McCombs School of Business
Department of Finance
Finance : Courses : Graduate

Graduate Courses

Finance

Real Estate and Urban Land Management

Business Administration

FINANCE

FIN 390.1 Financial Markets and Institutions
The course presents an overview of financial market pricing of debt, equity, and foreign exchange and how the pricing in these markets interrelate to each other and to the performance of the economy. The course develops frameworks to understand the contemporaneous risks the market is pricing such as the rate of economic growth/recession, inflation/deflation, country risk and the pricing interventions by governments in financial markets. We examine how the global market came about and how it has affected financial pricing. Other topics include financial market policy-making; regulation in financial markets; how debt securities are created and traded; how equity securities are created and traded; primary and secondary market operations; investment banking and the functions of brokers, dealers and intermediaries. The course makes use of current media and historical events to discuss the above topics based on financial and economic theory.

Exams: Mid term and Final Essays Exam Questions
Prerequisites: BA 385T, FIN 394.1, FIN 397.1

FIN 394.1 Advanced Topics in Corporate Finance
This course provides continues and extends the discussion of the basic corporate financial management decision-making process begun in BA 385T.  Topics covered in the course will include: an overview of financial management in the global marketplace; comparisons of financial and real investments; valuing real assets and real options; valuation with taxation; the role of financial leverage; optimal capital structure; bondholder-stockholder conflicts; stockholder-owner conflicts; evaluating financial distress; optimal debt management; managerial incentives and compensation arrangements; value-based management and information management; corporate control and restructuring: mergers, acquisitions, takeovers, spinoffs and selloffs; corporate governance issues; and the role of institutional activism.
Prerequisites: BA 385T

FIN 394.2 Financial Strategies
This course develops an integrated, in-depth analysis of the interaction between the operating policies of a corporation and its financial decision-making strategies.  Topics covered in the course will include: the tools of financial decision-making; corporate cash management; cost of capital evaluation; project analysis and valuation; the financial impact of marketing strategies; public and private company valuation; corporate acquisition policies; financing the required asset base; dividend policy; capital structure: internal versus external financing; assessing and managing investor clienteles; and assessing and managing business risk exposures. 
Prerequisites: BA 385T, FIN 394.1, FIN 397.1

FIN 394.3 Global Finance
This course provides students with an in-depth look at the financial management function in a multinational corporation.  The following topics will be covered: an overview of global capital and equity markets; an analysis of the balance of payments; the creation of international money and the determination of foreign exchange rates; the mechanics of currency trading; interest rate and purchasing power parity relationships; managing foreign exchange risk; analyzing foreign direct investment; capital budgeting in a global environment; taxes, transfer prices, and intracompany loans; assessing and measuring political risk; and financial issues in emerging markets. 
Prerequisites: BA 385T, FIN 394.1, FIN 397.1

FIN 394.4 Financial Management of Small and Middle-Sized Enterprises
This course offers a practical application of financial principles for owner-managed businesses.  Specific topics include valuation of closely-held businesses, legal forms of organization and taxation of the small business, working capital management, cash budgeting, capital budgeting, financial statement analysis, sources of capital, and capital structure.  Half of the semester is lecture style instruction on specific financial topics with the other half dedicated to case presentations.  Prerequisite:  BA 385T

FIN 397.1 Investment Theory and Practice
This course focuses on the examination and valuation of the major investment vehicles popular today throughout the world.  Topics covered will include: an overview of the investment decision-making process; asset allocation in the global investment setting; analysis of security types; analysis of security markets and trading practices; aggregate market analysis and market indicators; risk, diversification, and optimal portfolio formation; risk and expected return: CAPM, APT, and factor models; domestic and international fixed-income investing: instruments, valuation, and strategies; domestic and international equity investing: instruments, valuation, and strategies; forward and futures contracts: valuation and strategies; option contracts: valuation and strategies; investment companies; and performance measurement. 
Prerequisites:  BA 385T

FIN 397.2 Portfolio Management and Security Analysis
This course is designed to acquaint the student with the modern practice of valuing financial securities and managing investment portfolios.  Topics covered in the course will include: portfolio optimization methods; asset management for institutional investors: pension funds, endowment funds, and corporations; asset management for individual investors; asset allocation strategies: strategic, dynamic, tactical, and insured; domestic and international equity portfolio style management; risk control with derivatives; performance measurement techniques; managing client relationships; fundamental, technical, and efficient market equity valuation; aggregate market, industry, and company analysis: top-down versus bottom-up valuation; and financial statement analysis: earnings and cash flow analysis. 
Prerequisites: BA 385T, FIN 394.1, FIN 397.1

FIN 397.4 Financial Risk Management
This course focuses on how corporations manage their myriad business risk exposures and which of these exposures derivative securities are designed to address.  The following topics will be covered: an overview of capital and derivative markets and the participants in those markets; the risk management process; measuring corporate risk exposure: gap analysis, value at risk, and stress testing; comparison of forward, futures, insurance, and option markets; theory of hedging, speculation and arbitrage; commodity, interest rate, stock index, and foreign exchange futures contracts: valuation and strategies; option valuation: binomial, Black-Scholes, exotic; commodity, interest rate, stock index, and foreign exchange option contracts: strategies and applications; and swap contracting. 
Prerequisites: BA 385T, FIN 394.1, FIN 397.1

FIN 397.5 Fixed Income Analysis
This course provides a comprehensive analysis and valuation of fixed-income securities from the perspective of a financial, security, or credit analyst.  Topics covered in the course will include: an overview of Treasury, agency, and corporate fixed-income securities; trading conventions and practices in fixed-income markets, general approaches to valuing debt securities; theories and models of the term structure of interest rates; par, spot, and forward yields; an analysis and valuation of credit risk; fixed- and variable-income debt securities; asset-backed securities and structured notes; fixed-income derivatives: valuation and applications; and fixed-income portfolio management strategies.  Prerequisites: BA 385T, FIN 394.1, FIN 397.1

 

REAL ESTATE AND URBAN LAND MANAGEMENT

RE 386.1 Real Estate and Urban Land Economics
An introduction to real estate analysis and urban development.  It applies financial and economic concepts to the examination of financing, investment, development, and public policy issues in real estate and mortgage markets.  This is a survey course providing a basic coverage of a large number of real estate topics.  By the end of the course, students will have a basic understanding of real estate and mortgage markets and the fundamentals of real estate investment analysis.

RE 386.2 Real Estate Investment & Development Decisions
 This course examines selected advanced problems and issues in the area of real estate investment. Topics include: discounted cash flow techniques, risk, sensitivity analysis, taxation, form of ownership, syndication/limited partnerships, the role of institutional investors, property management and marketing investment property. Financial concepts and models are applied to real estate analysis so the student can take away an understanding of the real estate investment market.

RE 388 Seminar in Real Estate Finance
Examination of the debt financing of residential and commercial properties.  It analyzes primary and secondary mortgage markets, mortgage banking, loan instruments, mortgage securitization, as well as lenders and borrowers decisions regarding real estate financing.  By the end of the course, students should have a thorough understanding of the use of debt to finance property investments, the measurement of the returns and risks of mortgage instruments, and the securitization of residential and commercial mortgages.  Because of the important role that mortgaged-backed securities play in financial markets, this course will be of particular interest to students interested in derivative instruments.

 

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

BA 385T  -  Financial Management
Description This is an introductory survey MBA core course in the financial decisions that confront corporate managers in a global environment.  In particular, it develops answers to two specific decisions: how do companies decide what projects to invest in and how should companies pay for those investments?  The following topics will be covered: time value of money techniques; estimating risk and return: probability and return distributions, covariance; linking risk and return: Capital Asset Pricing Model and Arbitrage Pricing Theory; capital market efficiency; capital budgeting: cash flow estimation, project evaluation techniques; capital acquisition: debt, preferred stock, and equity financing; capital structure theory: Modigliani-Miller theorems, taxes, default, and agency theory; dividend policy; working capital management; leasing versus purchasing; ethical and legal issues; and using derivatives in corporate finance.