Finance Coursework

Fall & Spring | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 203

The financial services industry is the country’s largest employer of finance graduates, and is a major component of the U.S. and global economy. This course will introduce students to the institutional framework of financial markets and the financial services industry, and help students to understand at a high level the financial, economic and regulatory context in which many financial decisions get made and transactions executed.

Students study the overall structure of the financial services industry as well as the specific characteristics of the major industry segments: commercial banking, investment banking, insurance and asset management. Students examine financial sector business and funding models, the industry’s approach to risk management and capital allocation and the linkages between the financial services industry and the real economy. They consider representative business transactions facilitated by the financial services industry, and discuss the regulatory environment in which financial institutions operate and financial transactions take place. The course has a significant current events component and addresses issues of public policy concern, including industry governance and professional ethics.

One cannot fully understand the current state or structure of the financial services industry without reference to the historic and transformational events of 2007 – 2009 and beyond (the “Financial Crisis”). During this course, students explore various aspects of the Financial Crisis and reflect upon the changing dynamics of the financial services industry that contributed to and resulted from the Financial Crisis. They begin and end the course term with a discussion of the Financial Crisis, and refer frequently to these events throughout the course term.

This class is a COLL 200 CSI course.

Fall & Spring | 3 Credits

This course provides an introduction to finance. The basic principles of finance are explored here and applied not only to personal financial management but also to decisions faced by the financial manager. The course develops the basic tools necessary for analyzing and interpreting financial data and lays the foundations for understanding how securities are priced in the financial markets, and how financial managers can create value for their shareholders. Specific concepts covered include time value of money, the relation between risk and return, security valuation, cost of capital, evaluation of investment projects, and the efficient markets hypothesis.

Prerequisites are those of entering the business school, found here.

Fall & Spring | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323

An introduction to portfolio management, fixed income, and derivative instruments.

Fall & Spring | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323

This course focuses on corporate valuation and credit analysis. Students will learn common methodologies for valuing corporate entities used by professionals working in investments, private equity, venture capital and investment banking. The course will familiarize students with various data sources and software used in the financial industry.

Fall & Spring | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): ECON 101 & ECON 102

A study of the foreign exchange markets, the relation between interest rates and exchange rates, and the current international monetary system. Specific course topics include borrowing and lending opportunities in international financial markets, international trade finance, the management of risks associated with exchange rate fluctuations, the assessment of sovereign risk.

Fall & Spring | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323

The purpose of this course is to provide portfolio management and security analysis experience through the management of the Mason School Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF). Students select companies from an S&P stock universe, do research on their business model and competitive environment, make forecasts of future financial performance and perform valuation analyses, write an investment report and present orally a recommendation to their colleagues and faculty for inclusion in a real endowment portfolio of common stocks. This course may be repeated one time.

Spring | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323 & BUAD 329

The goal of this course is to expose students to practices and recent developments within several specialized areas of the financial services sector utilizing a case method format. The course utilizes cases from leading graduate business schools as well as original cases written by case sponsors.

Fall & Spring | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323

Advanced topics in the theory and practice of financial decision-making. Cases and readings are used to examine the tools and techniques of financial strategy formulation and implementation under various environmental settings.

Fall & Spring | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323 and BUAD 327

An examination of the markets of derivative securities, valuation, trading strategies, and their applications in managing risk. The emphases are on financial engineering and the quantitative methods in the valuation of derivative securities.

Spring | 1 Credit
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323

This course is designed to give students an overview of the hedge fund industry. Topics covered include typical fund structures, primary stakeholders and partners, key regulatory and legal issues, and important items for management to consider in the establishment and management of funds. This course is offered in January prior to the start of the Spring semester.

Fall | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323 and BUAD 327

An examination of the advanced topics of equity and fixed-income investments.

Fall | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): ECON 101 and BUAD 231 or Statistics equivalent.

A review of prominent psychological biases and heuristics affecting individual decision-making. Applications to economics, finance, public policy, and social science.

Fall & Spring | 2 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323

The CFA Challenge is a course designed around the national CFA Challenge competition. A small group of students works with a finance professor in looking for, valuing and pitching a company. As a capstone to the class, students compete in the Virginia State CFA Challenge. This course requires instructor permission.

Fall | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): 1 of BUAD 340, BUAD 311, or BUAD 323

This course provides real world, on-the-ground learning about how entrepreneurial ventures are financed, with a particular focus on Venture Capital & Private Equity sources of funding. Topic areas include understanding what sources of capital are available to entrepreneurial ventures, deciding how much to raise and from what sources to raise, selecting potential investors and board members, preparing ventures for profitable exits, and learning how to “craft a deal” by creating term sheets, investment pitches, and incentive plans. This course is designed for individuals with an interest in entrepreneurship, private equity/venture capital, corporate finance and law.

Fall 2022 | 3 Credits

Fall 2022 | 1 Credit

Spring | 1 Credit
Prof. John Gilmour

*This course is strongly recommended as pre-req for BUAD 492 03 Policy Research Seminar*
*This course is for Junior, Senior academic standing* 

This course will be a brief introduction to the federal budget. It will cover the following topics: debt and deficit in the US; growth in entitlement spending — its causes and consequences; tax policy; appropriations.

Spring | 3 Credits
Prof. John Gilmour

*This course is for Junior, Senior academic standing*

*Strongly recommended to take BUAD 492 01: Budget Issues as a prerequisite*

This course will explore the growth of public debt in the United States and the causes and consequences of large-scale public
borrowing. An important goal of the class will be to create a publicly-accessible website to help educate the public about
issues related to the public debt, building on work of a previous course that created a website about Social Security.
The amount of public debt in America has been rising rapidly, for reasons that are multiple and complex, and it will pass
100% of GDP soon (if it has not already). While there is universal agreement that too much debt is bad, there is a great deal
of disagreement about how much debt is too much, what the consequences of higher debt levels will be, and what should
be done about it. One concern is that rising debt will lead to a sovereign debt crisis like the one that occurred in Greece in
2009. A sovereign debt crisis occurs when a sovereign state is incapable of borrowing except at ruinously high rates. Debt
in the US is higher than it was in Greece at the time of their crisis, but much lower than Japan’s, which has had no trouble
borrowing despite a public debt exceeding 200% of GDP. Another issue is that adding to the public debt shifts on the costs
of today’s consumption to a future generation, raising concerns of inter-generational fairness.

Fall | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): 1 of BUAD 340, BUAD 311, or BUAD 323

This course provides real world, on-the-ground learning about how entrepreneurial ventures are financed, with a particular focus on Venture Capital & Private Equity sources of funding. Topic areas include understanding what sources of capital are available to entrepreneurial ventures, deciding how much to raise and from what sources to raise, selecting potential investors and board members, preparing ventures for profitable exits, and learning how to “craft a deal” by creating term sheets, investment pitches, and incentive plans. This course is designed for individuals with an interest in entrepreneurship, private equity/venture capital, corporate finance and law.

Spring | 3 Credits

Students will engage financial history and the people who made it by studying the evolution of financing arrangements, financial risk, current institutions, and government policies. We will also investigate the historical record regarding booms, busts, and financial panics. Since a main reason to study history is to provide context for current decision-making, students will seek to understand how lessons from financial history can help inform debates on current macro-financial problems.

3 Credits
Professor Jad Howell

Spring 2023 | 1 Credit

Spring | 3 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323

Semester TBD | 2 Credits
Prerequisite(s): BUAD 323

Spring | 1 Credit
Prof. Matthew Williams, with guest lecturer Ruggero Caterini, COO of Dolce and Gabbana

An interactive workshop where teams will develop competing business cases in the Fashion Industry with guest lecturer Ruggero Caterini, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Dolce and Gabbana. The course will give you a hands-on overview of the Luxury and fashion business, under the guidance of one of the industry’s global leaders.