Courses and Electives

The MFin program can be completed in 12 months or 24 months. 33 credit hours are required to graduate, among which 21 hours are required (R) including Investments, Financial Modeling, Financial Statement Analysis, Econometrics, Portfolio Management, Advanced Corporate Finance, and CFA Preparatory. 12 additional hours can be taken from an array of electives (E) such as Equity Trading, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Derivatives and Risk Management. The list below shows possible courses for a one-year option.

FIN 613 Econometrics - Training in the art of making economic measurements from financial database using regression analysis as the principle tool; use of advanced statistical software (e.g. SAS, Stata, etc.) to estimate and test regression equations; and interpretation of results using statistical inference.

FIN 621/MBA 621 Mergers and Acquisitions - In depth study of company valuation techniques and the influence of the governance structure - the CEO, President, and the Board of Directors - on company value.

FIN 623/MBA 623 Financial Statement Analysis - The course focuses on the analysis of financial statements by integrating accounting concepts and principles to assess a company's performance, quality of earnings, valuation and other issues. Specific topics may include analysis of balance sheet, income statement, cash flow, off-balance sheet assets/liabilities, inter-corporate investments, and analysis of business combination.

FIN 624/MBA 624 Financial Modeling - This lab course focuses on building financial models in R and Excel. Students will learn to construct models for practical, real-world applications that cover simple examples such as cash flow and ratio analysis to more complicated models of bond pricing, stock valuation and option pricing. In the process, students will master basic R programming language, Excel skills, and more advanced modeling techniques.

FIN 625/MBA 625 Investments - Study of investment principles and techniques used by both individual and institutional investors. Topics include bond and stock markets, security valuation methods, portfolio theory and management, and investment institutions.

FIN 626/MBA 626 International Financial Management - Introduction to problems facing financial management of international companies, including foreign exchange risk, working capital, and capital budgeting decisions for multinational corporations, international financing, accounting, and control.

FIN 627/MBA 627 Financial Derivatives and Risk Management - This course provides a theoretical foundation for the pricing of contingent claims and for designing risk-management strategies. It covers option pricing models, hedging techniques, and trading strategies. It also includes portfolio insurance, value-at-risk measure, multistep binomial trees to value American options, interest rate options, and other exotic options.

FIN 628/MBA 628 Fixed Income Analysis - This class will expose students to a variety of fixed income instruments that are traded in the financial markets, their investment characteristics, the state-of-art technology for valuing them, technique for quantifying their interest rate risk, and portfolio strategies for using them.

FIN 630 Portfolio Management - Advanced topics on portfolio management process for both individual and institutional portfolio management, including specifying and quantifying investor objectives and constraints, formulating portfolio policies and strategies, specifying capital market expectations, constructing portfolios, allocating assets, and measuring portfolio performance against objectives.

FIN 631 Securities Analysis - Stock intrinsic valuation by constructing FCFF Excel model, which includes forecasting firm financial statements, estimating levered beta and WACC, predicting free cash flows from firm, and sensitivity analysis. Students will be selected to participate in the CFA Research Challenge.

FIN 632 Advanced Corporate Finance - This course focuses upon corporate finance issues addressing short term financial management, long term capital budgeting, and long term financing choices. The course requires that students understand these issues through a series of cases and projects. A significant amount of spreadsheet modeling together with both individual and group work will be required to examine the cases and projects.

FIN 640 Fixed Income Trading - Theory and practice in active bond portfolio management are covered in this course, along with literature and practical issues relating to managing a bond fund. The course is presented in Seminar format, wherein students are divided into teams. Each team is responsible for a specific sector of the fixed income market.

FIN 641 Equity Trading - The art and science of technical equity trading: students implement a trading plan in a real stock market environment under a set risk management policy. Students learn to watch the market, analyze profitable situations, and produce winning trades.

FIN 642 Energy Trading and Risk Management - Energy market portfolio skills: physicality of natural gas market, natural gas pricing,  and natural gas portfolio transactions including hedging and basic risk management; VaR simulation produced; power pricing and risk management; weather hedging; credit derivatives and their use in energy; and oil basics and pricing a tolling agreement.

FIN 643 Investment Seminar - Application of investment theory and techniques in a real-world setting: students manage a funded portfolio in terms of establishing objectives, selecting securities to buy (sell), and evaluating portfolio performance. Emphasis is placed upon attempting to identify undervalued common stocks.

FIN 658/MTH 558 Financial Mathematics I: Discrete Model - Topics include introduction to financial derivatives, discrete probability theory, discrete stochastic processes (Markov chain, random walk, and Martingale), binomial tree models for derivative pricing and computational methods (European and American options), forward and futures, and interest rate derivatives.

FIN 659/MTH 559 Financial Mathematics II: Continuous Model - Topics include review of continuous probability theory, Ito's Lemma, the Black-Scholes partial differential equation, option pricing via partial differential equations, analysis of exotic options, local and stochastic volatility models, American options, fixed income, and stopping time. Computational methods are introduced.

FIN 660 Finance Empirical Method - The course includes readings of finance literature in asset pricing, corporate finance, and a mini project that requires students to analyze topics in the financial markets using databases such as CRSP and Compustat. Various econometric methods will be employed. Advanced statistical programming (e.g. SAS, Stata, etc.) is essential.

FIN 663/MTH 563 Computational Finance - This course introduces students to numerical methods and various financial problems including portfolio optimization and derivatives valuation.  Students will learn the basics of numerical analysis, optimization methods, Monte Carlo simulations, and finite difference methods for solving PDEs.

FIN 670 CFA Preparatory - A course designed to prepare students for CFA Levels I and II exam. Some scholarships may be given by the CFA Institute. The CFA exam encompasses topic including quantitative methods, economics, financial reporting and analysis, corporate finance, equity investments, fixed income, derivatives, portfolio management, and ethics and professional standards.  Since these topics constitute major components of the MFin curriculum, CFA Preparatory provides the opportunity to integrate the learning experience.