Finance Major

FIN 20150

The course provides an in-depth and quantitative examination of the principles of financial decision-making. Students learn the concept of value maximization, mathematics of finance, valuation of financial securities, capital investment evaluation, the estimation of required rates of return, and the theory of capital structure. This course is required for all business majors and a grade of “C” or higher is a prerequisite for continuing in the finance major.

ACCT 30100

This one-semester course is designed for finance majors and others who wish to develop an advanced knowledge of financial reporting in the corporate environment. The course covers financial statement preparation and analyses with a focus on understanding financial accounting information from a user perspective.

NOTE: FINANCE MAJORS WISHING TO SIT FOR THE CPA EXAM, PURSUE A MASTER’S DEGREE IN ACCOUNTANCY, OR TAKE ADDITIONAL UPPER LEVEL ACCOUNTING COURSES MUST ENROLL IN ACCT 30110 AND ACCT 30120 INSTEAD. Course cannot be taken Pass/Fail.

FIN 30400

This course provides a sound conceptual framework within which a wide variety of corporate financial policy decisions can be evaluated. The course builds upon and extends the topics in FIN 20150. Topics covered include corporate governance, financial statement analysis, security valuation, capital structure theory, dividend policy, security issuance, and advanced capital budgeting.

FIN 30402

This section is an honors section and satisfies requirements in the Business Honors program. The course gives a broad overview of the theory of corporate finance with the objective to develop students’ ability to apply financial principles to decision making in a corporate environment. The course introduces several of the firm’s financial policy decisions such as optimal capital structure, payout policy, and capital raising and further develops valuation skills to help determine the firm’s best investment opportunities in the presence of more realistic market imperfections. The course starts from where FIN 20510 (Fundamentals of Finance) left off without much review. The accelerated nature of the course allows one to introduce further advanced topics such as security design, mergers and acquisitions, and possibly others, time permitting. The course identifies and examines the issues faced by corporations in greater depth by presenting empirical research results and real case discussions. If you felt comfortable with the material covered in FIN 20510 Fundamentals of Finance, are curious about how corporations make decisions, and are ready to move at a faster pace, this may be the course for you. It will help you develop the necessary skills to pursue more advanced finance courses and become a successful finance professional and leader, but also should make you think and realize the complexity and non trivial nature of the corporate financial world. I find the subject useful, fascinating, and thought provoking; I hope you will too.

FIN 30600

This is an advanced course covering investment theory, financial markets and financial instruments. The topics of security analysis, options and futures are also introduced.

• Strategic Economics: Analyzing Market Structures and Decision-Making (FIN 40210)
• Python and Data Applications in Finance (FIN 40260)
• Honors Python and Data Applications in Finance (FIN 40262)
• Management Of Financial Institutions (FIN 40320)
• Mergers And Acquisitions (FIN 40410)
• Working Capital Management (FIN 40460)
• Corporate Governance & Catholic Social Teaching (FIN 40470)
• International Finance (FIN 40500)
• Security Analysis (FIN 40610)
• Macrofinance and Portfolio Management (FIN 40615)
• Trading And Markets (FIN 40620)
• Options And Futures (FIN 40630)
• Applied Investment Management (Permission Only!) (FIN 40640/40641)
• Fixed Income Investment Strategies (FIN 40660)
• Honors Fixed Income Investment Strategies (FIN 40662)
• Advanced Investment Strategies (FIN 40670)
• Private Equity (FIN 40680)
• Applied Private Equity Projects (Permission Only) (FIN 40685)
• Behavioral Finance (FIN 40690)
• Real Estate Valuation And Investment (FIN 40710)
• Real Estate Capital Markets (FIN 40720)
• Academic Research in Finance (FIN 40830)
• Emerging Markets Investing (FIN 44530)

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FIN 35520 INTERNATIONAL PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT PRACTICUM (Permission Only)

This one-credit course, which is offered during spring break, will offer a small group of students an intensive week of real-world interaction and case study with a leading investment management firm. The investment manager will meet with the students at the beginning of the week to outline the case. During the week, students will attend additional lectures and work in teams to analyze the case, which will be presented to the investment manager at the end of the week. The learning objectives of the course include gaining a real-world perspective on investment management, understanding investing from a global vantage point, and contributing investment solutions in a collaborative setting. 

Please note: As part of this course, students will travel with faculty coordinators to and from a global financial center as a group.