FIN4535 Fixed Income and Structured Products

4 General CreditsThis advanced quantitative course is designed for students interested in the sales and trading of fixed income securities and their related structured products, as well as students interested in fixed income portfolio management. Topics covered include: (i) bond pricing and day count conventions; (ii) relative value and yield curve construction; (iii) duration and convexity; (iv) pricing and hedging of interest rate 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. Course enrollment will be limited to enable extensive in-class usage of Bloomberg and other Cutler Center resources.

Prerequisites: SME2021

FIN4570 Global Financial Management
4 General Elective CreditsThe central theme of this course is how to manage the finances of a multinational firm. It devotes attention to managing the short-term finances of a multinational, including topics like centralizing cash management, netting, and transfer pricing. It then deals with long-term financial management of the multinational. That section includes capital budgeting in the multinational context, capital structure decisions, and also studies how a multinational can sometimes have a lower cost of capital than a single-country firm of the same size. The third major theme is how the multinational can optimize its relationship with the capital markets, including the national stock markets where its subsidiaries operate. This section includes a discussion of the opportunities created for multinational companies by international portfolio investment. If time permits, there will be a section on how to operate in countries with inconvertible or hyperinflationary currencies. The course deals with the international financial environment, meaning topics such as exchange rates, balance of payments, and cross-border capital flows, only to the extent necessary to put the financial decisions for firms operating in more than one currency into proper context.

Prerequisites: SME2021

FIN4530 Investments
4 General CreditsThis course is designed for students interested in investment or portfolio management. Students explore the simultaneous management of multiple securities, using statistical and other mathematical tools. Topics covered include: risk and return, allocation of risky assets, setting portfolio objectives and strategy, portfolio optimization, risk crafting, and portfolio performance evaluation. Through case studies, investment tools, projects, and readings, students will explore investment and portfolio theory and practice.

Prerequisites: SME2021 or FIN2000

FIN4560 Options and Futures
4 General CreditsThis course is an introduction to options, futures, and other derivative securities. We examine the nature of the instruments, the theory of how they are priced, and strategies in which they are used. Cases address applications in both investment management and corporate finance, covering such topics as risk management, financial engineering, speculation, and arbitrage.

Prerequisites: SME2021 or FIN2000
Recommended: ACC3502

FIN2520 Personal Finance
4 General CreditsThis course teaches students to negotiate the retail financial landscape, emphasizing issues that have a large impact on their future financial well-being. It assumes no financial knowledge other than first-year finance. The course covers topics such as understanding and appreciating the time value of money, the financial planning process, financing the purchase of a house and other consumer loans, saving for retirement and other goals, selecting a financial advisor, taxes, estate planning, behavioral finance and common investment scams. Specific investment products studied include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, municipal bonds, alternative investments (including hedge funds, private equity funds, and commodities), annuities, and insurance products. Consideration will be given to the problem of an entrepreneur or start-up employee who has a substantial fraction of personal wealth invested in a single business venture, including evaluating stock-and option-based compensation plans. Over the duration of the course, students will work to develop a personal financial plan.

Prerequisites: SME2021

SME2021 Finance
3 Intermediate Management CreditsSME finance is designed to develop student understanding of the role of finance in the management of a business venture. Effective financial management, whether performed by the general manager in a small business, or by the finance organization in a large corporation, is necessary if a venture is to succeed and grow. A successful financial manager must have skills, abilities, tools, and a theoretical understanding in many areas, including valuation, financial forecasting, capital budgeting, investor expectations regarding risk and return, the cost of investor supplied capital, and financial strategy. Student skills will be developed in all of these areas in the SME finance stream through readings, lectures, class discussions, exercises, and an analytical project. A successful financial manager must also understand the venture's economic environment, its products, services, and market position, its operational capabilities, and its organizational behavior characteristics. The SME finance stream will link financial management analysis and decisions to these other critical functional areas, so the student will understand its part in achieving overall success for the venture.

Prerequisites: ACC1000 and QTM1000

FIN2000 Finance

4 Intermediate Management Credits

**Students who took SME2021 cannot take this course as they are equivalent.**

FIN 2000 Principles of Finance helps students understand the role of Finance in the management of business ventures and in their daily lives. Effective financial management, whether performed by the general manager in a small business, or by the finance organization in a large corporation, is necessary for ventures to succeed and grow. A successful financial manager must have skills, tools, and perspectives in many areas, including valuation of stocks and bonds, capital budgeting, investment risk and return, the cost of investor-supplied capital, and capital structure. A successful financial manager also must appreciate the key characteristics of a venture - including its products, services, market position, and purpose - and the economic and social environment in which the venture operates. Accordingly, this course links financial analysis and decision-making to critical contextual factors, allowing students to understand the part played by Finance in the overall impact of ventures. Throughout the topic coverage, connections between managerial Finance and personal Finance are recognized and explored, facilitating development of essential financial literacy capabilities. Competency will be developed through readings, lectures, class discussions, and exercises.

Prerequisites: ACC1000 AND AQM1000

FIN3504 Private Equity

4 Advanced Management Credits

This course will provide students with the opportunity to develop a practical understanding of the private equity industry and related topics generally in the venture capital industry. The course will focus on various phases of activity including fund organization, prospecting, valuation, LBO modeling, negotiating skills and exits. The course will also provide students with an understanding of careers in private equity and related industries. The course is designed to enable students to practically apply financial theory in a way that is consistent with industry practices, techniques and professional expectations. As such, the class will utilize case studies involving real companies and will have a heavy emphasis on the practical financial research skills relevant to private equity, and how industry-specific issues are addressed by private equity professionals.

Prerequisites: Any FIN3000 level course

FIN3565 Real Estate Development
4 General CreditsThis course reviews the process by which value is created through real property improvement and modification. The course examines that real estate development process, exposing students to the critical steps and key decisions required to create, secure approvals, construct, lease, finance, and manage property improvements. Through case studies, related readings, and a final team project, students examine the perceived risks and potential returns of real estate development.

Prerequisites: FIN3555

FIN4571 Real Estate Finance and Advanced Modeling

4 Advanced Management Credits

This course will address the practical and theoretical issues involved in estimating cash flows and values of a wide variety real property, financial interests, investment interests and deal structures using discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques and sensitivity analyses. Students will solve real estate cash flow and DCF problems using models for property, portfolio, debt and equity interests for a variety of commercial real estate property types. Students will learn and apply the detailed modeling applications necessary to estimate both cash flows and values in the world of real estate finance and capital markets. Students will use and learn both Excel and industry standard ARGUS software applications in the process of modeling lease by lease cash flows at the property level, portfolio cash flow consolidations, related debt structures, including first mortgage and mezzanine debt, and equity waterfall structures. ARGUS is a widely accepted unique and complex modeling software that is very frequently required by employers in real estate finance. This course includes explanations of the theoretical issues and concepts involved in these practical applications. This course is intended for students who have an interest in real estate or who desire to expand their knowledge of finance to include real estate.

Prerequisites: SME2021