Finance (FNCE)

This course helps students explore different career paths in Finance and learn about resources provided by the Finance department and the Career and Professional Development office. Students will also build a resume and practice mock interviews. Finance majors are strongly recommended to take this course during the first or second semester in the major. Recommended to be taken during student's first or second semester. Transfer students and students who switch into the Finance major at a later time are suggested to take this course during their first semester in the major. Credit/No Credit only.

This course will cover the theory and practice of financial statements analysis and valuation. Students will learn how to use theory and data to solve challenging business problems with incomplete information. Students will become comfortable with using financial modeling as a tool to help them perform financial analysis and make decisions. Prerequisite: BCOR 3410 or FNCE 3400, with a grade of C (2.0) or higher.

The course will examine the sources and demand for investment capital, the determination of investment policy, and procedures for the analysis of security evaluation. Students will become competent in stock and bond valuation, capital asset pricing, options, portfolio computation, performance evaluation, and foreign exchange. Students will become familiar with investment statistics, primary and secondary markets, tax consequences, retirement planning, market efficiency, macroeconomics, and financial statement analysis. Prerequisites: BCOR 2110 and BCOR 2120, and either BCOR 3410 or FNCE 3400, all with a grade of C (2.0) or higher.

This course will introduce students to the merger and acquisition process and alternative restructuring strategies including business alliances, divestitures, spin-offs, split-offs, carve-outs, and bankruptcy. The student will learn to develop acquisition plans as part of an investment banking team charged with implementing a firm's business strategy. The team will be responsible for valuing the target firm, negotiating and structuring the deal, and for resolving common tax, payment, accounting, and legal issues arising during transactions. Prerequisite: FNCE 3415 with a grade of C (2.0) or higher.

The overarching theme of this course is to study the different financial structures and challenges in each entertainment segment. Entertainment companies use a vast array of techniques to raise capital, budget their capital, and return cash to shareholders and other stakeholders, many of which will be explored. Students will also be exposed to the underlying business model of each segment to understand the financial and operational constraints under which these firms operate. The ultimate goal of the course is to prepare students for their first job in entertainment finance. Students should enroll in this course as early as possible in their academic career to take advantage of career connections built into the course. Prerequisite: BCOR 3410 or FNCE 3400, with a grade of C (2.0) or higher. University Core fulfilled: Explorations: Creative Experience.

This course will introduce students to the core credit practices of commercial lending, the key products within corporate banking and the interplay with the investment banks. Students will learn the fundamentals of credit analysis, risk mitigation and transaction underwriting for both cash flow and asset-backed loans. Students will be exposed to both structured and project finance, the regulatory and interest rate environments, revolving credit facilities, term loans, financial covenants, debt ratings, foreign exchange and bank syndicates. The course will cover bankruptcy in depth and the 2008 Credit Crisis. Students will apply their learned credit skills to analyze financial statements and capital through a semester-long project. The end goal of this course is to prepare students to both work for and with commercial banks. Prerequisites: FNCE 3415, can be taken concurrently, and BCOR 3410 or FNCE 3400.

The objective of this one-semester-hour course is to help students achieve a worthwhile learning experience relevant to their major program of study. The internship, conducted with an off-campus organization, will help the student gain insights relative to his/her strengths and weaknesses in the job environment.

In this course, students are introduced to the financial aspects of small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. The key topics include evaluating new business ideas and ventures, reading and understanding financial statements of rapidly growing companies, and developing financing strategies. We also discuss various debt and equity alternatives of financing, the different valuation techniques, and key tactics and approaches to negotiating term sheets. (See ENTR 4310.) Prerequisite: BCOR 3410 or FNCE 3400.

This course introduces students to gathering relevant data (both primary and secondary data) to build financial models for analyzing, interpreting, and making investment decisions based upon evaluation of alternative real estate investment opportunities. Hands-on entrepreneurial learning makes use of cases, involvement of commercial real estate professionals, gathering primary data, risk analysis, and estimating the most an investor should pay for a property. More specifically, this course includes determining a property's after-tax cash flows, "investment value," and financing strategy based upon market area supply and demand analysis by property type (e.g., single-family homes, apartments, office, retail, warehouses, and other industrial properties), taking into account alternative investment ownership (e.g., sole proprietorships, REITs, Limited Partnerships, LLCs, etc.), as well as evaluating alternative financing instruments in both primary and secondary markets. (See ENTR 4320.) Prerequisite: BCOR 3410 or FNCE 3400 with a grade of C (2.0) or higher.

This course is designed to introduce students to the intricacies of real estate development with the focus on multifamily and mixed-use properties. As the developer, there are multiple facets of the process that require skill and determination. Subjects covered are land acquisition and locational attributes; zoning and entitlements; project design and feasibility; construction costs; financial analysis; obtaining financing and partners; managing construction and the general contractor; lease-up, operations and property management; and finally, sale and/or resolution and repayment to lenders and partners. The course will introduce all these elements and teach students through real development transactions being built in the marketplace.

This course studies the history and need for different financial markets and institutions. The course introduces students to the basics of financial markets and institutions. The key topics include the role of financial markets and institutions, the structure of the financial system, the history and role of the Federal Reserve, and the structure of various financial markets (equity, money, bond, mortgage). The financial institutions component studies the role that different institutions play within each financial market. A recurring theme throughout the course is the concept of information asymmetry, which we will apply to understand salient features of the financial landscape. Prerequisite: BCOR 3410 or FNCE 3400 with a grade of C (2.0) or higher.

This course develops advanced spreadsheet modeling skills and quantitative analysis tools including VBA and Python to support financial decision-making. Hands-on experience in the development of spreadsheet forecasting, simulation, and optimization models for applications in valuation, cash budgeting, financial planning, and portfolio structuring will be provided as well as techniques for collecting, processing, visualizing, and exploring semi-structured financial data for analysis. (See AIMS 4740.) Prerequisites: AIMS 3770 or BCOR 3750, and BCOR 3410 or FNCE 3400 or FNCE 3410, all with a grade of C (2.0) or higher.

This course introduces students to international business finance and the workings of international financial markets. The principal objective of the course is for students to develop an understanding of the basic tools of financial decision making in an international environment. Key topics of study include exchange rate determination, relationships between inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates, risk management, multinational capital budgeting, and international portfolio theory. (See INBA 4880.) Prerequisites: BCOR 3860 and either BCOR 3410 or FNCE 3400 with a grade of C (2.0) or higher.

This course is Part I of the Student Investment Fund (SIF) Program. In this one-year program, the students gain hands-on experience in managing the Student Investment Fund by learning the theory and practice of securities investment and portfolio management within an academic context, enhanced by the frequent interaction with individuals and institutions engaged in the money management industry. While the focus of Part I is stock valuation using absolute and relative valuation models, this course will also familiarize the students with topics covered in a typical investment course such as financial markets and financial instruments as well as investment concepts and theory, including risk and return, diversification, Capital Asset Pricing Model, etc. Prerequisite: BCOR 3410 or FNCE 3400, with a grade of C (2.0) or higher.

This course is Part II of the Student Investment Fund (SIF) Program. In this one-year three-course program, the students gain hands-on experience in managing the Student Investment Fund by learning the theory and practice of securities investment and portfolio management within an academic context, enhanced by the frequent interaction with individuals and institutions engaged in the money management industry. While the students continue to apply what they have learned in Part I of the program to stock analysis and investment, the main focus of this part of the program is the application of portfolio theory to portfolio formation and performance measurement. The course culminates with the production and presentation of the SIF Annual Report at the end of the semester. Additionally, the students will also learn investment topics that are not covered in Part I, including analysis and management of bonds and an overview of derivative securities. Prerequisite: FNCE 4491.

This course is Part III of the Student Investment Fund (SIF) Program. In this one-year program, the students gain hands-on experience in managing the Student Investment Fund by learning the theory and practice of securities investment and portfolio management within an academic context, enhanced by the frequent interaction with individuals and institutions engaged in the money management industry. The focus of this course is experiential learning via the application of the theories covered in both Parts I and II of the program to the analysis and investments of stocks and management of the SIF portfolio, utilizing the databases and software available. Prerequisite: FNCE 4491.

Requires approval of the Associate Dean.