Finance Option Area
Area Description
The finance option area prepares students for a career in corporate finance or investment management, either of which requires an understanding of the role of financial markets in a global economy. Students who pursue a corporate finance career must be able to adopt the perspective of a financial manager who makes financing and investment decisions for a firm operating in a global economy. The investment management career path requires an understanding of the perspective of an investment or portfolio manager who makes investment and asset allocation decisions in modern interactive financial markets. These perspectives are complementary: in essence the two career tracks involve looking at the same questions from opposite sides of the market. Just as a financial manager should understand the perspective of an investment manager, a portfolio manager should understand the perspective of a corporate financial manager. The Finance Option courses listed on the next page provide students with the training to accomplish rudimentary financial analysis such as financial forecasting, budgeting, and the analysis of capital investment projects; higher level financial decisions, such as capital structure decisions, dividend policy decisions, mergers and acquisitions decisions, and risk management; and investments functions such as the analysis of individual securities and the management of portfolios. Many students combine options in Finance and Operations Management or Strategic Management. Others combine Finance with Management Information Systems (MIS). However, the Finance courses are taught at a level that is accessible to students from all disciplines and option areas.
Major Employers
In recent years, Citibank/Citigroup, Discover Financial, Intel, General Motors and Procter & Gamble have been some of our biggest recruiters for Krannert students with finance concentrations. Typical initial job titles for these graduates include: Financial Analysis Manager, Treasury Analyst, Finance Consultant Associate, Cost Analyst, Senior Financial Analyst, and Project Manager.
Typical Students
Finance students typically have stronger quantitative skills than the average MBA student and have some interest in economics.
Finance Option Courses
10 elective credit hours (5 classes) are required beyond the core finance course. Students may take any five of the following financial option courses to fulfill the requirements for a finance concentration.
MGMT 61100: Advanced Corporate Finance
MGMT 61400: Portfolio Management I
MGMT 61500: International Financial Management
MGMT 64100: Options and Futures
MGMT 64200: Portfolio Management II
MGMT 64300: Financial Instruments and Strategy
MGMT 64400: Venture Capital and Investment Banking
MGMT 64500: Mergers, Acquisitions and Corp Control
MGMT 51100: Fixed Income Securities (also listed as MGMT 69100U)
MGMT 51300: Student Managed Investment Fund (also listed as MGMT 59000C)
Other Related Courses
The following additional courses are potentially useful to students who will pursue finance careers. However, these courses do not count towards the 10 elective credit hours required for the finance concentration.
MGMT 60200: Financial Statement Analysis: Applied Valuation
MGMT 60300: Tax and Business Strategy (also listed as MGMT 69100A)