PFP510 Financial Planning Process and Risk Management

Emphasizes the fundamentals of individual income taxation, the tax implication of various types of businesses, tax-advantaged investments, employee compensation issues and planning, alternative minimum tax, tax traps, and more.

PFP511 Insurance

This course applies the concepts of time value of money and principles of insurance and risk management to the financial planning process.

PFP512 Investment Planning

This course covers a variety of investment vehicles that can be included in a client’s portfolio, as well as client assessment, tax considerations, economic factors, valuation methods, asset allocation techniques, and portfolio performance evaluation.

PFP513 Income Tax Planning

Emphasizes the fundamentals of individual income taxation, the tax implication of various types of businesses, tax-advantaged investments, employee compensation issues and planning, alternative minimum tax, tax traps, and more.

PFP514 Retirement Planning

This course examines major retirement-related issues, including retirement savings needs analysis, IRAs, qualified retirement plans for large and small employers, Social Security retirement programs, and nonqualified deferred compensation. You will compare and contrast a variety of retirement programs by designing a comparison table. You will also write a paper on retirement plan administration issues, and apply your learning as you prepare a proposal for a hypothetical client as a term project.

PFP515 Estate Planning (Part I)

This course introduces the student to the process of developing an estate plan. Topics covered include federal estate and gift taxation, techniques that reduce the size of the gross estate, wills, intestacy, probate, trusts, and more.

PFP516 Estate Planning (Part II)

This course builds on the estate planning process concepts introduced in PFP515. Topics covered include federal estate and gift taxation, techniques that reduce the size of the gross estate, wills, intestacy, probate, trusts, and more.

PFP570 Pre-retirement Financial Planning Topics

You will use a hypothetical couple planning to retire in 15 years. In designing their retirement plan, you will analyze a wide range of issues facing individuals who are preparing for retirement. This course also presents a variety of methods for approaching the issues to better assist clients in resolving the issues that may be faced when preparing for or after retirement.

PFP572 Qualified Retirement Plan Topics

Provides an understanding of most of the important characteristics of tax-deferred retirement plans. The course covers funding of money purchase, profit  sharing, defined benefit, and hybrid plans; plan design, installation, administration, and operation; investment objectives; fiduciary issues; and  prohibited transactions. Case analyses are used to simulate actual situations. You will also be required to research questions involving tax-deferred retirement plans.

PFP581 Estate Planning for Retirement Benefits

This course focuses on estate planning for retirement distributions from qualified plans and IRAs, while providing you with essential information regarding tax and other laws that govern retirement benefits and distributions. Among other things, the use of employer-sponsored retirement plans, IRAs, trusts, and charitable gifts to achieve client goals are covered. Also discussed are many important financial planning techniques used to help clients build a financially secure retirement.

PFP580 Issues & Cases in Estate Planning

Examines selected issues related to estate planning in a case study-driven format. These include both tax and non-tax aspects of planning for disability and death.

ACC510 Financial Statement Analysis

This course introduces accounting tools applied in fundamental investment analysis. You will be introduced to financial statement analysis covering accrual accounting, cash flow analysis, financial ratios, earnings per share, asset and liabilities analysis, and accounting disclosure.

FIN520 Quantitative Analysis

The course covers fundamental statistics and the time value concepts related to investment analysis. Topics include compounding/discounting,  investment returns, cost of capital, capital budgeting  techniques, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, basic probability concepts, linear regression, correlation, and hypothesis testing.

FIN521 Economics & Derivatives

The first half of the course introduces you to demand and supply, aggregate demand and aggregate supply, gross domestic product, fiscal and monetary policy, the banking system, consumer choice and indifference curves, cost of production, pure competition, monopoly, monopolistic completion, oligopoly, and the demand and supply of productive resources.

The second half looks at derivative markets, derivative pricing, and derivative trading and hedging strategies. The course looks at derivative pricing using Black-Scholes option pricing model, binary option pricing model, and cost-of-carry futures pricing. Derivative strategies include covered calls, protective spreads, and portfolio insurance

FIN522 Equity and Debt Management

Introduces you to equity and debt investments. Equity topics cover asset allocation and portfolio management, the efficient market hypothesis, and industry and company analysis. Debt topics cover characteristics of debt securities, yield measures, fixed income security valuation, measurement of interest rate risk, and spot forward rates.

FIN540 Advanced Financial Statement Analysis & Economics

This course examines economic issues important in the valuation of securities and advanced financial statement analysis. The first half of the course introduces you to the issues of economic growth and environment, government regulation, natural resources, foreign exchange markets, and parity. The second half of the course introduces intercorporate investments, business combinations, multinational operations, GAAP issues, pension liabilities, and quality of earnings.

FIN541 Derivatives

Looks at derivative markets, derivative pricing, and derivative trading and hedging strategies. Derivative contracts include forward and swaps, options, futures, and collateralized mortgage obligations. The course looks at derivative pricing using Black-Scholes option pricing model, binary option pricing model, and cost-of-carry futures pricing. Derivative strategies include covered calls, protective put, option spreads, and portfolio insurance.

FIN542 Analysis of Equity Investments

This course is a major focus of the second year. Upon completion you will understand multiple approaches to stock valuation and be able to calculate a firm’s valuation using each of the methods learned. Topics include an overview to valuation approaches, financial forecasting, sustainable growth rates,  competitive advantage, industry analysis, financial ratios, dividend discount models, cash flow discount models, relative valuation models, value-added models, corporate finance, and capital market theory. Several case studies guide you through a synthesis of the concepts learned.

COM500 Communication & Research Techniques for Master’s Students

This one-credit course provides a basic introduction to Internet research, the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, use of the College Web site, and the University Library.

PFP550 Portfolio Management for Personal Financial Planners

The investment planning process between a financial planner and a client is covered in detail. The course covers the theory of investment management, security valuation, and portfolio management, including the analysis of risk and return and portfolio performance evaluation. The course exposes you to a balanced presentation of both the theoretical and practical aspects of investment management through analysis of a case study in personal investment management.

PFP560 Tax Planning for the Highly Compensated

Provides you with a strong background in tax research and planning techniques specific to upper-income taxpayers. The course provides you with a discussion of various methods of compensation planning with a goal of minimizing or deferring taxation.  Potential investments and their tax impact on the highly compensated individual are also explored.

PFP650 Personal Financial Planning: Integrated Case Study

Analyze, synthesize, and evaluate an assigned case study addressing retirement, investment, tax, and estate planning issues. Your five-credit case study course must be completed within 16 weeks from the official start date of the course.

PFP551 Investment Analysis

Presents advanced investment concepts in yield curve analysis and application of these concepts in developing theoretical spot rates, forward rates, foreign exchange rates, and bond portfolio analysis. You will be introduced to credit and risk analysis, futures and option pricing, technical analysis, and investment performance evaluation and attribution analysis.

PFP590 Women & Financial Planning

Covers the unique financial issues facing women today. You will learn to apply each aspect of the financial planning process to women and their particular needs. The goal of this course is to provide basic tools and concepts for individuals practicing in the field of personal financial planning, of which women comprise a portion of their client base.

ECO510 Money & Banking

This course uses advanced economic theories and principles to explain the structures of financial markets, financial institution management, and the role of interest rates and money in the economy.

ECO551 Global Economics

This course presents economic theory in a global environment. Topics include contemporary global economic issues, trade and income distribution, regional economic integration, the international monetary system, the exchange rate system, and the global balance of payments equilibrium and disequilibrium.

FIN560 Public Policy

This course utilizes advanced economic theories to examine and explain the effects of government programs and policies on the national economy.

FIN561 Technical Analysis

This is an introductory course in technical analysis applying charting techniques, volume indicators, and oscillators to indicate market price trends and reversals.

FIN543 Analysis of Debt Investments

An advanced course in debt analysis covering mortgage-backed securities, option-adjusted spreads, duration and convexity, asset-backed securities, bonds with embedded options, and structured financing.

FIN580 Managing Equity Investments

This course is a major focus of the third year. Upon completion you will understand how to draft and critique investment policy statements for individual and institutional investors; how to develop, monitor, and rebalance an asset allocation using the investment policy statement as a guideline; and how to employ alternative risk measures in portfolio management. Topics include the construction of investment policy statements for a variety of individual and institutional investors, behavioral finance, asset allocation principles and strategies, equity styles, benchmarks, indexing, active and passive management, trading costs, and alternative risk measures.

FIN581 Managing Debt Investments & Quantitative Analysis

This course examines advanced fixed-income strategies for the effective management of portfolio risk and return in an investment portfolio. Topics include alternative measures of risk, immunization strategies, enhanced indexing strategies, relative-value methodologies, international bond options, credit derivatives, and interest rate swaps. The course concludes with an introduction to multiple regression, time-series analysis, and analyzing multi-asset portfolios.

FIN610 Advanced Portfolio Management

This course covers advanced investment issues, products, and strategies of concern at the portfolio management level. Topics include economic forecasting, psychological influences on security prices, use of options and futures to alter the risk/return profile of a portfolio, portfolio diversification using foreign stocks and alternative investments, and global performance evaluation tools and techniques.

FIN640 Financial Analysis: An Integrated Capstone Project

Integrates the concepts from the financial analysis curriculum. You will perform independent research, solve problems, make recommendations, demonstrate your ability to use computer software, and present an investment management program. Your six-credit Capstone course must be completed within 16 weeks from the official start date of the course.

FIN510 Investment Management

This course exposes you to a balanced presentation of both the theoretical and practical aspects of investment management. Among the topics covered are the theory of investment management, security valuation, and portfolio management, including the analysis of investment risk and return, portfolio performance evaluation, and equity and fixed-income analysis. Also dealt with are the vast array of different securities and markets that are available to investment managers, including investment companies, options, futures, and international investing.

FIN511 Global Finance

This course uses advanced economic theory to explain the workings of the global monetary system and financial markets and institutions.

FIN550 Financial Decision Making

This course incorporates the principles of risk/return, valuation, ratio analysis, capital structure, cost of capital, and capital budgeting techniques to corporate finance.

FIN551 Security & Firm Evaluation

This course applies advanced quantitative methods and models in valuing equity, debt, and derivative securities and terminal value of firms.

ETH550 Business Ethics

This course is designed to explore the ethical dimension in the current global business environment; study and apply the major normative ethical theories to business situations; understand the relevance of stakeholders to business decisions; improve ethical and moral decision-making processes; analyze case studies that present ethical business dilemmas; understand moral, amoral, and immoral decisions in business situations; and encourage ethical behavior and professionalism in all activities.

FIN600 Case Studies in Finance

This is an advanced course in finance that incorporates case studies in addressing current financial issues. You will be required to apply theory as well as identify relevant facts and assumptions in the case analyses. Case topics include risk management, fundamental analysis, corporate finance, investment management, and business ethics.

FIN650 Individual Thesis

This course is for the candidate who has successfully completed the coursework for the Master of Science degree, Finance major. The candidate proposes a thesis topic to the faculty committee for approval, and then develops a thesis on the approved topic that incorporates applied and supportive research for defending the thesis conclusion.

FIN651 Literature Research Thesis

This course is for the candidate who has successfully completed the coursework for the Master of Science degree, Finance major. The candidate presents an argument to the faculty committee for approval, and then develops the approved argument for defense based on comprehensive literature research.

Your five-credit Individual Thesis or Literature Research Thesis must be completed within 16 weeks from the official start date of the course.

ECO550 Managerial Economics

This is an advanced course in microeconomics. Topics include behavioral economics, market structure, optimization, game theory, production and cost, pricing, demand analysis, creating and capturing value, and incentive conflicts and contracts.

MAT551 Advanced Statistical Techniques for Business & Economics

An upper-level quantitative course applying the concepts of probability analysis, hypothesis testing, regression/ correlation, and time-series analysis, modeling, and forecasting.