Graduate Certificate in Corporate Finance

Undergraduate or graduate-level finance or accounting major or minor, or CFA or CPA certifications. If you don't meet the prerequisites, you can take additional bridge courses before starting the program.

Develops financial, analytical, and communication skills necessary to develop and implement a financial strategy consistent with firm value creation in a dynamic environment. Stresses the impact of ethical and legal considerations, global markets, and technological innovation on efficient economic outcomes. Emphasizes written and oral communication skills. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to identify and analyze a firm's strategic opportunities and propose a suitable financial strategy that is consistent with firm value creation.

FINA 6205 | 3 Hours

Offers the first of a two-course sequence that focuses on the acquisition, measurement, and management of firm resources. Business managers make strategic decisions about the acquisition and use of a variety of firm resources. Helps enable students to understand and utilize critical information in corporate financial reports to improve business decision making. Offers students the opportunity to learn contemporary methods of financial reporting and analysis used by internal decision makers and external capital providers. Required course for co-op MBA/part-time MBA.

ACCT 6200 | 3 Hours

Develops specific concepts, policies, and techniques for the financial management of the multinational firm. Topics include operation of the foreign exchange markets, foreign exchange risk management, sources and instruments of international financing, foreign direct investment and the management of political risk, multinational capital budgeting, and financing control systems for the multinational firm.

FINA 6204 | 3 Hours

Discusses policy, strategy, and administration of financial services firms. Topics include issuance of securities, the service function within financial services, pricing a negotiated issue of common stock or competitive bid issue, and meeting capital requirements of a securities firm.

FINA 6213 | 3 Hours

Explores the environments that have recently given rise to a large number of corporate mergers and the business factors underlying these corporate combinations. Examines the financial, managerial, accounting, and legal factors affecting mergers. Focuses on three aspects of the merger and acquisition process: the strategic decision to acquire, the valuation decision of how much to pay, and the financing decision on how to fund the acquisition.

FINA 6214 | 3 Hours

Concentrates on the diagnosis, prescription, and implementation of actions pertinent to business turnarounds, troubled companies, workouts, bankruptcies, and liquidations. Case studies and readings guide the student through the maze of financial, ethical, legal, general business, and strategic aspects of turnarounds, culminating in the student evaluating and developing a turnaround plan.

FINA 6215 | 3 Hours

Focuses on cash-flow oriented models of the valuation of the firm. Topics include enterprise value, free cash flow, economic value added, and risk/reward analysis. Explores recent developments in financial management and financial analysis through the use of modern finance theory to make capital allocation decisions that lead to long-run value maximization for the corporation. Focuses on applications and financial model building, risk analysis for valuation applications, and business strategies to measure and manage corporate value and value creation. Topics are relevant to value consultants, corporate managers, and securities analysts.

FINA 6216 | 3 Hours

Covers qualitative and quantitative aspects of entrepreneurial finance, such as venture capital and angel financing. Introduces students to valuation aspects in entrepreneurial finance, including valuation of startups, using real options to value innovation-intensive firms, and valuation in staged financing. Emphasizes the practical aspects of qualitative and quantitative issues related to venture capital financing, entrepreneurship, and innovation from the perspective of the financier and the startup firm. Also covers many issues related to the venture capital industry, such as the limited partnership structure of the venture capital/private equity industry, venture capital term sheets and contracts, exit of portfolio firms, and international investments. May be repeated without limit.

FINA 6260 | 3 Hours

Examines today's evolving environment, in which effective utilization of human resources is a source of competitive advantage. To maximize the contribution of organizational members, managers must be able to understand, diagnose, and influence workplace behavior in the context of change. Topics include management of cross-functional teams and boundaryless organizations. Emphasis is on the role of corporate culture and distributed leadership.

HRMG 6200 | 3 Hours

Focuses on the international business environment, and examines the influence on global decision making of such areas as the international economy and trade issues, legal and political context differences, governmental actions, cultural and ethical system differences, exchange rates and international currency markets, international institutions like the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, and regional agreements like the European Union, NAFTA, and Mercosur. Also analyzes why firms internationalize their operations, how they can internationalize, and key areas such as international manufacturing, marketing, human resource management, and strategy.

INTB 6200 | 3 Hours

Trains managers to understand the competitive implications of global economic policies, the business effects of technological change, and the commercial imperatives of alternative political systems at a macro level. At a micro level, it creates a framework for industry analysis in a global setting that combines economic analysis, competitive analysis, and business decision-making skills.

MECN 6200 | 3 Hours

Focuses on marketing analysis and planning. Emphasizes analysis of customer needs and company and competitor capabilities. This analysis forms the basis of a sound marketing strategy that provides value to customers in a way superior to competitors. Discusses how to deliver this strategy through the development of an intergrated marketing program covering product offerings, pricing, promotion, and distribution. Includes professional accounting students.

MKTG 6200 | 3 Hours

Focuses on strategy development and implementation for a line of business and for the corporation as a whole by adopting a top management perspective. Beginning with developing a mission statement and goals for the firm, focuses on environmental scanning, incorporating economic, technological, sociopolitical, and legal trends in conducting industry analysis, thus assessing opportunities and threats and the firm's capabilities before formulating strategy that represents a fit between the environment and the firm. Discusses how to develop competitive advantage and assess competitive positioning, and studies how organizational structure and systems contribute to implementing strategy. Stresses the role of leadership and motivation before moving on to feedback mechanisms to assess success in strategy implementation, leading to revision of strategic plans as needed.

STRT 6200 | 3 Hours