alternative means of investment selection, focusing on investments that support the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. In this case, the focus will be on students achieving a mastery of two relatively new approaches to investment selection: CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Investing and ESG (Environmental, Society and Governance) Investing. This course will also provide students with a fundamental understanding of the development and implementation (via Excel) of basic trading systems.

This course provides an integrative experience for Finance majors and represents the last course in the sequence. The integrative activities will include, but will not be limited to the following: a speaker series of industry professionals; a required shadowing experience with an industry professional; a module on Professional Ethics and Standards; reflective analysis on course activities and the major knowledge gained; and a comprehensive case study allowing students to gauge their mastery of the materials in the major. This course is writing intensive, so that students will also be enhancing their written communications skills as part of the course. Final major requirement; senior standing required.