Financial Planning Degree

Emphasis is placed on understanding reported financial information used to assess a company’s current performance, future risks, and business opportunities. Students develop skills necessary to understand the performance impact on financial statements and how economic events such as operating activities, corporate investments, and financing transactions affect the three main financial statements - the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. Dual listed as MBA 520/MSF 520 Prerequisite: Graduate standing

This course presents fundamental micro and macroeconomic concepts relevant to managers and other policymakers in business and government. Students are challenged to recognize, apply, and assess these concepts to decision making in business management and public policy. Students address the applicability of economic concepts to themselves, businesses, and society. Concepts and implications fundamental to the market supply and demand economic framework are addressed with an emphasis on their application to the firm and individual. Additionally macro-economic concepts, including an overall aggregate model of the economy are addressed. Students are encouraged to take a holistic view of how economic concepts impact the firm. Dual listed as MBA 611/MSF 611 Prerequisite: Graduate Standing

The use of a variety of business analytics techniques, including quantitative and qualitative descriptive analysis tools, to support informed decision-making serves as a major focus of this course. Techniques addressed include tabular and graphical displays of data such as the bar chart and histogram, numerical measures such as the mean and standard deviation, and linear regression. Critical evaluation of actual business scenarios will be conducted during this course. Cross-listed with MSF 624 MBA 624 Prerequisite: MBA 500 and MBA 520

Students acquire knowledge, skills, and abilities to evaluate financial performance and strategies to utilize limited resources to optimize the financial value of a business. Key elements of the course include assessing financial performance, understanding financial and economic markets, computing the value of money and cash flows over time, performing risk analysis and project valuation. Dual listed as MBA 655/MSF 655 Prerequisite: MSF 624

This course focuses on federal income tax provisions and procedures used to compute tax liability for individuals. Included in the course are the concepts of income tax determination, problems of computing gross income, deductions and losses, tax credits, capital gains and losses, tax liability, and preparation of tax returns. Students will be expected to prepare basic tax forms and research tax issues using appropriate research materials. Prerequisite: AC 206 or MBA 641 or Graduate standing

This course includes fundamental principles and practices of risk management and insurance with an applied focus on risk management processes as well as institutional and contractual details of the insurance industry. Topics include risk identification; risk characterization; pricing of risk reduction techniques; risk retention; regulatory, legal and tax implications; insurance; and other hedging strategies. Additionally, personal, business, and public policy perspectives concerning life, health, property, and liability risk management and insurance are addressed. Prerequisite: MBA 520 and MBA 624 or MSF 624

Investment principles and practices are studied in the context of individuals and or organizations. The course will integrate economic relationships and practices for an understanding of the current investment environment. Additionally, the course will survey the institutions and securities that make up the investment environment to provide students a history of how Wall Street operates. Students should learn to understand and experience how individuals trade financial instruments, including stocks, options, bonds, futures, and other derivative securities. Prerequisite: MBA 520 and MBA 624

This course has two main objectives. First, students study about people's attitudes, values, and biases to analyze sources of money conflict. Students also learn about sources of effective communication processes to provide financial counseling and manage economic crisis events. Second, this course provides an introduction of the operations of financial markets, as well as the evolving regulatory framework within which these markets operate. Prerequisite: MSF 520

The goal of this course is for students to learn how to prepare for post-working life. Students design a retirement plan that will meet a client's needs from a tax, retirement, and financial planning standpoint. Students also survey estate and gift tax planning, the unified estate and gift tax system, and the transfer of property through trusts and wills. Prerequisite: MSF 624

Students apply the financial planning process by considering the ethical, legal, and regulatory environment; appropriate communication; the standards of professional conduct; and other topics of relevance in financial planning and decision making. Students integrate employee benefits and retirement planning, investments, risk management and insurance, income taxes, and estate planning into a comprehensive financial plan. Prerequisite: AC 631, FP 601, BA 602, BA 616A, FP 619