Curriculum: Investment Management Graduate Certificate

This course educates students in the fundamentals of finance and accounting. Topics include: the accounting process that results in the preparation of financial statements for external users, techniques for analyzing a basic set of financial statements, using accounting information to support management decisions, and using time value of money techniques to evaluate capital asset decisions.

This course educates students in the fundamentals of Finance. A primary focus of the course is on using time value of money techniques to evaluate capital asset decisions.

This overview of investment analysis presents several views and approaches to equity valuation and decision making in today’s markets. Students are encouraged to apply quantitative and economic analysis as well as firm valuation and market history to guide their decision process. Many of the concepts covered are covered in the body of knowledge leading to the CFA designation.

This course presents the mainstream and alternate view of portfolio management using research papers, articles, and materials from academics and the markets. Many of the concepts covered are covered in the body of knowledge leading to the CFA designation.

This course is about the analysis of financial information–particularly, but not limited to, a firm’s financial statements–for making decisions about investing in a business. The primary focus is on equity (share) valuation, with some attention given to credit evaluation and the valuation of debt. The methods of fundamental analysis will be examined in detail.

This course examines fixed-income markets, with an emphasis on the pricing and risk of fixed income securities, derivatives, and portfolios. Bond immunization and trading strategies will be discussed with an in-depth coverage of both Treasury and Corporate Debt Securities. We will explain how Federal Reserve uses monetary policy to influence the term structure of interest rates.

This course helps students to establish a solid foundation in understanding fixed-income securities and furthermore to apply such knowledge to real-world investment decisions in bond markets.

The principal objective of this course is to provide a detailed examination of options, futures, forwards, and swaps. By the end of the course students will have a good knowledge of how these contracts work, how they are traded, how they are used, and how they are priced. A major emphasis in the class will be on how derivative instruments are used by financial institutions in light of recent economic events.

The objective of this course is to provide the student with an introduction and understanding of the alternative investment universe and its many subcategories, including hedge funds, private equity and real assets. The class will strike a balance between academic evidence and real world pragmatism.

Along the way, students will get the opportunity to hear several guest lecturers from the hedge fund, private equity, and real assets industry. It is expected that students would have an interest in alternative investments; however, no prior knowledge of alternative investments is required.

The focus of this course is the structure of financial markets and the trading of securities, primarily U.S. equities. In previous finance courses you likely assumed away the frictions involved in the trading process. In this course we will study those frictions.

We will closely examine market structure, trade pricing rules, order submission strategies, trading costs, block trading, and market efficiency. The type of order submitted and the resolution of that order will depend, in part, on the structure of the market. The market structure is influenced heavily by government regulation and communications technology.

Therefore, we will discuss the influence of the market structure on the trading process and the impact of recent SEC rule changes and alternative trading systems on competition in U.S. equity markets.

Behavioral Finance considers the impact of human psychology on financial markets and corporate decision-making. Topics covered judgment, social and emotional biases and their effects on investor behavior and market outcomes. Corporate finance applications will also be included.

This course examines the regulatory and risk management issues facing a variety of financial institutions (including depository institutions, insurance companies, investment banks, mutual funds, and pension funds).

The course will start with some of the basic theories of financial intermediation to identify the various services financial institutions provide. We also will identify and analyze the key types of risks faced by financial institutions (focusing on interest rate risk, market risk, liquidity, and credit risk). With this as context, we will then examine the set of techniques available for measuring and managing these risks.

We will focus on recent trends in off-balance sheet activities, securitization, and other financial innovations and will examine the causes, consequences, and suggested remedies of the recent financial crisis.