Finance BS
Program Purpose
The BS Finance program has a rigorous and quantitative curriculum designed to prepare students for careers in corporate finance, financial institutions, and investments.
The finance junior core consists of two semesters with three core classes in the fall semester (FIN 401, FIN 410 and FIN 453) and two core classes in the winter semester (Acc 440 and FIN 411).
Students go through the program in cohorts according to their year in the major, and work on team projects within the core.
Students need a strong quantitative-based background (e.g., economics, math, and statistics). The program is "limited enrollment" so students must formally apply to be admitted. Prior to beginning the program in the fall semester, students will need to complete online financial accounting and quantitative analysis modules.
Course Structure
Students who graduate from the Finance major are required to take FIN 201, Principles of Finance, as part of the prerequisites required of all students applying to a BYU Marriott major.
FIN 201, Principles of Finance: Financial management from the viewpoint fo the business manager emphasizing profitability, liquidity, and long-range financial planning.
After admittance into the Finance program, students are required to complete two envelopes of classes:
Fall Envelope:
FIN 401, Advanced Financial Management: Capital budgeting, cost of capital, capital structure/dividends, mergers and acquisitions, and current financial problems.
FIN 410, Investments: Security markets, security analysis, and portfolio management.
FIN 453, Money, Banking, and Business: Economic analysis of effects of money, banking, and financial institutions on business decisions and aggregate economic activity.
FIN 320, Financial Career Orientation and Planning: Student orientation and preparation for careers in Finance.
Winter Envelope:
FIN 411, Financial Derivatives: Current investment literature, efficient markets, modern portfolio theory, capital assets pricing, options pricing theory with a focus on derivatives and fixed income strategies.
ACC 440, Corporate Financial Reporting: Accounting principles of corporate financial reporting. Judgments managers make preparing financial statement information. How complexities, alternatives, and impacts affect completed financial statements.
FIN 321, Finance Mentor Program: Discussions with outside finance mentors about career opportunities.
FIN 409, Equity, Financial Modeling, and Valuation*: Hands-on opportunity to work with security markets and perform security analysis. Builds on theory of investment development in FIN 410. *This course is only taken if the student chooses to follow the Asset Management track.
Students also pick one course below to take their senior year as an "Elective Track":
Asset Management Track | FIN 415, Portfolio Management: Team management of actual investment portfolio. Responsibility for economic forecasts, security selection, and portfolio strategy. This course is split into two semesters, 1.5 credits taken in each.
Corporate Finance Track | FIN 432, International Corporate Finance: Financial aspects of multinational corporations operating within an international environment; direct foreign investment, foreign exchange regulations, capital markets, etc.
Investment Banking Track | FIN 417, Analysis for Investment Bankers: Exploring the skills used by investment bankers including industry analysis, financial statement analysis, and valuation; the underwriting issues such as security characteristics, embedded options, swaps, convertibles, and other hybrid securities.
Real Estate Investment Track | FIN 413, Real Estate Finance and Investment: Terminology, concepts, principles, and analytical techniques related to financing of and investment in real estate.
Other courses are required as a part of Finance being a BYU Marriott major. This includes MCOM 320, IS 201, MATH 116, STAT 121, ACC 241, BUS M 498, and a lecture series requirement. This also includes the Management Integrated Core: BUS M 361, BUS M 390, ORG B 321, and BUS M 387. The details of these requirements can be viewed in the links below
Learning Outcomes
Analyze Financial Data
Acquire, interpret, and analyze accounting, economic, and financial data to facilitate decision making in corporate and investment environments in both personal and professional settings.
Make and effectively communicate sound and ethical financial decisions by calculating and interpreting standard financial-decision metrics such as NPV, IRR, duration, Sharpe Ratio, YTM, and OAS.
Use standard data resources and software (such as Excel) to model asset valuation, construct optimal portfolios, and perform other useful estimation or optimization procedures.
Quantify risk, make sound and ethical financial decisions in a risky environment, and design financial strategies for managing business risks.