Courses Taught

BA 301 – Finance (3)
An overview of finance for non-business majors. Topics include financial markets and institutions, investments, and financial decision making in organizations. B A 301 Finance (3) The goal of BA 301 is to provide insight into the thinking of both the financial manager and the functional manager that is needed to effectively lead and manage not only their business organization but also their personal financial lives. The course will enable the student to learn the key financial concepts, constructs, and models that are used by financial managers every day around the world. Understanding of the mathematics of finance, the use of financial calculators, and development of Excel financial model problem solving will be emphasized. Ethical financial decision-making will be a common theme that is integrated throughout the course. Using a survey overview approach, the first five weeks of the course will cover concepts such as financial statements and analysis, financial ratios and analysis, long-term financial planning and budgeting, time value of money, discounted cash flow analysis, capital budgeting, break-even analysis, and systematic/unsystematic risk. The next five weeks will provide an overview of financial topics that are normally covered in detail in financial markets courses. These topics include financial systems, money markets, the Federal Reserve and monetary policy, derivatives and speculative markets, and legal and operational issues in financial markets. The final five weeks will cover general personal finance topics of interest such as money management strategies, insurance and risk management, consumer credit, tax strategies, investing in stocks, bonds, and Exchange-Traded Funds, and retirement and estate planning. A student may not receive credit toward graduation for both B A 301 and FIN 100, or for both B A 301 and FIN 301.

FIN 406 – Sec Anly &Prt Mgmt (3)
Advanced valuation theory; fundamentals of security analysis; portfolio construction and management.

FIN 406H – Sc Aly Prf Mgt Hn (3)
Advanced valuation theory; fundamentals of security analysis; portfolio construction and management. FIN 406H - Security Analysis and Portfolio Management (Honors)(3) Finance 406 is about how to invest money in stocks, bonds and derivative securities. The course focus is on creating portfolios of assets rather than on picking individual assets for investment. To create a portfolio of assets, the portfolio manager must have knowledge of the assets available for purchase, the markets the assets are traded in, and the statistical and mathematical techniques needed to assign weights to the assets within the portfolio. The manager must also be able to predict changes in the economy that justify changes in the portfolio, as well as be able to evaluate the performance of the portfolio relative to standard benchmark portfolios such as the S&P500.The course begins with a review of the structure of the asset markets, basic pricing formulas, fundamental and technical analysis, and the tools from previous statistics, economics, and calculus classes needed. Different models relating risk and return such as the CAPM and arbitrage pricing model are covered. These models exemplify how investors are willing to trade-off the variance in returns from investments with the expected value of the investment. The students then learn how to choose the weights to assign to each asset available to maximize the expected return while minimizing risk of the portfolio using the portfolio theory of Markowitz. While the focus of this section of the class is on investing in equities, the portfolio theory learned is applicable to all types of assets. Because there are important differences between stocks and bonds, the next section of the class focuses on the unique characteristics of fixed income securities. Models explaining the different risk and return characteristics of bonds are examined. Because fixed income securities prices and returns are directly linked to changes in interest rates, theories of what determines interest rates are presented and applied to evaluating the performance of portfolios including fixed income securities. The course concludes with an overview of investment in options and futures contracts. The basic pricing models for these types of assets are reviewed as well as practical concepts of investing in derivatives such as margin accounts and creating synthetic returns using combinations of different types of options.As an Honors course, the level of research and academic investigation is enhanced with outside journal readings in topics such as portfolio theory, anomalies and market efficiency, overpricing, and current topics in Portfolio Management as material is published. This material is incorporated into class discussions and course exams beyond what is covered in the standard version of the class.

FIN 301H – Honors Finance (3)

MIS 204 – Intro Bus Inf Sys (3)

B A 301 – Finance (3)
An overview of finance for non-business majors. Topics include financial markets and institutions, investments, and financial decision making in organizations.

FIN 305 – Financial Management of the Business Enterprise (3)
Development of advanced practices of financial management and their application to decision making in business firm.

FIN 100 – Introduction to Finance (3)
The nature, scope, and interdependence of the institutional and individual participants in the financial system. May not be used to satisfy Penn State Business baccalaureate degree requirements. Not available to students who have taken B A 301 or FIN 301.