FIN6110 Finance for Entrepreneurs

MSEL Course

1.5 Credits

This course will translate established principles and tools from corporate finance into the entrepreneurial environment. Specific topics include milestones and staging, alternative forms of funding, forecasting for new ventures, financial strategy, and valuation. Through hands on workshops and case studies, students will learn how to negotiate funding terms and establish metrics that will maximize the value of their entrepreneurial investment.

FIN7525 Finance for New Ventures
3 Elective CreditsFIN7525 is meant for entrepreneurs and small business owners that want a detailed understanding of the financial implications of strategic decisions as they start and grow their ventures. The focus is on forecasting integrated financial statements, valuation, and deal structure. The course covers equity investment (angels and VCs) from both the entrepreneur's and investor's perspectives, including pre- and post-money value, capitalization tables, dilution, and liquidation preferences. The impact of debt financing on financial statements and returns is also covered. Valuation methods include discounted cash flow, multiples, and the VC method. Risk management techniques incorporating staging, milestones, real options, and simulation are used to better assess uncertainty and then structure transactions to mitigate risk.

Prerequisites: FIN7200 OR FIN7800

ECN7510 Financial and Macroeconomics Data Analysis
3 Elective CreditsThere are numerous challenges to competently modeling/forecasting financial and macroeconomic variables. Basic statistical analysis may yield misleading results for various reasons including time-varying volatility, structural change, and outliers. Time series data is also often "non-stationary" which, if not addressed, can lead to spurious regression or "nonsense correlations". Analysis of "big data" meanwhile can promote model selection bias where the effects in the final model are overstated. Moreover, the relationship of cause and effect between variables is often two-way, where both variables affect each other. In this class, you will learn several methods to address these problems including: cointegration (to address non-stationarity), vector autoregression (to allow for interdependence between variables), and a machine learning algorithm to conduct unbiased model selection from "big data" while addressing outliers and structural change.

Prerequisites: None

ACC7800 Financial and Sustainability Reporting
(Formerly Financial Reporting)
2 Credits (Core MBA)If you have taken and passed ACC7200, you cannot register for ACC7800, as these two courses are equivalent

The purpose of this course is to review the concepts surrounding financial and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and to emphasize the importance of being an informed user of financial and ESG information for any entrepreneurial leader. Whether you are involved in an existing business or starting your own, working in the not-for-profit sector or managing your personal finances, you will need to be able to incorporate financial information into your decision-making process. We will be constructing financial statements, analyzing them across companies and industries, and providing linkages to entrepreneurial and strategic decision making. We will also be exploring how the reporting of ESG factors integrates with financial reports to provide useful information for evaluating risks and the long-term sustainability of a business.

**It is strongly recommended that students complete this course prior to taking FIN7800**

FIN6200 Financial Data Analysis and Practice
3 CreditsThis course trains students how to use different data sets for research, how to develop appropriate financial memos and reports for various audiences, and provides some introduction to different aspects of the finance profession. At least four different datasets such as (but not limited to) CRSP, Compustat, Bloomberg, and Capital IQ will be introduced. Students will learn how to access and download data, analyze the data, create reports, and provide written and oral reports to different financial and non-financial audiences. In addition, students will be made aware of professional practices and standards in different financial professions to prepare students for rapid entry into the workplace.

For More Information:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIX4FKDDkbI&feature=youtu.be

ACC7200 Financial Reporting

2 CreditsFinancial Reporting (FINACC) - Whether you are starting your own business, working in the not-for-profit sector, managing your personal finances, or working for a large corporation, you will need to be able to incorporate financial information into your decision making process. The purpose of this course is to review the concepts surrounding financial reporting and to emphasize the importance of being an informed user of financial information. Financial reports will also be analyzed across companies, industries, and countries, providing linkages to entrepreneurial and strategic decision making. The course also addresses the ethical responsibility managers have to carry out their fiduciary responsibility to all stakeholders of the company, including the growth in corporate social responsibility reporting and how companies are incorporating this information into their reports and websites.

FIN7545 Financial Trading Strategies
3 Elective CreditsIn this course, students learn to develop and implement institutional (firm-level) financial trading strategies. These strategies are guided by quantitative models that identify, quantify, and manage risks and expected return. In so doing, students learn how to make decisions in an uncertain environment. The course is based on an experiential learning approach, in which trading simulation software provides a platform for delivering learning-by-doing cases. Specific cases covered in the course include: agency trading; principal (liability) trading; algorithmic market making; managing risk capital with value-at-risk; transportation, storage, and production arbitrage in commodity futures markets; and agricultural hedging. The course also covers fundamental concepts in market microstructure, such as bid-ask spreads, price discovery, information asymmetry, liquidity, and inventory risk.

EPS7510 Financing Your Entrepreneurial Business
(Formerly Entrepreneurial Finance)

3 CreditsFocuses on raising seed and growth capital from venture capital, business angels, investment banking, and commercial banking sources; and financial problems unique to the small- and medium-sized firm undergoing rapid growth. Examines actual proposals made to venture capital firms, particularly in terms of their financial viability. Course also examines financial management for entrepreneurs over the life of a business project. Includes financing start-ups, financial planning for the nonpublic smaller enterprise, going public, selling out, bankruptcy, sources of capital, and other related topics.

Prerequisites: None

FIN7532 FINTECH

3 Elective Credits

The financial services industry is changing rapidly with the emergence of financial technology (FinTech). This course is designed to introduce key financial technology and its applications in financial services. Students will develop a broad and solid understanding of the recent innovations in FinTech, and their benefits and limitations. Students will also have hands-on problem-solving experiences that are useful in the FinTech venture. Ultimately, this course aims to help students identify entrepreneurial opportunities in FinTech and equip them with relevant knowledge and skills. The course will use a mixture of lectures, case studies, guest speakers, and group projects. This course emphasizes and builds on Entrepreneurial Thought & Action, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the context of the financial services industry.

Prerequisites: None

FIN7513 Fixed Income (Formerly Fixed Income Portfolio Management)
3 Elective CreditsThis advanced quantitative course is designed for students interested in fixed income portfolio management, as well as students interested in the sales and trading of fixed income securities and their related structured products. Topics covered include: (i) bond pricing and day count conventions; (ii) relative value and yield curve construction; (iii) duration, basis point value, and convexity; (iv) pricing and hedging of interest rate currency swaps; (v) Treasury bond futures, conversion factors, and the concepts of cheapest-to-deliver and implied repo; (vi) the repo (GC and special) market; (vii) credit risk and the pricing of high yield bonds and credit default swaps; and (viii) securitization, mortgage-backed securities, and collateralized mortgage obligations.

Prerequisites: FIN7200 OR FIN7800