MS in Business: Finance

Course Descriptions

Core Courses

BUSI 610, Introduction to Financial Accounting, 2 Credits

Provides an overview of financial accounting, periodic financial statements and the financial reporting process.

BUSI 640, Financial Management, 2 Credits

Explores capital budgeting, security portfolio theory, operation and efficiency of financial markets, options pricing, financing decisions, capital structure, payout policy and international finance.

BUFN740, Capital Markets, 2 credits

Designed to deepen the foundations necessary to finance focused students, especially those intending to specialize in the quantitative areas of finance including investments, fixed income, and financial engineering. 

BUFN 750, Valuation in Corporate Finance, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 741, BUFN 714 or BUFN 750. Formerly BUFN 714.

Examines investment decisions by corporations, using various tools such as NPV, APV, and real option valuation. Particular attention is paid to cost of capital computation, pro forma cash flow statements, and other important elements of carefully executed evaluation of capital investments.

BUFN 758F, Financial Econometrics, 2 credits

Prerequisites: BUSI 640.

Introduces the basic skills for analyzing financial data and testing financial models. The course includes a review of linear optimization for use in factor models, the statistical properties of asset returns, event studies, time series analysis and models of stochastic volatility. The course will include theory mixed with several applications.

BUFN 761, Derivative Securities, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 744, BUFN 726 or BUFN 761. Formerly BUFN 726.

Introduces options and futures contracts, and presents an overview of why and how they are used. The course focuses on the valuation, and the measuring and management of risk exposure, of options and futures. Derivative securities on various underlying assets (equities, indices, commodities, foreign exchange, etc.) are analyzed, using different application contexts.

Elective Courses

In addition to these finance electives and upon approval of the academic advisor, students may take up to six credits in related fields.

BUSI 647, Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI640.

For majors only or permission of department. Explores advanced topics in corporate finance, with major emphasis on how financiers help firms plan for growth and develop finance strategies firms use for different types of securities at different points in the industry's and firm's life. Securities will include private financing and placements, Venture Capital (VC), Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), Private Equity and Leveraged Buyouts.

BUFN 752, Financial Restructuring, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 742, BUFN 716 or BUFN 752. Formerly BUFN 716.

Examines alternative ways to increase firm value through corporate restructuring, including domestic and international acquisitions, spin-offs, carve-outs, and leveraged buy-outs. Focus is on theory, practice, and empirical evidence related to each of these forms of restructuring, and emphasis is placed on valuation analysis and strategic considerations.

BUFN 753, Corporate Governance, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BUFN 758G or BUFN 753. Formerly BUFN 758G.

Examines corporate governance and its impact on shareholder value. Topics include conceptual foundation for corporate governance, the role and duties of the board of directors, indicators of board effectiveness and best practices, design features of executive compensation contracts, the significance and prevalence of stock options, the perverse incentives of stock options and controversy over compensation practices, corporate governance failures and anatomy of corporate scandals, the essentials of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulatory reforms.

BUFN 754, Corporate Risk Management, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BUFN 758C or BUFN 754. Formerly BUFN 758C.

Explores the theory and practice of financial risk identification, measurement, and mitigation at financial and non-financial firms. Topics include hedging with options and futures, interest rate risk management, Value-at-Risk (VaR), Cashflow-at-Risk (CaR), Earnings-at-risk (EaR), credit risk, equity risk, commodities risk, exchange rate risk, and lessons from risk management disasters.

BUFN 758Q, Quantitative Investment Strategies, 2 credits

Prerequisites: BUSI 640. Recommended Course: BUFN 763.

Provides an advanced treatment of asset allocation strategies and performance evaluation. Quantitative techniques are applied to examine equity and fixed-income portfolio management strategies. The course provides a deeper understanding of the measurement of risk and its relationship to return, as well as of multi-factor models. Implementation issues, including statistical estimation, backtesting and portfolio construction, are covered, as are strategic versus tactical asset allocation, and performance evaluation.

BUFN 760, Applied Equity Analysis, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 702, BUFN 702 or BUFN 758A. Formerly BUFN702.

Applies financial concepts and tools to the analysis and valuation of equity securities. In addition to focusing on fundamental (DCF based) analysis of corporations, the course covers topics such as the EIC (Economy/Industry/Company) framework, financial statement analysis, relative value analysis, and contingent value analysis. Students will apply tools to value stocks and provide stock recommendations.

BUFN 762, Fixed Income Analysis, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUFN 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BUFN 735 or BUFN 762. Formerly BUFN 731.

Focuses on understanding and valuing financial instruments whose market values are tied to interest rate movements. Develops tools such as discount functions, duration, convexity, and immunization to analyze the interest rate sensitivity and value of fixed income securities and portfolios. A variety of fixed income securities are examined, particularly zero coupon and coupon bearing bonds.

BUFN 763, Portfolio Management, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 743, BUFN 700 or BUFN 763. Formerly BUFN 700.

Examines the theory and application of portfolio management techniques in detail, including the use of various asset classes in constructing efficient portfolios. Various risk and performance measurements for portfolios are examined, drawing on classic portfolio theory, as well as more recent index and factor models.

BUFN 765, Fixed Income Derivatives, 2 credits

Prerequisites: BUSI 640. Recommended courses: BUFN 761. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 735 or BUFN 765. Formerly BUFN 731.

Introduces the use and valuation of fixed income assets such as exchange-traded bond futures and options, forward contracts on interest rates, fixed and floating rate bonds with embedded options, floating rate notes, caps, collars, floors, interest rate swaps, and mortgage backed securities. Tools include the application of binomial option pricing trees, and the analysis of stochastic yield curves.

BUFN 766, Financial Engineering, 2 credits

Prerequisites: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 735 or BUFN 765. Formerly BUFN 735.

Introduces and applies various computational techniques useful in the management of equity and fixed income portfolios and the valuation of financial derivatives and fixed income securities. Techniques include Monte Carlo Simulation and binomial/lattice pricing models. Emphasis is on bridging theory with the design of algorithms and models that can be directly applied in practice.

BUFN 770, International Investment, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 746, BUFN 724, or BUFN 770. Formerly BUFN 724.

Examines foreign exchange markets (spot, forwards, futures, swaps, options), focusing on the use and valuation of these instruments. Other issues related to international security markets (equities and bonds/interest rates) and global portfolio management are discussed.

BUFN 771, International Corporate and Project Finance, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Recommended course: BUFN 770. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 746, BUFN 724 or BUFN 771. Formerly BUFN 724.

Focuses on the role of financial management in the multinational firm, and the financing and management of international projects. Topics include international capital budgeting, global cost of capital, project financing, and the measurement and management of exchange rate exposure by corporations.

BUFN 772, Bank Management, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 745, BUFN 722 or BUFN 772. Formerly BUFN 722.

Examines the economic role and regulation of banks and other financial institutions, and the structure of assets, liabilities and capital in these institutions. Tools are presented to analyze the various risks faced by banks, including interest rate risk, market risk, operational risk and off-balance sheet risk. Topics also include liquidity risk, liability risk, reserve management, deposit insurance, and capital requirements.

BUFN 773, Institutional Asset Management, 2 credits

Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BUFN 758I or BUFN 773. Formerly BUFN 758I.

Examines how money is managed by organizations such as university endowments, pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, and private equity funds. Emphasizes the incentives professional money managers face within the context of the organizational structure in which they operate. Particular attention paid to compensation structures and monitoring mechanisms.